I'm Going To Murder Everybody

Why is everyone so apathetic? It's easy to be uninformed, but how isolated and hermetic do you have to be to not care about very important issues?

The recent California election on October 7th placed some important matters in the hands of California voters. I didn't feel like I was paying too much attention to the issues until I spoke with fellow classmates about the Gubernatorial race, at which point I realized that I was a veritable Encyclopedia of political knowledge compared to them. The most articulate reasons supporting Arnold for Governor went along the lines of, "I think he'd be a good Governor."

One fellow told me he was against both Davis (read: DEMOCRATS) and Arnold (read: REPUBLICANS) because in his mind they were all crooks involved in shady dealings with Oracle and Enron, respectively. He said "Gary Coleman for Governor!" While I understood his cynical stance, this was not the time for it. Politics is a game, hopefully, involving the victory of the lesser of two evils, and occasionally the good guy.

I found hope for humanity in the form of one classmate who realized that Davis was a victim of circumstance, and that a replacement Governor would do no better than he. He pointed out that California's huge deficit was a result of a nationwide economic slump and the power crisis caused by, not Davis, but, Pete Wilson, the esteemed former Republican governor of the state! YES! Someone else who actually remembers that Wilson enacted the deregulation that would screw us all over and line the pockets of Texan businessmen.

However, my faith in humanity was shattered once again when I spoke to my friends ages 19-22 who were not registered to vote. "Is it too late to register?" Of course it is you imbecile, it's the day before the election!!! It's going to sound hella corny, but we live in the United States where we can exercise our right to vote! Politics are not to be treated as anafterthought, because we will have to live with the results for a long time. Look at Iraq, we're going to be there for years wasting billions upon billions while falling deeper into a domestic deficit. Not only that, but the people of the Middle East will hate us exponentially more now, even after we leave Iraq! NOT ONLY THAT, but today on the radio I hear of plans in Bush's head to democratice Cuba and position missiles against Iran. I dunno folks, this sounds like war to me, even after Bush is gone we're gonna have to face some serious stuff because of him.

The whole point of this rant is: VOTE. To vote you must REGISTER TO VOTE. In order to vote properly you must be INFORMED. Being informed means occasionally reading an article in the newspaper, on Yahoo's front page, or even watching some CNN. Take 5 minutes out of your day and skim through a few words. It's amazing how much you learn. DON'T BE APATHETIC.

Bob V.