Time sure passes quickly, doesn’t it? Election Day is in six days! Up until November 2nd, I’ll be posting some shorter blogs each day. I thought today I’d focus on why you should care about voting.
I know that at Conn we live in a bubble, and that it can be hard to really relate to the outside world. But keep this in mind: politics affects your life every day, whether you notice it or not. For anyone who has a job, minimum wage laws apply. Need that extra cash to help pay tuition? Well, if wage laws are changed, you could either be sitting pretty or royally screwed. If the minimum wage was raised 50 cents an hour, and you work 10 hours a week, 35 weeks a year, that’s an extra $175 that goes in your pocket. Of course, wage laws could go down, and you could lose that $175. But you would only have a say in the matter if you voted for candidates that supported your position. As students, we’re also affected by taxes, health care laws, drinking and drug laws, and a host of other issues.
It affects you at a global level, too. The candidates you vote for in national elections (this year it’s Senate and House elections) can have huge impacts on our foreign policy. Do you like helping starving children in Africa? Well, you better make sure that you vote for candidates who support aid programs. Do you wish to avoid war with Iran and North Korea? Then it might make sense to vote for candidates that have an understanding of foreign affairs and have good negotiating skills.
Now, I know that everyone is busy, and that it takes a little time to research these issues. But I really do think that we can all spend a few minutes and do a simple Google search on candidates or issues we care about. Look at the candidates’ websites. They actually give pretty good views on what the candidates stand for. Check your favorite newspaper, too. The Connecticut Post, The New Haven Register, The Hartford Courant, and the New London Day all have good local election coverage on their websites.
Being an active citizen takes some effort, but it’s incredibly important. In closing, I’ll leave you with this last bit of information: in 2006, Joe Courtney, New London’s representative in the House of Representatives, won by 86 votes. Essentially, Connecticut College won him the election. Food for thought, huh?
