Column:

Campaigns take advantage of voter apathy

By Trevor Turner

Published Sept. 1, 2008

I hate political apathy. I would rather be the only liberal in a room full of conservatives than spend two minutes talking to someone who doesn’t give a rats ass about politics. I also hate football apathy, but I am a political columnist, not a sports columnist, so I’ll stick with politics.

I understand that not everyone is a political junkie like me. I understand that the corrupt nature of politics may turn some people off. What I don’t understand, is how people can engulf themselves in the lives of the brats on "Laguna Beach," but not turn on CNN for five minutes and watch the insinuating drama of this historic election year.

This election is far more entertaining than the ramblings of a southern Californian teenager. I mean, it’s like this: so there is guy, who is like totally about hope and change and stuff. He just had this major drama with this chick who was all like “Hey, I want to be president, too!” but he was way more popular because everyone thought the other chick was kind of a bitch. So he totally beat this chick in the popularity contest but now there is this other guy who also wants to be president but he’s like really old — EWWW — so he makes friends with this younger, hot, chick, but no one knows her. He thinks that this will make him more popular, but the guy that’s about hope and change is like NO HE DIDN’T! This election is so hot!

See? It’s much more entertaining and you know what’s even better? It’s real and actually affects you. Think about it, had Al Gore won in the 2000 presidential election, we wouldn’t have gone to war in Iraq and we’d all be driving hybrids.

Politics affects you on a local level too. The people that we elect to the Missouri Senate and House help decide how much you are going to pay to go to MU. They decide if the university should get money to build new state-of-the-art buildings on campus. They decide if you should get free health care or not. They even decide who you can or can not marry. Even the people we elect to the Missouri Students Association affect your life on campus. They have a say on the student fees we pay, whether we should have free condoms in our dorms or not, and they fight for student rights on campus. So the next time you think, “Damn, I wish I didn’t have to pay for so much at school,” make sure you elect people that won’t vote for higher tuition or more student fees!

Another benefit of being an informed voter is that you are less likely to fall for the sensationalist TV ads and e-mails that claim that “Obama is a terrorist!” or “John McCain fathered an illegitimate Vietnamese child!” Political campaigns on both sides of the aisle try to take advantage of the easy-to-scare, uninformed voter. That’s how many conservatives turned out voters in the 2004 election because “terrorists and gays were taking over the country!” 

Uninformed voters hurt our country, so don’t be one.