Popping the College Bubble: Politics Edition
By Kelly Kinas ‘17
I know that just the word "politics" scares college students. It’s almost too much like the real world. Therefore, we’ll deal with it after graduation. Of course, this is coming from the girl who cried when her 18th birthday was 2 weeks after the cut off date for elections in 2012.
If I’m anyone from the Breakfast Club, it’s Brian.
While some people may not believe this next statement, it is still true: What is being done in the US government today effects us the most in the years to come. I think the reason they allow 18 year-olds vote is to get the younger generation involved so we know what the hell we’re going to be dealing with when we are the majority. We need to know what is going on and because this Congressional and Presidential matchup have done PRACTICALLY NOTHING, it’s going to be our job to fix the mess they made.
It does not matter whether you identify as Republican, Liberal, Conservative, Democrat, or Neutral. All of us need to be in the know about what is happening. Breaking the college bubble is important so our generation is capable and knowledge once we leave college. Once we educate ourselves, our opinions will be more valid and taken more seriously. We just need the proof to back it up.
Lesson 1: Be Educated but maybe don’t talk to friends about it
The people who are politically active during their college years are usually pretty set in their opinions. Don’t surround yourself with people who only share your viewpoint; that makes for a boring life. Don’t de-friend someone because they support the opposite political party. My advice is to talk with them about it but I have some friends who are really dead-set in their opinions and those opinions offend me. So we DO NOT debate politics because I get along with those people otherwise. Debate politics with people (It’s fun!) but just know when to stop and know the friends who you just can’t discuss these things with.
Lesson 2: Know the Basic Stuff… Please
It’s really not that difficult. Know the basics of every party and their major beliefs. Know for how many years the president, senators, and representatives are in office. Know how many Supreme Court Justices there are. Know how many representatives are in the House of Representatives. Know how many presidents we have had. This is basic civics stuff that all of us learned in middle school. This lets you not look like an idiot so it’s a pretty good list to know.
Answers:
1. President: 4 years. Senators: 6 years, 1/3 is reelected every 2 years. Representatives: 2 years.
2. 8 Supreme Court Justices, 1 Chief Supreme Court Justice ( 9 in total): Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan; Roberts (Chief)
3. 435 Representatives in House
4. 43 Presidents (44 Presidencies but only 43 presidents because Grover Cleveland served 2 non-consecutive terms)
Lesson 3: REGISTER TO VOTE AND ACTUALLY VOTE
This one is pretty simple. Go here to register: http://www.headcount.org/election-info/ or really just google “register to vote in (insert home state here)”. This is really simple and can make a HUGE difference. Some of us will be here at USC, instead of in our home states on election day, so make sure to get an ABSENTEE BALLOT. It’s on the same link I post about 3 sentences ago. You can do it.
The point of this is PLEASE CARE. This is our future. We need to be educated, knowledge, and ready to fix the mess that is about to be given to us. I’m not telling you to vote a certain way. I’m just telling you to educate yourself on the issues and do your civic duty of voting. By voting, I mean every time there’s an election, not just presidential elections. Okay. Chill. Thought I should get that out there.
Politically active students are best. Read an online newspaper (not Buzzfeed) for your information. Watch the news for 30 minutes if you can. You can do this.
Fight on and Vote on this coming November!
