In just under one month, many Americans will head to the polls to decide who will be the next president of our country. It’s kind of a big deal. So big, in fact, that I think it requires voters to take a little extra time to consider their decision before they fill in the bubbles on a ballot (or punch holes or tap a screen … however your state rolls).
There are many important issues in this election that both candidates have strong stances on. None of them are arbitrary, random ideas someone decided to believe. The candidates probably sat down with members of their parties and campaign staff to decide the best way to handle them by taking many things into consideration. Both Gov. Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama have taken the time to research the issues and what is important to the American people to decide their platforms. Voters owe it to the candidates to do the same when it comes to deciding how to vote. There are people out there who consistently vote for one party or the other simply because of their stance on a single issue or a few of the current hot topics in America. I believe this kind of voting does the United States a great disservice. An elected official’s job is not just to work with one or two specific issues, but to handle a myriad of problems and policies to make sure the American people are being served by their government in the best possible way. Before you vote, I think you have a responsibility to your country and fellow citizens to do your research. You may wholeheartedly agree with a particular candidate on one issue, but when you look closer, some of their other policies may seem questionable. You are not voting on a specific bill – you are voting for the highest office in our land. Remember that. Examine the campaign websites of each candidate and do even further research. Read newspaper articles from multiple sources about candidates and listen to your friends’ and family members’ opinions. What’s amazing about the United States today is that we have the freedom to engage in political discourse in many different ways — in print, online and in person. Take advantage of that when you are making your decision for whom to vote. And do not forget about local issues. Yes, Nov. 6 is the date of the presidential election, but many local offices and issues will also be on your ballot. No matter which state you vote in, don’t forget about them. Blur party lines and vote for the people you most agree with to serve you and your fellow citizens, not just every candidate from a particular party simply because they are part of that party. There are also many people who say neither Romney nor Obama is fit to be the president. These people are completely entitled to that opinion, but it’s pretty much a guarantee that, come November, one or the other will be voted into office. Some people may wish to withhold their vote because they do not think either should be elected, and some people may have completely legitimate reasons to do so. However, if these people were to really examine each candidate, they may find that one seems more qualified than the other to run our country. It would make much more sense to cast a vote for that individual in order to take a step toward electing the most able president. I highly encourage all of you who are 18 or older to first make sure you are registered to vote and second, to take some time to do a little research about what and whom you will be voting for in four weeks. You already have a newspaper in your hands or a news website open. You might as well spend a little more time reading today. I am an adult, and that terrifies and excites me beyond belief. This weekend, I will reach the great milestone of age 22 (a brand new milestone I just made up). But when I sit down and look at myself at this point in my life, I am more of an adult than a child.
The other day, I came across a blog entry on Thought Catalog entitled “20 People You Will Meet in Your 20s.” As I read through the list, I began to count. Sixteen. “The awesome roommate … the social networker … the person who never left your hometown …” I have been in my 20s for just two years now, and I’ve already met 16 out of the 20 notable people this article claims I will come across in the next eight years? I’ll only meet four more? Now, I know that I can’t take this blog post completely seriously, obviously I will meet several people in the next few years, but what really jarred me was that I am an adult. Sort of. I mean, if I’ve already met so many of these people, I’ve already become 4/5 of an adult (if you do the math, which I oftentimes don’t). Soon, I will be out “there,” on my own, somewhere in the wide world, hopefully with a big-girl job. What a horrifying thought. I am so not ready to be an adult. But then again, maybe I am. There is nothing more exciting for me to think about than all the possibilities that are out there. I have no idea where I will be a year from now, but the potential of what I could be doing is through the roof. Scary, yes, but also exciting. I’m no Peter Pan. I want to grow up. Maybe I do only have four more interesting people to meet before I reach my next age milestone, but even if that’s true, I can guarantee the next eight years will be interesting. And that makes me want to grow up even more. October is here, and Wisconsin has been whispering hints of fall the past couple weeks, which are now turning in to loud declarations of the season all around us. The trees are beginning to glow red and yellow, and the temperature is dropping. Halloween decorations are popping up all over the place, and midterms are looming on the calendar. The changing season, for me, brings one thing to mind: Christmas. You’re all probably sitting there thinking, “Carlie, you’re a couple months early with that.” I was trying to figure out where my obsession with Christmas, and more specifically, Christmas music, comes from. My hometown is a little bit Christmas-obsessed. Boasting Hallmark Cards’ world headquarters, a Mayor’s Christmas Tree taller than those at Rockefeller Center and the White House and arguably one of the country’s most iconic displays of Christmas lights, we may be an overly Christmas-crazy city. When I was younger, there were several radio stations that played non-stop Christmas music from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve. This was so popular that, after a few years, they began starting the Christmas music three weeks earlier on Nov. 1. I would set my boombox (yes, I am a proud child of the 90s) to a Christmas station and fall asleep to the Yuletide crooning of Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby. I vividly remember sitting in front of a dying fireplace several Halloweens in a row, eating candy, sipping on hot apple cider and counting down the minutes to midnight, when I could turn on the radio for some holiday cheer. As I got older and packed up my boombox in favor of an iPod and computer, a world of possibility opened up to me. The beautiful invention of Pandora made it possible for me to listen to Christmas whenever I want. This is a dangerous tool to have at my fingertips. In recent years, I’ve started blasting Mannheim Steamroller as early as October, much to the dismay of my roommates and co-workers. People ask me if I get burned out on it. I don’t. But I have noticed that I have lost a little bit of appreciation for fall and its beauty when I mentally skip ahead to winter and Christmas. So this year, I am going to try to wait. My far-reaching goal is to wait all the way until Thanksgiving to crank the Christmas, but I would be satisfied with myself if I could at least make it to the beginning of November. I have heard that sharing your goals with others and writing them down gives you more motivation to follow through. So this is me, challenging myself to wait at least a month, if not more, before I give in and kick off the holiday season. I’ve written it down and shared it with all of you. So please, help hold me to this. I will take any suggestions for good autumnal tunes you have, and I will return to this subject in a few weeks and let you know if I accomplished my goal. I know it is not going to be easy. As the Christmas season approaches, decorations and lights and store displays and radio stations will begin their inevitable early transition to Yuletide, tempting me with tinsel. Even just thinking about it as I wrote this column made me long to listen to carols. But I’m in for a challenge and willing to give it a try. And who knows, if I can accomplish this goal, what else could I do if I set my mind to it? |
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