Marissa's Musings: Become an informed voter

Almost everyone at Kish is of legal voting age. My question to you readers is this: do you actually use your right to vote?

To be completely honest, I never have. I have never been the right age to vote in the Presidential election, but I have been for the elections of the local legislatures.

Politics never interested me. All I saw it as was me picking which person can screw things up slightly less. I tried to watch political debates but all I saw was a bunch of finger pointing and no one actually coming up with solutions to the problems presented.

What’s even worse is all of the television airtime the candidates buy just to make commercials bashing other candidates for everything imaginable. If you have to fight dirty to win my vote instead of just proving yourself to be a worthy candidate, then do I really want you representing my town, my county, my state, my NATION?

What really opened my eyes to actually wanting to vote was the American Government and Politics class I decided to enroll in this semester to become more knowledgeable on the subject. In the past month of class I have learned more on all the different political parties, their stances and the processes of different governmental procedures than I ever have watching those debates and propaganda commercials.

I would highly suggest that everyone takes this course. Whether you already vote or not, whether you love politics or loathe them, this class can at least explain the workings of the government without having to listen to a bunch of politicians resort to kindergarten tactics to belittle their opponents.

My favorite part of the class is the discussion board where I learn even more from my classmates and I get to have friendly debates. My teacher even jumps in and instead of forcing his political views on us, he plays the devil’s advocate for all sides. And if someone doesn’t understand a term, process, platform, anything at all, then someone in the class is there to explain it in a different way.

I can now say that I will be an informed voter come next elections and, I urge you to do the same.

I’ve explained what stopped me before but now I want to know: What is stopping you from being an informed voter, Kougars? What would you need to become an informed voter? Let me know by emailing me at kscope@kishwaukeecollege.edu.