Barack Versus Apathy

The below article was written recently for my school paper, and I figured I'd post it up here too.

It's a letter by a kid, to kids, about 2008 and Barack Obama's part in it. I hope you like it.

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Awhile back I heard someone say that our generation was the "apathetic" one. Our parents and grandparents were hippies, and we're the counter-reaction to their reactionary instinct. We go a step further than trying to change the system, we opt out. That's all well and good, but when it comes to the real world it doesn't work.

Enter Barack Obama, a guy unrivaled in his ideailistic optimism and hopeful nature. I saw Barack speak in 2004 when I was at the DNC, and I gotta say, he carried the same charisma he does today. The energy he exudes does not exist solely to win the presidency, but is an intrisic part of him.

Okay, okay, so here's how I see it. The approaching elections are going to be our chance to decided between Barack and Hillary. The optimistic hopeful and the compromising politicker. I feel like the comparison of political ideaologies corresponds perfectly with the candidates. Hillary's approach reeks of compromise and sacrifice, of ceding specific points to win others, and of maneuvering her way through legislation. Mr. Obama's, on the other hand, is a bright, optimistic, political movement. Barack's campaign is about changing the world, Hillary's is about winning the White House. I'd like to make that abundently clear.

So, long story short, here's how I see it. It's not about Barack versus Hillary, it's Barack versus apathy. When the few of us who can vote go to vote, they won't be making a choice between Barack and Hillary, but instead a choice between Barack Obama and staying home. For the rest of you, you may not be able to vote yet, but to suggest you have no influence is absurd. Voting happens in a million ways a million times every day, just take your pick.

So, what I ask in this column is that anyone avoiding the polls do it consciously, as a political protest, and understand that while your lack of voting may be understood for the political protest it is, it won't stop the bad guys from winning in lieu of your political protest.

Here, check this out. Let's take a cross section of the "youth" vote, sayyyy, YouTube. YouTube is not exclusively associated with youth, but it could be fair to use data garnered from that to suggest that the people using it are tech-savvy youngins [and Geriatric1927 <3 ]. So what're the numbers on the "Barack Obama" channel when compared to, sayyy, the "Hillary Clinton" channel? Or perhaps the (snort) "John Edwards" channel? 750,000 people have visited the Edwards channel, a little over 1 million have visited the Clinton channel, and, get ready for it, get set, get psyched, 11 million visits are logged on the Barack Obama channel. 11 million. 11 freakin million. I'm not suggesting this is going to be precisely how the entire world elects Barack Obama, but it's really positive news that people like Barack, even if they don't necessarily take the time to vote.

So, yeah, VOTE, because apathy may be cute, but getting drafted won't be.