**DISCLAIMER: This was written and SHOULD have been posted on November 4th. I didn’t notice that I hit save instead of publish…**
For the last several months, all that has been on TV, the papers, Google news and pretty much anywhere else you want to look, has been the election. Most of the blogs I read at least have mentioned it, if not talked about it in great length. Finding out info about the candidates and issues is easier than easy. Its almost like you would have to TRY not to know about them. And that’s exactly what I did. I didn’t listen to a single speech or debate. I didn’t read a single article or blog about it. I didn’t engage in a single conversation about the election; not the candidates, not the issues, not taxes, not the environment. Nothing. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had friends that have tried. I’m not an idiot, and I’m opinionated, so all of my friends (who are all quite political, which is odd to me) wanted to know what I thought about certain issues, hoping to have a good debate about them (because I LOVE debates…no, that is not sarcasm, that is serious), and they were all shocked when I said I didn’t know. Most of them thought that I was being coy and wanted them to work harder to get me to talk about it. Not the case. I honestly didn’t know.
So…why am I like this? Why did I steadfastly refuse to pay attention to ANYTHING having to do with the election? There are a few reasons, which I will try to explain now.
1) I never know what to believe. The media and people in general skew things so badly that I can never tell what is real and what is fake. What actually happened and what is being made up to inflate ratings. There are certain issues that I really do care about, but I never know what is truth and what is fiction. I never know who is telling the truth and who is lying.
2) I don’t know who the key players are. I hear names that mean nothing to me. These are people who were important before the election and who will be important no matter who wins, and I don’t know who they are or what they do or why they are important. Because of this, I feel incredibly stupid and out of the loop. And because looking them up and memorizing what they do would take a lot of time and energy, and I am extremely lazy, I don’t feel like wasting my time to do this.
3) I don’t know anything about the stock market. So when people talk about it, as they inevitably will, everything they say just sounds like numbers and letters, much like algebra or calculus. Again, I’m sure I can learn, but since it doesn’t impact my day to day life, I can’t make myself care enough to look into it.
And that is the main point here: does it impact my day to day life? No matter who wins, I will get up and go to work the next day. I will put gas in my truck, no matter how expensive or cheap it is, because I have to. I will still get married to the man of my dreams. I will still be able to do the things I love doing. And I will continue to live my life as I have been for the last 24 years.
So…I am 24, and have been able to vote in 2 presidential elections so far. And I didn’t vote in either. Is it better that I didn’t blindly vote for people and issues and promises that I didn’t understand…or worse? I think it’s better. At least that’s what I tell myself…
