16 and voting? Seminar

We had an in-class seminar on an article that spoke about whether or not teenagers, beginning at age 16, should be given the right to vote in the presidential campaign. The article we used as groundwork for our arguments was "You're 16, you're beautiful, and you're a voter". This text was clearly written in support of the argument for lowering the voting age, and used numerous arguments from various points to support that conclusion.

Our seminar was full of important ideas and points. For example, if sixteen year olds were thought responsible enough to choose the nations president, were they mature enough to have a drinking license, or to wed? This topic jumped about in our seminar, some people stating that yes, they were mature enough, and it was the right thing to do. And others disagreeing, saying that they definitely were not mature enough, and would take such freedom too far.

I felt that I participated a good amount in the seminar. I read the article, and annotated parts and quotes that I found important. I made points about the questionable maturity of teenagers, and how lowering the voting age may have to do with other age restrictions.

At the beginning of the seminar, it was clear that the groups for and against lowering the voting age were split almost half and half. I myself found it difficult to come to a conclusion, since both sides presented such strong arguments. In the end, I chose to support the idea of lowering the voting age, but was very much against lowering the age on other bans, such as the right to drink alcohol.

Overall, I think this was a very productive seminar. Everyone spoke at least once about how they felt, people were polite, and the conversation moved along.

"The Year of the Youth Vote" quiz post

For Humanities class, we read an article called "The Year of the Youth Vote". This article was about how the interest of youth constituents in the presidential election has increased due to the new focus on the issues that are most important to them. Throughout the country, coalitions of students rooting for liberal candidates like Obama are popping up in places like universities and colleges.

This new found interest in the electoral campaign and the responsibilities that accompany it can be traced to the fresh gusto of the Obama campaign for youth action. He is popular among the youth for his progressive ideas on topics that are important to them. Topics such as jobs, the war in Iraq, and affordable health care are foremost in their minds.

Compared to his Evangelical and conservative opponents, Obama has a large advantage among the young voters of the country. He reaches personally out to students, mixing his endearing abecedarian personality with a personal touch that is relatively unheard of in the electoral community.

His new proposals come as a refreshing idea to the youths that have spent most of their lives under the direction of the Clinton and Bush family. "No matter how many times Hillary Clinton intones the magic word of 2008- change- its going to ring a bit hollow, because she is an eternal piece of their mental furniture." (pg 6) Obama is a new opportunity for the country, his progressive ideas are seen as a second chance for the U.S. to once again become the greatest country of the world.

Personally, although I did find this article enlightening, it soon became boringly repetitive. If the author had not tried so hard to make the story long, it would definitely have held peoples attention more. I do agree with the idea that Obama is becoming popular among the youth because of his different ideas, and his newness to the entire idea of running a country. After reading this article, I really DO think that the youth vote will increase this election, due to the increase in attention they have been given.

Election Debate Posting

For our humanities class, we had a mock debate between presidential candidates of either the democratic or the republican party, and then voted on who we supported the most. Each candidate was represented by a team of students, each experts on a specific topic. In my case, I was John McCain on Energy and Global Warming. My opponents were Jake LeMatty as Mitt Romney, and Ally Camacho as Mike Huckabee. We debated about what we (we spoke as our candidates) would do about global warming, and how we would help the world during this energy crisis. McCain strongly believed in something called the “cap-and-trade” system, which was an idea my opponents did not so ardently support.

During the debate, I found it a bit difficult to reflect the opinions of the candidate I was assigned, considering that my personal opinions greatly differed from his own. I think that in the end, this helped, because it allowed me to see beyond my own prejudices, and to accept the opinions of others. My own views did not change, but I started to see where the other “side” was coming from.

I thought that our debate was quite enlightening, and I learned a lot about what all the candidates believe on each of the important topics. And being given the chance to vote for the candidate we agreed with most was a good thing, because it allowed us to show what we thought on the candidates and why.

Many of the representatives for the candidates were very well prepared. There were a few that superseded others in the amount of time they spent researching, and defending their candidate’s opinions. Personally, I do not believe I did very well; I could have spent far more time researching exactly what it was that my candidate was going for, and what he had done in the past.

Overall, I think this mini-project was very informative, and really helped me understand more what is happening in today’s presidential campaign.