Letters: Shedding light
on 'peace'
Editorial:
 Time
to give a damn
Presidential candidates love to campaign to college
students. As we all know, it's not for the votes. College students
make up a very small part of the voting population — or in other words,
most of us don't vote. Considering that sad truth, what the heck are
presidential candidates doing on college campuses?
Well, they are certainly not campaigning to students. Sure, Al Gore
and George W. Bush, even Ralph Nader, are making visits to colleges
all across the United States, but those visits are little more than
photo opportunities. These visits are celebrity appearances and anything
but political. The media will follow candidates wherever they go,
and feigning interest in students of higher education "shows" the
rest of the public that they really "care" about education. Good strategy,
fellas — it works.
It's not often that students are directly addressed during these visits.
Despite the fact that not many students vote in any sort of election
(the scale does not have to be as grand as the presidency), this doesn't
mean that those of us who don't vote lose the right to address our
creedences to a person who might be (or who currently is, for that
matter) the leader of our country.
Just look at the way some local politicians approach college students.
Our edit board alone has been visited by most of the local politicians
for the Champaign-Urbana area, some more than once. They are happy
to hear what we have to say, to field our questions and meet with
us as often as they can.
It might not be feasible to expect this from a presidential candidate,
that's true. We can't all sit face to face with them, but when they
come to a college campus, it would be nice to know that those running
for the presidency are concerned about us too.
To actually be addressed by these candidates would move some students
to action, but give and take on both sides is required to break out
of the vicious cycle. Politicians not caring about what students having
to say and students, in turn, not caring about issues or candidates
and not voting doesn't get anyone anywhere.
It's going to take compromise on both sides for anything to change.
Presidential candidates could learn a lot from how local candidates
treat voters. Students who don't vote should start thinking about
it, and should also keep in mind that while the presidential election
is important, the people who represent us in the Senate and the House
affect us more directly.
Candidates shouldn't show up at colleges because they know CNN will.
They should show up because they care about what students need. At
the same time, students should vote because they care about what happens
to their country and about who is running it. |
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