Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Elections 2008

This year's election has been really cool in many ways. I got my first out-of-classroom experience in politics my junior year of high school at the National Youth Leadership Conference in DC and another one in Valley Forge, PA. I remember liking both and learning and ton. Same with Girl State. Then I did that "internship" experience during the 1996 Republican National Convention in San Diego. Now THAT was captivating. I will mark that event as what really lead me to have any kind of interest in politics. And it wasn't just becuase of all the cool freebies though the Republican Mac-N-Cheese was pretty darn neat.

Anyway, that's not the point. As a PoliSci major in college I felt like it was only the PoliSci students plus some other students that ever cared about politics. And then when I got out of school I felt like nerd because I was interested and people around me didn't seem to be so much. In the last year I feel like this election has created a culture where people care. Whether you supported McCain, Obama or even Nader, there was conversation. So much conversation it seemed like that people who didn't usually care wanted to know what everyone else was talking about so did their homework and got into the discussions. Now, I'm not saying everyone got involved and this was the election to make things perfect but it did make a BIG difference.

Shaun was unable to vote but he cared just as much as anyone I knew who could vote. I think this was an election he would have loved to have been a part of as a voter. History was made this week and no matter who you supported, if you voted you were part of that and THAT is pretty cool in my mind. I hope that this passion continues and people still care about what's going on for years to come. I think it's great that the stereotype of a US president having to be an old, white, Christian man has come to an end. I know not all change is good but I'm going that have faith that this IS good change.

And, I'm hoping this was enough to spark Shaun into getting his citizenship to be a voter in 2012 and really be a part of it all. :)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I agree.... we are a huge part of history being able to be involved in this election. People will talk about it forever... I feel proud to be part of it all and that our country has allowed a black man to become president!