4 I The Behrend Beacon
I 1 Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
. right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. - The First Ammendment to the U.S. Constitution
Point and Counterpoint: To vote or not to vote
By Jerry Pohl and Logan Stack
calendar page editor & stall writer
Jerry: Election time has once again descended upon America like
a cloud of locusts, devouring all substantive discourse and replac
ing it with talking points and blind fervor. To combat the menac
ing scourge that is representative democracy. 1 present this simple
proposition: don't vote.
Logan: While talking points may substitute for an actual interview
or useful questions for some people, thinking people can change
our plight. 1 can see how our current representatives might be a
scourge, but not the entire concept of a republic.
Jerry: Your opinion is. at best, laughable and, at worst, detrimen
tal to the very concept of governance. Thinking people don't vote.
1 know 1 don't vote, and I think all the time: 1 think when 1 should
be doing my homework, 1 think when I should be in class, I even
think when 1 should be w riting papers on philosophy. The statis
tics don't lie - unlike those shiftless statisticians - the demograph
ic that votes in droves is senior citizens and retirees. The youth
voter market is unreachable even by the most vapid and sexually
gratuitous of advertising. The people have spoken - cause it’s
more effective than voting -- voting is for old people.
Logan: Voting for someone w-ho actually represents your interests
isn't harmful to the concept of governance, just those who current
ly govern us. As a people, Americans are very effectively gov
erned. In the last midterm election, less than half the populace
voted. Our age group was a particularly shameful 17 percent. The
prime AARP bracket of 65-75 had 63 percent turn out. Because
AARP votes they get what they want: Medicare. Social Security,
and firm handshakes from actual politicians visiting nursing homes
tives we got.
Jerry: You and your facts don't impress me. Stack. You can quote all the numbers you want, but 43 per
cent of people know that 62 percent of statistics are more than 81 percent inaccurate 94 percent of the time.
The problems with our democracy cannot be fixed easily enough for us to even try. When America’s not
going the way you want you do the reasonable thing and go to Canada. When democracy's not going well
you give up on it like any other moderately difficult problem. There are plenty of other forms of govern
ment where lack of participation is a good thing. Remember that it’s the lazy people who don’t vote that
makes your opinion count, so show a little respect.
Logan: Those statistics are from census.gov - they have the ballots, they know how many people voted...
at least in the states north of Florida. I admit that the problems our republic has are difficult to solve - and
that moving to Canada is an easy way out. However, those of us staying here should vote. There is no sys
tem of government where participation by the educated is a bad thing. We’re not going to get honest politi
cians. But if we vote, maybe we can get some who will actually represent us.
Jerry: Your ideas are spectacularly misinformed and you're a bad citizen for thinking them. Things would
be even worse if politicians represented us. Currently they are out for their own interests and, by proxy, the
interests of their financiers. If they started representing their constituents, people who are currently content
tcomplain and be productive little sheep would get the false hope that they can change things. It
noticed, society is responsible for all sorts of problems; people say so all the time. If the gov
ernment were accountable to the public, we’d force them to make all kinds of bad decisions - like civil
rights and logically consistent laws. How can we blame society and then trust its vote?
Logan: Wait, what? Civil rights and logically consistent laws would be a good thing. I hear they have them
in some other countries. Finland had 73 percent voter turnout, with more than half of our age demograph
ic voting; they have no tuition fees for college or troops in Iraq. We could have nice things if we told politi-
The Behrend Beacon
Published weekly by the students ol Penn State Behrend
Bun Bumr.Nn
eacon
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Penn State Erie,
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Jerry Pohl
Jerry: Your understanding of politics is clearly
gleaned from a syphilitic mental patient. Other
countries are only doing so well because of the
stability America provides. How does America
provide that stability? By doing whatever is
right regardless of other countries’ leaders’ or
peoples’ objections/Other countries don’t vote
on what America does, why should Americans?
These other countries complain about America
all the time and the liberal media eats it up with
the silver spoons they’ve had in their mouths
since birth. Maybe the complaints of American
citizens would carry this much clout if we did
n’t waste our opinion voting. You can either
vote, and have your opinion diluted with every
one else’s, or you can reserve your judgment for
when it’s too late - hindsight is 20/20, though it
could use some snazzy, rose-colored specs. If
you don’t vote, you preserve your right to com
plain about things that aren’t partly your fault,
because you didn’t vote for them. If you vote,
you have no right to complain.
Logan: Iraq was a stable country before we
invaded, and was progressive for a Middle
Eastern authoritarian state. Sometime you should count the number of South American states that were sta
ble until we funded a reactionary, military coup d'etat. The rest of the world has good reason to complain
about us. Americans should vote on policy because other countries aren’t willing to go to war with us to
get us to do the right thing, and our government isn’t afraid to bum bridges. You can still complain about
politicians if you voted for them - they're known for backstabbing their constituents. The betrayal makes
for a better story, so the media will cover you more than someone making general complaints. Jerry, peo
ple like you should have enough conviction in your ideals that you can ask for something of your repre
sentatives. Complaining about poor decisions while offering no opinion is not productive. It’s cowardly
because you ask others to risk their ego on an opinion that could be wrong, reserving the right to criticize
while forwarding no ideas of your own.
Jerry: It's people like you, Logan, that keep democracy on life support with your voting, let it die
with...l'm sure there's some dignity in a back room somewhere. By not voting I’m voting against the sys
tem. Every vote that isn’t cast is one more person saying, “No democracy for me,” and we make up the
majority. If you really believed in democracy you'd support the will of the people and end this electoral
charade.
Logan: Jerry... you’re right. Half this country doesn’t want democracy - they’ve voted for it by not vot
ing. I guess that means they won't mind being ruled by the other half. The voting half consists of a small
number of interested citizens, America's diminutive intelligentsia, the AARP, and the religious extremists
voting Jo amend gay marriage/abortion/evolution in schools. That last group concerns me because
they’ll elect anyone that supports their religious views, not caring a whit about their other views - like
invading sovereign nations or giving even more money to the upper 1 percent with tax cuts and pro-busi
ness legislation.
Jerry: Logan... you’re wrong! But, since I agree with everything you just said, I must be wrong too; which
means we’re both wrong and this has all been pointless.... Just like voting! Ha! I win!
Dear Editor.
I’d like to thank Jessica Tyndall for stating that I should not judge others. I was wrong to make the judgment that all Behrend
students who read the Humor Page of the Beacon understand the statement “Disclaimer: All articles are for entertainment pur
poses only,” which is printed at the bottom of the page each week. Apparently, all Behrend students do not understand this
disclaimer. Perhaps a disclaimer such as “People who can’t take a joke should avoid this page” or “If your talent for detecting
sarcasm in printed material is craptastic, skip this page” would rectify the situation.
In lieu of this, I also need to stop assuming that when readers of the Beacon write letters to the Editor they know that two
important things to include in said letters are the correct title and quotes from the article. 'I guess some people were absent from
class the day a lesson called “correct information helps others take an argument seriously” was taught.
I will make a conscious effort to acknowledge that my sarcastic judgments and assumptions, such as the ones stated above,
can be wrong. However, you’ll have to excuse me because that effort won’t make it to my Humor Page articles.
Smooches,
Liz Cybulski (aka “The person who wrote” Random Rants and Ramblings on the HUMOR PAGE)
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Mallory Blasic/ THE BEHREND BEACON
Friday, November 3, 2006
dans they’d be out of office if they didn’t rep
resent us. Corporations can be sued if they don’t
do everything in their power to make more
money. That doesn’t encourage a conscience.
They’re not going to do what is right for socie
ty.