by Chrissy Zehrbach
Editor in Chief
I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that I’m glad the election is finally over.
It’s been a long couple of months leading up to election day and I just about lost my mind too many times listening to arguments or complaints about politics.
Now that the results are in, these conversations are dying down and I’m relieved. Sure there are people complaining about results, etc., but I’m hoping they’ll get over it soon.
Other complaints have been about the electoral college. But I’d just like to mention that it should not be a complaint this year because Bush won both the popular vote and the electoral vote. Kerry didn’t give up – he didn’t have a chance.
Many were also either awaiting or hoping for a recount, but there were no big problems this year that would warrant the hassle of a recount. If anything, we should be relieved.
I just have one last complaint of my own about the election this year, and I swear it’s the last one and it’s a little one, so bear with me.
My complaint is celebrity participation. Why is it that celebrities think they can either sign people up to vote or persuade a person to vote their way simply because of their fame? Even worse, why do people do it?
Seriously, if you voted for someone because the Dave Matthews Band headlined a concert, or signed up to vote because P. Diddy told you to vote or die, what were you thinking?
And what really gets to me about the latter campaign is that it was supported by 50 Cent, Ludacris and Paris Hilton, yet none of them voted on Tuesday. In fact, Paris and 50 Cent weren’t even registered to vote – which we should probably be grateful for. Actually, I wouldn’t trust Paris to make an educated decision anyway.
This is hypocrisy at its best. Is it really that important to these celebrities to work hard to get people to vote if they won’t do it themselves?
So when is Paris going to die? That was the campaign, right? Vote or die. Well she didn’t vote.
For this election numerous celebrities fashioned Rock the Vote T-shirts, performed for a candidate’s campaign or simply spoke out about registering to vote. A certain local radio station told me just about every day to “register and KROQ the vote!” Does this really work?
Voter turnout was higher this year, among all age groups. The Associated Press cited the total voters at nearly 120 million people, accounting for 60 percent of eligible voters – an increase from 54 percent and 105.4 million voters in the 2000 election.
And while I have no idea if celebrity input had any effect whatsoever on that end result, and I kind of doubt it, it makes you wonder.
I guess if people are turning up to the polls because Ben Affleck told them to, well good for them, but I’d rather them have a mind of their own.
Instead of voting for someone because he or she was supported by your favorite celebrity or musician, do a little research on the issues and politicians. But if that doesn’t seem interesting to you, then don’t vote.
Celebrities may have their own agenda, but we should have our own opinions.
Does anyone else think it is odd that most of the propositions Gov. Schwarzenegger endorsed passed and those he didn’t failed? Do Californians have that much faith in their governor? Or do we simply have the same views? Or did we follow his lead because he’s the Terminator?
Just a couple things to ponder after the fact and maybe to make some changes upon for 2008.
Chrissy Zehrbach, a senior journalism major, is editor in chief of the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at sqweet@aol.com.