You’re Going to Vote Republican & You’re Going to Like It

I was talking on the phone with my mom the other day when she informed me that my grandparents were going around to the whole family, especially the grandkids, who they must think are very impressionable and needing of guidance, and informing them to register to vote and to vote Republican in this year’s election.

My mom said that she’d pass along the statement to me, but that my grandparents should just be thankful that I wasn’t registered to vote. Oh, they certainly should! I’m somewhat glad they seemed to want her to pass along the plea to me, because had they done it straight to me I don’t think I could’ve faked my way through the conversation in a nice manner and telling your grandparents to “fuck off” is probably not the easiest thing to come back from.

There are so many directions that I could take this piece from this point that I’m not really sure where to go or where I should start, so this post is most certainly going to be a rambling string of stream of consciousness.

“You need to register to vote and vote Republican.”

You know I don’t really mind my grandparents or anybody else for that matter telling me that I need to register to vote, which I’m not. As one co-worker told me this week it’s my civic duty. Well, that may be the case, but it’s still nobody’s business, but my own. I’m glad that this country allows its citizens the freedom to vote, but it’s rightfully up to everybody to decide whether or not they want to. I don’t agree with that co-worker’s assertion that everybody should have to be registered to vote.

Why am I not registered to vote?

There are really multiple reasons, some of them good, some of them not. I’ll list three of them for the purposes of this piece (despite the fact that this isn’t really the reason why my grandparents’ statement is irritating as all hell.)

1. I’m really not all that political. This may come as a shock to many who frequently read my stuff or who know me as I always seem to have an opinion on things, especially those things that many people deem political. A lot of political topics just don’t interest me … at least at this time and place in my life (they may or may not develop as life goes on). I don’t care about fiscal issues, which seems to be a big one for many (especially conservatives). I care about human rights issues. I believe everybody should have the same rights and stuff along those lines.

2. My vote doesn’t matter. I know they say that every vote matters, but it’s simply not the case. If I were registered to vote my vote in the 2012 Presidential election would be cast for President Barack Obama. Living in Arkansas and voting for President Obama essentially wouldn’t mean a damn thing, except for personal reasons. Voting for President Obama in the incredibly conservative state of Arkansas, whom the majority of its people would probably rather see assassinated than re-elected, would simply be a waste of time. The personal significance of it wouldn’t mean enough for me to actually do it … which leads to my third point.

3. I’m too lazy (this is admittedly one of the not good reasons). If my vote won’t amount to anything in this state than why would I waste my time not only in voting, but also in registering to vote?

Now, I know my reasoning will and probably has already turned off a lot of the readers, whether they are conservative or liberal. Someone reading this right now is certainly thinking that I’m a horrible American. I’ll tell you what my mom told my grandparents, “just be thankful I’m not voting.”

I’m thinking I should have gotten to the main point of this piece and why what my grandparents said really pissed me off before my reasoning for not being registered to vote, but maybe somebody is still reading.

 

“You need to register to vote and vote Republican.”

My grandparents want me to vote Republican because they vote Republican. They want me to vote Republican because the entire family votes Republican. They want me to vote Republican because in their small-minded view Republican is right and Democrat is wrong. Conservative is purity and truth. Liberalism is villainy and falsehoods.

There is freedom to choose who you want to vote for in this country (or in my case not vote for) and nobody should attempt to persuade or force your hand into voting for somebody simply because they want that person in office over another. I’ll be 25 years old next month. I’m old enough and smart enough to make up my own mind and make my own decisions. I don’t need senile senior citizens, who likely won’t survive through the term of whoever is elected President, to punch my ballot for me.

I think one of the problems with this country is this exact thing. People of my generation haven’t so much decided which political party or stances they want to take for themselves, but have been guided to them by their families. They vote Republican or Democrat because mom and dad vote Republican or Democrat. In an article I wrote for the University of Central Arkansas student newspaper, The Echo, in my final semester on staff political science professor Gary Wekkin called this “a legacy” and “hierarchical.” It’s the family’s predecessors making up the minds of the future generations. When this happens we’re basically no more than robots or pawns that are bred to do what our elders saw best fit. It’s incredibly wrong, but unfortunately it’s incredibly popular and in place in this country. This is the same reason why things like racism and prejudices will never die, they are passed down from generation to generation in families.    

People need to make their minds up for themselves. That’s why things like my grandparents said are ignorant and infuriating.

If not being registered to vote and not voting Republican in 2012 means that my grandparents are going to disown me then so be it. I don’t quite like being owned anyway, and that’s exactly what they’re trying to do.