So in a few weeks when everybody else is figuring out John or George you're going to be renting DVDs because election coverage has messed up your typical Tuesday night television schedule, eh? You are uneducated and unopinionated and just don't want to bother with that clunky information brochure. Besides, what does one little vote really mean in this post-Florida, apathetic era, right? Life will just take care of itself. Or, will it?
Today is the first day of the rest of your life. At the very least, it is the last day for you to complain about anything for the next four years. If you do not register to vote by today, your whines and complaints deserve to fall on deaf ears.
Maybe you don't have any reason to offer an opinion on the way American life will be shaped. You must have no need for birth control, health care, Social Security or stem cell research. Your life has never been touched by prayer in school, the death penalty, criminal charges, a living wage or tax credits for children and marriage. You probably don't care when your friends can't get married because they're gay or your children start having sex. Ever adopt an animal at the human society, need mental health services or say the Pledge of Allegiance? Ever fill out an organ donor card or smoke in public? Wonder why police are scarce and crime is rampant? Do you think shoes bought over the Internet should be taxed, that cancer patients should be allowed to smoke marijuana or that parking tickets are just way too expensive?
Ever damn the president, praise the mayor, wonder why library hours are short and the park grass looks unmowed? Ever get frustrated when the University of California slams its door in your face and when junior colleges just don't seem to offer the same curriculum as years past? Ever count how many of your former high school classmates were shipped over to Afghanistan and Iraq? I bet you gasped when the vehicle license fees tripled and sighed with relief when they were rolled back.
You breathe, don't you? Trying worry about smog. You care that trees provide the paper this news is printed on or your cup of coffee is poured into at the corner coffee shop. Do you think gas is a tad expensive lately? What if water is potentially knocked out if the terrorists show up? Oh, yes, the terrorists. Remember 9/11?
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Ever take a trip to the emergency room or get rear-ended by an uninsured motorist? Ever contemplate why there is a luxury tax on alcohol and cigarettes? You've probably never been searched at an airport or known anyone who abused ephedrine. Downloading music and taking an AIDS test are not likely on your radar screen. Is it strange that so many new high school graduates seem to have no basic grasp of spelling or writing?
Pro-union or anti-labor? Yay on welfare or down with subsidized health care? Big on pesticides or hate organic fruit? What do you think when telemarketers call during the dinner hour or your name appears on bizarre mailing lists? Think you can provide for elderly parents or a child with a developmental disability? Fan of national parks or wish for more high-rise developments?
Enron? Electricity? Unrest in the Middle East? States rights? The Patriot Act? Future Supreme Court Justice appointees?
You're right. None of that's important. You have no reason at all to vote.
Michelle Durand's column "Off the Beat" runs every Monday and Thursday. She can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 104. What do you think of this column? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.