Student Voters: We Gained a President; What Did We Lose?

The excited and jumbled voices of the newscasters echoed off the walls, through the thick doors and down the empty dorm hallways.

On any other day, students would set up camp in the open study room in the dorm lobby with their laptops and 10-pound textbooks, studying feverishly for the next day’s exam. But on this night, Boston University students were settled in their own dorm rooms, turning the televisions on full blast, checking the polls online and anticipating the race that would turn out to be a historic presidential election.

This was a huge moment for us. Those campaign posters of Gore/Bush/Nader that we proudly displayed on our residence hall windows finally were going to mean something. Those handmade fliers we made to protest and support were finally going to count. We were about to reap the fruits of our efforts from trudging out into the crisp November air to the voting centers on the opposite ends of campus.

If there ever was an election that would demonstrate to students the importance of their presidential vote, no doubt this was the one. The shouting and groaning grew louder as the state vote counts came in at around 10 p.m. in the East, and we each smiled to ourselves in our dorm rooms when the person across the hall shouted in exasperation, “No-o-o-o!” Most of us finally drifted off to sleep in the early-morning hours, reluctant to turn off Katie Couric or to shut down our computers, afraid that we would miss the most important statement of this year.

Although the final verdict has been announced and George W. Bush has won the election, it still feels unbelievably tentative. The two weeks after the votes came in were absolutely torturous to us, except for those who had voted for Nader and didn’t care about the Democrats or the Republicans.

The morning after, Boston University’s student newspaper published an article about how angry some students from Florida were that they weren’t able to vote in their hometown, for it certainly would have made a difference.

The election is over and we got bored a long time ago. We have stopped watching the news before going to bed, no longer eager to hear the latest quarrels between party lawyers.

True, we’ve gained a new president, but we’ve also lost hope in our nation and our democratic voice that we struggled so hard to project over politicians and adults. This election has demonstrated to us that the popular vote doesn’t matter.

Despite our enthusiasm, we were shown nothing but major flaws in the system. Feeling cheated and discouraged, we now tackle the question: “Why bother? Why bother to vote in four years when our vote now means nothing? What’s the point?”

There is a point. Isn’t there a saying that if you don’t succeed, try again? Of course, there are major aspects of the voting process that must be amended or deleted altogether. Do away with the electoral college? Hold a reelection simply between Bush and Gore? Vote by using a touch-tone telephone or a Web site?

Unfortunately, it’s not up to students to decide, but it is up to us whether or not we should continue to positively support our country. As cliched as it might sound, our voting troubles are nothing compared to communist China or Vietnam. The fact that a voting system even exists is reason enough for us to participate.

There tends to be a general sentiment of disillusionment among our youth when it comes to politics. We understand that the days of the Honest Abe politicians are over, and we have entered an era in which presidential scandal is commonplace.

We sit in our dorm rooms and discuss politics and say we’ll vote for a candidate because he is the lesser of two evils; it’s true, we’re a very cynical group. The problem is that cynicism doesn’t lead anywhere and perpetuates itself to the point where it seems all we ever do is complain.

Although the state of politics does make it difficult to be optimistic, we at least can look at this year’s election results as a wake-up call for the apathetic.

The fact that the popular vote winner wasn’t elected this year only shows us the direness of the situation. It has shown us that if all we can ever contribute to politics are whines and complaints, our worst nightmares can be realized.

The problem with our generation is that we do have a tendency to take things for granted. After all, our liberty hasn’t seemed threatened since World War II. Therefore we may fail to realize that our country is indeed the leader of the free world.

We have sheltered ourselves with walls of bitterness toward the government and forget that in some countries even discontent is considered a crime. Sitting and complaining hasn’t worked yet to change our country, so why continue using that technique?