Voting Seems More Chore Than Privilege

Her face mimicked that of a newly licensed 16-year-old finding a shiny Mustang with a red bow in the driveway. She glowed with excitement, casually leaning on the lectern amid the clutter of lesson plans, conjugation dictionaries and quizzes.

My Spanish teacher, born and raised in Argentina, finally will be able to cast her first ballot as a U.S. citizen in November. As she enthusiastically spoke of her newly granted citizenship, I was all ears, but it was a struggle to relate to her happiness.

Ironically, I am floating in the same boat as my Argentine teacher. I also will be able to register to vote in the upcoming election, yet the word November strikes thoughts of Thanksgiving and orange leaves, not voting booths and inaugurations.

I am not apathetic. I read Time magazine weekly and participate in candidate discussions in my government class. I watch the news coverage and pay attention to bumper stickers. Yet, my knowledge never crosses the line; it never metamorphoses from facts to feelings in my heart. It probably will be difficult to translate my data onto a slip of paper.

I can’t make a decision when I have an opinion on nothing. Perhaps I’ll abstain from voting. Apparently, my views aren’t that removed from others my age. According to Rock the Vote, a coalition dedicated to democratic youth participation, 1996 marked a staggering collapse; only 32% of the youth of America between 18 and 24 voted.

This will be our first voting experience. My Spanish teacher is so ecstatic. I am so unsure.

She’s a mother with children in college. I’m off to Boston University next year.

She emigrated from Argentina, and I am an American-born Chinese.

Perhaps the contrast justifies our opposite political emotions. It is not our difference in age. Young people are not unresponsive; we just don’t know.

The United States is my birthplace, and I live in a middle-class family where I have my own car, my own room and a monthly allowance. I’ve never experienced a communist raid in Vietnam or stood in line for bread in the former Soviet Union. Nor have I ever left siblings behind in an iron-fisted country.

I cannot perceive how to appreciate my freedom and voice in a democracy, and I unfortunately, unlike my Spanish teacher, take my right of choice for granted. Voting seems no longer a privilege but a chore.

Perchance our lack of enthusiasm and appreciation stems from a lack of a clear vision of what politics involve. In fifth grade, when George Bush and Ross Perot were running for president, my teacher assembled a red, white and blue ballot box. We were to vote on small scraps of paper for our favorite candidate.

Most of us picked Bush because of our parents. Some of us picked Perot because of his ears. Such simplicity is all we comprehended.

In today’s presidential elections, we know we are interested in stricter gun laws and support government-funded health care programs, yet we don’t grasp what becomes of our opinions. For example, we see that finance and lobbying are involved and that some officials support certain things in order to be elected for the next term. We can answer yes or no, but we can’t answer how or what or when.

Young people are capable of taking a stand and gaining a new sense of appreciation for American democracy, yet the presidential process must expand to fit the needs of younger generations.

How are we expected to vote when, even in our local city measures, a yes vote can mean no, and a no vote can mean yes? The first step in raising participation is to raise comprehension.

Political reading materials appear as foreign jargon; they don’t make sense. Facts must be clear for us to grasp what exactly we are supporting and why we are taking part in the voting process.

Campaigning must scream out to young people and demonstrate that national issues are as personal as our own family conflicts. No more bad-mouthing other candidates. We need to see respect between political parties or we lose respect for them.

No more commercials with smiling politicians in classrooms and handshaking with the elderly. We crave original images. We want politicians hugging children with AIDS, helping out at a soup kitchen or picking up trash. These issues are in our own backyard. We have relatives suffering from HIV, and we’ve volunteered at soup kitchens, and we care about our oceans and beaches.

I will be able to vote this November, so I’ll keep reading my weekly Time and counting bumper stickers and watching the news. I have a long way to go before understanding every tidbit about Al Gore and George W. Bush, but I’m willing to try my best at decoding strange vocabulary and phrasing.

I hope that someday young people will be able to approach that voting booth as if they were granted U.S. citizenship just two days before election day.