Civic Issue Blog

What I Care About

I Just Registered To Vote

Yes, you heard me correctly. Despite the upcoming election, I did not register to vote
right on my 18th birthday. I did not even plan on voting in the election because I
thought it was a waste of time and that I did not even like any of the candidates. So why
did I just do it now? It’s because my parents highly encouraged me to, even if my vote
goes against theirs.

Source: Swarthmore

My parents gave me a lecture on how it is my civic duty to vote in the election many
times, but if I do not like any of the candidates, then what is the point. They then said
that it is about choosing the lesser of the two evils, to which I then replied, “Why are two
evils trying to run my country?”

A lot of students are pressured by their parents to vote for who they want them to, but
that may drive them to vote against them out of spite. Like I posted about in the last
article, people vote against things more than they do for them. I know that I absolutely
do not agree with my parents’ views and will probably vote against them in the election
unless something drastic happens with the other side, but that may be a different story
for other kids.
Source: CNN

Some kids are even affected by their friend group. If they say something that goes
against their friends’ views, then they might be labeled as something they’re not. I know
that my friend group all happens to be the opposite position that I hold so I refrain from
talking about politics with them.

Even with this coronavirus pandemic going on the people are still being railed up about
the election and who is the best Democratic candidate to go up against Trump. I think
that people need to start to put the politics aside and just focus on the present
quarantine situation.  If there is no one around to vote for the future president then all
of this arguing will be useless.

But back to the scenario when kids get influenced by their parents. Kids need to form
their own opinions based on what they believe is the best possible scenario. We don’t
want kids to be exact replicas of their parents like in the Progressive commercials.

I do not care if you vote or not. Vote if you want to but it is not the end of the world if
you refuse.

Sources:

CNN

CDC