Opinion > August 28, 2008

By Hannah Werthan | Asst. opinion editor

As we enter the heart of the presidential election “season,” I find myself a little disgusted with the whole process.

At the age of 18, I’m finally beginning to watch my perception of democracy as this beautiful system of government crumble before my own eyes.

Yes, everything I learned in school has turned out to be completely wrong.

Well, maybe not completely wrong, but the real world has become a harsh reality.

Millions of Americans vote every four years based on misconceptions of each party or they don’t vote at all.

I honestly don’t know which scenario is worse.

This unbearably hot July, I went door-to-door asking people who they planned on voting for in the upcoming election.

Some people actually confided in me that they didn’t care who won.

I couldn’t believe how apathetic they seemed toward a very important election, which I feel every presidential election has been in recent years.

These annoyed homeowners then slammed the door in my face and probably said a few choice words after I had left.

Overall, I have noticed a disturbing amount of ignorance in this election, though I’m guessing every election has an equal amount of mindless drones to worry about.

People assume that they can get all the facts from a few hours of watching mindless TV.

After all, at seemingly every commercial break, each candidate has bought a 30-second time slot to fully convey the stereotypes of the competition.

These ads cost millions of campaign dollars to make and can easily turn votes because of these people.

However, I can’t honestly say I’m the most well-informed person either, so I have to take some responsibility.

Shame on me, too.

I am the typical college student who claims to be knowledgeable but has a lot to learn.

When I was an intern this summer for the Massachusetts Republican Party — yes, I promise it really exists — I learned an enormous amount about both major political parties both on the national and the (Massachusetts) state levels.

Many things I learned, I really think I should have known all along.

One day, someone called the office and asked me if the Republicans in the state were for removing the Massachusetts income tax.

With my general knowledge and assumptions of the Republican Party, I thought that they would definitely be behind the proposed change and assured the caller that “we” were backing the cause.

That was a mistake.

Little did I know that the Massachusetts Republicans are currently not supporting this movement.

Only the Libertarians were openly backing the bill.

Here I was, an intern for an actual political party, doling out false information without even realizing it.

The moral of this story is to not call your state political party looking for real answers. They might be as ignorant as I was when I answered the phone that day.

So where are we supposed to get real facts?

Maybe this is a sign that we need news channels with less flair and bias and more substance.

These days it’s especially hard to know who is telling the truth.

The expansion of internet coverage has been both good and bad.

On the one hand, information about the candidates is always updated and available.

However, the information might not exactly be accurate.

Also, candidates flip-flop on issues like there is no tomorrow.

I know, it’s all part of the ridiculous game politicians seem to be born knowing how to play.

But how do we know how loyal our candidates are going to be once they get elected and even more power-hungry than they already were?

That’s right — we have no idea what they are going to do.

A candidate can make up his policies and then drop them all once elected.

Worse yet, there is (practically) nothing we can really do about it once everything unfolds.

One more thing – why do Americans only have two real candidates on the ballot election after election?

Somehow, I’m stuck with old John McCain as the only choice for president in my mind.

Despite campaigning for him in dreary New Hampshire, I’m not the biggest fan.

Sure, the man is somewhat endearing, but somehow he manages to be both more conservative and more liberal than I am.

I think I need to start watching more mindless TV and just ignore these elections, if only I weren’t so stubbornly invested in watching dirty politics.

I think my life would be a lot less aggravating if I lived that way, but I guess I would be a hypocrite for promoting political activism.

So please learn up on the candidates, register to vote and actually follow through and try not to end up as jaded about the whole thing as I have accidentally become.

Hannah Werthan is a sophomore from Nashville, Tenn.