Both Democratic front runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have rolled up their Ivy League sleeves and logged onto one of the most popular Web sites in the college community: Facebook.
But how dirty will the 2008 presidential candidates get in their search for young supporters?
For the past few weeks, the media have provided an open forum for mudslinging.
Media are either pointing out the fact that Obama’s great-great-something grandfather might have been a slaveholder or that voting for Clinton is a two-for-one deal.
The race for the 2008 presidency should not be a joke, it should not be a sensational headline stamped on the front page of every newspaper in the country, it should not be an embellished news package displayed on news programs across America, and it most certainly should not be an advertisement on a social network used to meet, greet and communicate with friends and peers.
The 2008 election should be what it is – a close-knit campaign to protect and defend the cornerstone of American society: freedom.
Why, then, are politicians, news programs and Americans in general turning this election into a dramatic battle of race, gender and personal background?
Because drama sells, sex sells, scandal sells.
Especially to a generation known for its “mobility,” for its ingenuousness, for its historically tapering passion and interest in presidential campaigns.
In an article printed in the Lawrence Journal World, Associated Press writer Donna Cassata reported, “More than half of the people in the United States age 18 to 24 who are eligible to vote typically are no-shows on Election Day. By comparison, some 70 percent of those 45 and older cast their ballots.”
This is a startling number considering the dynamics of a presidential election: the person we elect will, in essence, control our country, our lives and ideally, preserve our way of life. Yet so many of us remain silent.
Celebrities across the country have tried to encourage our generation to go out and vote.
Faces like P. Diddy, Justin Timberlake and even Ricky Martin have shown their support for the campaign “Rock the Vote,” which is a non-profit political advocacy organization founded with the goal of promoting youth voter turnout.
But these tactics have done very little to encourage our generation to get interested, to get involved and to read up about those leaders who might head our country in the future.
Now is not the time for our generation to be lazy, to be na’ve, to sit back and expect others to make the best decision regarding the future of our nation.
Now is the time for us to get involved, to listen and learn, to speak up, to walk to the ballot box, to cast our vote for the person we deem worthy of control of our country.
This election will be one for the history books; this election will be one to reflect the direction our country is headed in the future; this election will be one in which our generation cannot afford to ignore, to disregard, to pass over as unimportant, as typical, as habitual.
This election is just as important to our generation as it is to others, so why are we known as the age group that sits on the sidelines and watches its country change?
Politicians shouldn’t have to use Facebook to reach us – we should be the ones with our arms outstretched, trying to grab hold of a piece of our country that we can affect, that we can change.
We should be the ones rocking the vote.