Adult in Training

So some of you may know that I am a columnist for my school’s newspaper, The NewEnglander (and no, there shouldn’t be a space there).  It’s a pretty pimp job, I won’t lie.  Every two weeks they print my column, and my editor doesn’t give me any rules.  Whatever I’m thinking about, that’s what I get to write about, and that’s what they print.  I won’t lie, when I found out, I told practically everyone I saw.  Anyways.  Here’s the column that will be appearing in news stands (and by news stands I mean in piles around campus) tomorrow:

 I’ve lived part-time in the US now for five years.  And I still don’t really understand some things.  The electoral system is one of them.

Growing up in Canada, my family tried to instill in me the grand importance of voting.  And so, while there are some times I fail to see the merit of growing-up, I do secretly enjoy voting.  That, and buying lottery tickets, was the best part of turning 18.

So naturally, when I came to NEC in 2003, I thought it would be beneficial to try and understand American government.  I mean, this is supposed to be the most powerful country in the world.  The solution I came up with was to watch “The West Wing” every morning I didn’t have class.

I’m sure you can guess that while I was drawn in by the characters, I didn’t really learn that much about American government.  So the job fell to my friends to educate me. Except that when I asked them questions like: “Why are there so many candidates but only two parties?” or “Wait, so you vote twice?” and “So you vote, but it doesn’t really count…?” the answers were always vague.

Five years later, I still don’t really understand.  I know that right now the country is in the middle of the primaries.  But why doesn’t everyone vote on the same day?  That seems less time-consuming and less expensive for candidates. Also, what makes some of these candidates think that they can win?  Is there a limit to the number of candidates a party can support?  Because the answer to that question seems like: “Haha, no!”

And please, let’s not get started with the Elector College. Who thought that it made sense to let the people vote, but then have a fail-safe, so that if the people – those that your government is supposed to be of, by and for – get it wrong, a group of special individuals can ensure that the right person gets into office. That worked really well with the 2000 elections.  I mean, at least it gave Al Gore the time off to make “An Inconvenient Truth”.  So everyone wins I guess. 

It’s all so confusing!  No wonder most of my friends don’t vote.  At home, it’s easy.  There are five parties (six if you live Quebec).  Before Election Day, each party elects a leader.  Come Election Day (that’s right, everything happens in one day) you vote for a party.  The leader of the party with the most votes becomes Prime Minister.  And there you have it; the Canadian Parliamentary system in a nutshell.

So I’m sure you can understand the quandary I find myself in whenever I try to comprehend the hoopla that is going on right now.  I frequently turn to John Stewart and Steven Colbert for guidance.  I don’t think I could handle the “serious” news shows.  For one thing, they take longer than 15 minutes.  For another, they may as well be speaking another language most of the time.  At least I can count on a laugh when I watch “The Daily Show”.  I’m trying to break away from constantly wearing a confused frown, as I’m told it causes premature wrinkles, and at nearly 23, I am no longer what some may call “a spring chicken”.  

And so the learning odyssey continues.  Although, if I am honest, I don’t think that I will be able to fully understand things by the time I leave in May.  But maybe, if I’m lucky, I can convince my friends to vote. Because even though I don’t understand everything, I understand enough to realize that democracies only work when people get involved.  Or, if you prefer the words of my mother: “If you don’t vote, you don’t have the right to complain.”