Apathy and Politics

Thinking about thinking

American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson once said, “In politics, an organized minority is a political majority.” Nearby Brady Township, in their recent elections, has shown that the minority need not even know they are in the race. It must be a fluke — or is it the beauty? — inherent in the democratic process which allowed student Jon Knepp to be elected Brady Township Auditor.
Knepp, a senior, told me he likes to write his own name in the blank ballot spaces when no one is running for the position. He finds it humorous to think that someone will have to count the single vote.
Jon’s mother, knowing that he does this, thought it would be funny to tell him she wrote in his name as well. The real joke is that Knepp was elected to township office with only two votes.
Knepp explained his duties, “The auditor oversees the financial transactions of a township.” It is a paid six year position. Knepp admitted that he has no experience auditing. He only said, “I plan to audit to the best of my auditing capabilities.”
Granted, no one was actually running for the position, however, Knepp was elected with at least twice as many votes as any other possible candidate. The landslide demonstrates how easy it is for any uncommitted and unqualified candidate to be elected, at least in a relatively small township. Knepp said, “This just shows how rampant voter apathy is, but also that people who say they can’t effect government are just wrong.”
It can be acknowledged that Brady Township is only a specific example, but if voters are not interested in running for office at the local level, it makes one curious to know how these same voters feel about national government. Knepp suggested, “Even if you don’t run a campaign, you can still be elected and if people knew this maybe they wouldn’t be so apathetic and positions wouldn’t go unfilled.”
Knepp and I reminisced back to the notorious 2000 presidential election. The election was riding on a couple hundred votes in Florida, a state where voter participation was low. Knepp suggested, “If people felt they were more involved at a local level then they would be more confident on a national level and we could really make some changes.”
Democracy may not be the perfect political system we envision. It is interesting to wonder if in the 21st century there will be a new form of government implemented to deal with our ever changing culture, ideals and dare it be mentioned, our apathy. For now however, it is the system which we have in place and emphasizing the positive aspects of the system is very important.
With the airwaves electrified by coverage of the 2008 Presidential campaigns I can only hope to persuade every student of age to take advantage of their opportunity to vote. The beauty of democracy is that every individual is involved.
Yet, increasing voter participation is a problematic issue in the United States. Enormous efforts from nonpartisan groups like the League of Women Voters and Rock the Vote are applaudable. Nevertheless, the problem persists. Is this seriously a problem stemming from apathy or is there something else?
The American essayist from Pennsylvania Agnes Repplier once said, “Democracy forever teases us with the contrast between its ideals and its realities, between its heroic possibilities and its sorry achievements.”
There is a vague feeling within our generation, an apathetic political mentality far from the ideals of democracy which needs to be questioned. I have heard many students express their disinterest in politics. Is this because people feel insignificant in national elections? Knepp commented, “Those people are only insignificant because they make themselves insignificant.”
Knepp has no plans to run for public office in the future. In fact he told me that he really has no interest in politics. However Knepp did say, “If I continue to see such apathy I may continue to write myself in and maybe I’ll squeeze out another win.”

ryan hamilton
-taken from Dec. 13th issue of the Juniatian.

Time travel and global warming

Thinking about thinking

The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was recently awarded, jointly, to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore. The award was given in recognition of the effort to spread knowledge about climate change. To learn more about this controversial and important issue, I knew my research would need to be unconventional.
Without a moment hesitation, I fired up my hybrid time machine and embarked on an epic adventure to get the down low on global warming and possible solutions. Who better to ask than those great minds and influential leaders of our past?
Of course, I made my first stop ancient Greece; an appointment with the man often noted as the father of western thought. In typical form, Plato replied, “Global warming is not the worst that can happen to men.” Aristotle was only slightly more helpful. He said, “The gods too are fond of a joke, but global warming isn’t very funny.”
Without any tangible solutions from ancient Greece, I decided to hop, skip and jump forward in time to visit my other favorite philosophers. I found Descartes sitting in a leather armchair in his study. When asked for his thoughts on global warming he replied, “I think the earth is warming, therefore it is.” Nietzsche only forcefully grumbled, “Global warming is dead.”
In hopes of finding a solution, I revved up my time machine once again. Shakespeare lamented, “I wasted resources and now doth my resources waste me.” Emerson was certain, “The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of global warming.”
It seems that the issue of global warming falls into the hands of us all. However, little can be accomplished if world leaders are not engaged. With this in mind, I decided to ask past American presidents for their perspective. Thomas Jefferson said, “When in the course of human events it is no longer possible to live with global warming it becomes necessary for a people to remove global warming from their society.”
Jumping back into my time machine I arrived in the 20th century to talk with John F. Kennedy. His advice, “Ask not what you can do for global warming, but what global warming can do for you.” Franklin D. Roosevelt explained, “We have nothing to fear but global warming itself.”
Nixon declined to comment. Storming away I heard him exclaim, “I am not a dirty polluter.” When I arrived to talk with Reagan he was in the middle of a speech. “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Seeing me in the audience he added, “And use it to seed a coral reef in the Caribbean.”
At that moment I thought, when the future of the entire world is at stake, the megalomaniacs of the past will certainly have an opinion. Hitler was adamant, “We need to stop global warming or it will conquer the world before we do.” Napoleon was busy, but took a moment to say, “Global warming is a set of lies agreed upon.”
Ironically, my time was running out. With desperation, I punched the random time travel button. Gandhi said, “Whatever you do about global warming will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.” Benjamin Franklin commented, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes and global warming.” Martin Luther’s solution, “Pray and let God worry about global warming.”
Back in 2007 once again, I felt there was still insight to be found. In an unprecedented feat of diplomacy and plot levering I convinced George Bush, Tony Blair and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to meet me at Boxers in Huntingdon. As we waited for President Bush and former Prime Minister Blair, I sipped a beer. Ahmadinejad said, “In Iran we don’t have global warming like in your country. Iran emits no CO2. I don’t know who told you that.” He promptly got up and left.
Sadly, my other two guests never arrived. It looked like I was on my own. The words of Einstein came to mind. “Do not worry about your difficulties with global warming, I assure you that mine are still greater.” It was late in the day, the sun had set, I could only finish my beer and begin the walk home.

*Ryan Hamilton
- From November 30 issue of Juniatian