|
Students should attend candidates' public forums
Students have a unique opportunity to participate in their state government this week when two gubernatorial candidates, Tim Penny and Roger Moe are scheduled to visit the university.
In the past, students have offered a variety of excuses explaining their lack of involvement in state and federal government, and the small student voter turnout.
One of these excuses is accessibility.
Government officials and the inner workings of the legislature often seem out of reach to students, but this week when Penny and Moe appear on campus, this old excuse can finally be put to rest..
Students don't even have to leave campus to see the faces of those who want to govern. They need only take a seat in Atwood, which the majority of students pass through anyway during the day, and listen.
Moe and Penny will be available for students who wish to ask questions and learn about their government. This is not an opportunity many people have.
To not visit the candidates and hear their platforms is a sign of irresponsibility as an informed citizen, a learning student and an active member of society.
Students who do not attempt to understand how their government works, or those who play a key role in it are cheating themselves.
They are denying themselves the chance to play an active role in determining the outcome of governmental processes.
They are sentencing themselves to lives that are controlled, instead of taking control of their lives.
And they silence their own concerns by not making their voices heard.
The way the American government was designed, "by the people, for the people" requires the participation of all the people in order for it to be fully effective. Students who feel their opinions don't count are missing the point.
Direct involvement is not the only way to be involved. Government officials like the gubernatorial candidates scheduled to appear in our very own backyard are merely instruments of the people, tools of the government, who are here to fulfill that grand design of the forefathers of the American government.
They are here to hear the people and represent the people. Now really all "the people" have to do, is show up.
|
|
|
|
|
|
