Is it just me, or has this election turned into something more along the lines of a prime-time television special? I can hear the tagline now: “A tragic saga of an agonizing tug-of-war between two presidential candidates for the state of Florida. Both are willing to sacrifice anything, including their pride, for a few hundred votes. But only one will win ”
Find us a couple of corporate sponsors and we can market this thing and start making some money off of it. I’m surprised Fox hasn’t jumped on this one yet. Give it a couple of years and there will be a USA original movie about it.
It’s become a joke for my friends and me. I thought an election was supposed to be an organized, distinguished process by which the American population chooses its president, not a source of amusement for the rest of the world. The last time I saw people act the way Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore are acting, I was 6 years old fighting over a Tonka dump truck with my little brother. The only difference is they’re facing higher stakes and are using bigger words.
“I feel that Al Gore is a sore loser,” elementary education sophomore Carissa Becker said. “The recount has been done a few times now, and for the majority of them, Bush has been declared the winner.”
But education sophomore Emily Perhay understands Gore’s refusal to concede.
“Each party wants the presidency,” she said. “All of this bickering and lawsuits are needed due to the lack of accuracy within this election. Wouldn’t you (fight) if you were running for a position so important?”
I understand why they are fighting. If I were going for something as important as the presidency, I wouldn’t let something like this go without a fight either. But I feel they really should back off and let the system work this thing out the way it was designed to, instead of trying to swing it in their direction with lawsuits and recounts.
“There is the upheaval due to the discrepancies between the Electoral College and popular vote,” Perhay said. “It seems as if the voice of the people has been compromised. This election has pretty much taken away any credibility that can be attributed to the United States’ ballot system, and it has me curious as to the possible changes that may take place with the Electoral College system.”
With all of these circles they’re chasing each other around in Florida, both presidential candidates are taking their credibility out back and emptying a couple of rounds into it. It’s ridiculous. Do we really care any more?
I do and I don’t.
Yes, I would still like the candidate I voted for to win because I still care about where this country goes. After all, this country will soon be in our hands and I would like it to be in somewhat good shape by the time we get it. But I have grown very tired of all of these shenanigans going on in Florida.
Florida isn’t the only problem. Quite a few things have gone wrong with the election.
“I think that during election night, the media should not have been able to broadcast results as they came in,” she said. “This can influence voters in other time zones who haven’t voted yet.”
I think we ought to hand this one over to the House and forget all of these recounts and lawsuits and circus acts.
So, do we really care?
“I do care about the election, but I would probably care more if I had actually voted, but I do care,” Becker said.
And a large number of my friends, classmates and neighbors do still care. We just want to see it over with.
Hensley can be reached at hensleya@msu.edu.
