With just a few days to go before the election, I am proud to say that I voted today. I filled out my absentee ballot and turned it in. I am also proud to say that I am, for the first time in a long time, feeling cautiously optimistic about the outcome of this particular election.
I turned 18 just a few weeks before the 2000 presidential election, and I was so excited to cast my ballot and take part in the political process. I followed the election closely, and made an informed decision, then sat back and watched the democratic process crumble before my eyes. For four years I seethed under the governance of a president that I did not vote for and that was not elected by the people, only to see him get elected by the people the second time around, thanks to a lackluster opposing candidate who did not stand up for himself and did not know how to inspire people. At the start of this election cycle, I found that I had grown cynical. My voice had not been heard before, and the party in which I placed my trust seemed weak and ineffective, unable to stand up to a bullying opponent who had been able to convince so many people to go against their own best interests for as long as I had been paying attention to politics.
But somehow, this election ended up being different. The Democrats finally managed to field a young, inspiring candidate who was not willing to back down in the face of mudslinging and personal attacks. I watched as the Democratic convention came to my home town, as the state that I lived in became a major swing state after voting Republican for so long, and as friends and family members finally were willing to discuss politics in a positive light. Obama's messages of hope and change do not only apply to what he promises to bring to the Presidency, they apply to his campaign, and to what he has done for the Democratic party and the way that people view and talk about the political process.
I am still only cautiously optimistic in regards to the outcome on Election Day, however, because I have experienced nothing but disappointment so far. I am sure that many other young people my age feel the same way. The pride I felt participating in my first presidential election was shattered when the decision was made not by the people but by the Supreme Court, and my faith in Americans to make good choices was dashed in my second presidential election in 2004. To make matters worse, the Colorado ballot is proposing an Amendment this year, the first in the nation, that would legally define a human being as a "person" from the moment of conception, which, due to the highly generalized wording of the amendment, would make abortions and most forms of birth control illegal in my home state. This concerns me greatly because our state very easily passed an amendment banning gay marriage several years ago, and with the lack of avertisement for the current amendment, I am very much afraid that it will pass without much resistance and really screw up people's lives. Additionally, as an atheist, I often feel disenfranchised by a political system that loves to use us as boogeymen and paint us as evil, immoral, and unAmerican. I don't know if any of that will change any time soon, but I am doing my best, in my own small way, to stand up and make my voice heard.
