Voices in my Head

Some voices have to be listened to. Too many of them are being ignored these days. Apathy, especially political apathy, in our youth is being glorified and its antithesis, political interest and hunger are being made into crud.

Killing is bad and against the law. There is no question about it. But it is our job, the government's job to take action to make sure murder, assasination and other violent anti-social behavior seizing to exist. In order to do this, we mustn't take post-event action, but rather preventive action--to AVOID violence in the first place.

There is only one way to do this. The youth, especially minors under the age of 18 who do not have the right to vote, must be taken seriously by our government. They seem to not care for our opinion. If we're passive, we're sane. If not, we're crazy. We're lunatics. The same thing political scientists complain about, political apathy, is the thing that must be changed. Ignorance and apathy will not lead to a better State.

Grown adults should appreciate our ideas and political interests, not label them as "immature" and "premature." They are not. Hell, most of the kids on my block know more history, politics and economics than all the teachers in my school outside of the Social Studies department. No lie. And I'm from a blue-ribbon, upper-middle class suburb.

Consider the case of Jared Loughner. The man is a criminal--he has committed a crime against society. But, the impetus to do so was incubated by that very society. No one cared for his opinions. He was drawn to nihilism and asocialism because the very society he depended upon had rejected him. He was the good guy. He attended numerous political gatherings--he was politically active. He even spoke to his representative, who underestimated his mind and reduced his question to bits. Why? Simple. He didn't have a vote, why take him seriously?

Jared called his college an unconstitutional institution. It doesn't matter whether he was right or wrong, but according to CBS News, the man was pressured into quitting. That's right. Quitting on his educations just because of his problems with the system. Is this what our Democracy has turned to?

And that representative. Ignoring a member of her district. It may not be first-degree murder, but its still a crime. Moreover, and here's the best part, once she clears the hospital, she'll be seen as a hero. No doubt she'll be reelected. A clearly undeserving reward.

My point is this: to all elected officials everywhere, DO NOT ignore anyone in your area of constituency. A democracy is the rule of people, NOT just the rule of the "adults." Political reason and democratic action are not limited to age, just like they shouldn't be limited to any other impersonal trait.

Voting shouldn't be given to minors, sure. They are not taxpayers and, thus, should not have say in how taxpayer money is allocated. However, that doesn't mean they are not allowed to be politically active and HEARD. This is an outrage. And the sad part is, Jared was ignored even well after he got his wings. He was labelled "mentally ill" and was forced to quit the college just because he said it was unconstitutional. Funny thing is, we never heard of it before this. If anything, this, personally, sounds like a controversy.

Our system has run a very simple premise. Lets give out rights, sure. Let's give 'em out to everyone as long as they listen to us, the system. It is a controversy. Here is the question we must ask ourselves: are we running the government, our is the government running us to "run" it? Who is the boss?