Where the Heck Is Everyone?

In Why didn’t people vote this year? by Jon Green of AMERICAblog, published on November 17th, 2014, the abysmal voter turnout of this year’s midterms were discussed. Only 36.4% of eligible voters cast their ballots, bringing the voter turnout rate to the lowest it has been since World War II. 45% of non-voters said they were unable to vote due to conflicts with school or work, missing a registration deadline, or not being able to make it to their polling location. This subset of non-voters is almost as large as the amount of people who actually voted. Having people who want to vote but can’t is obviously a problem. Green suggests three solutions to this problem: Opt-out voter registration, voting week and mail-in balloting. After giving explanations of each possible solution, Green presents a call to action to those in charge saying, “That the solutions are so easy only makes action that much more important.”
In this editorial, the author’s intended audience are those who are of voting age and care about politics. His purpose is to encourage reform in the way we vote. He claims that the solutions are there and can be easily implemented. Green supports his claim with examples of reform at the state-level, as well as with statistics. Green himself is fairly credible, having graduated with a degree in Political Science and high honors in Political Cognition. I agree with Green that there needs to be change. However, I am on-the-fence about mail-in voting. While it has been implemented in other states, I’m not sure it is the best course of action. Other than mail-in voting, I like the idea of a voting week and out-out voter registration.

People Hate Obama's Policies Because They Hate Obama

In this editorial from The Washington Times published on October 31, 2014, the author (kept anonymous in the article) criticizes Obama’s policies because they believe the policies are not working. Their purpose in writing this piece is to persuade voters not to vote for these policies. The author is somewhat credible, giving several statistics and facts but only one credited source. In addition, they make the audience feel resentful towards Obama’s policies by mentioned that the poorest 20 percent have seen their incomes fall under Obama’s policies and that many of the young people that voted for Obama have had to move back in with their parents. Personally, I have mixed feelings on this issue. I do not approve of any policy that does not do what it is supposed to. However, since this is obviously from the perspective of someone against Obama and his policies, it would not mention the good that has come from Obama’s policies. Improvements were mentioned; however, the author makes it clear they are not true improvements. For example, the author says low unemployment rates are lower because people have stopped searching for jobs. So, while the unemployment rates lowered because of Obama’s policies, they did not actually improve anything. Instead, the author tells us that these policies have sucked the hope out of the unemployed, making they feel as if it was impossible to get a job. So, while I agree with the author that some of Obama’s policies are bad, I can not agree all of his policies are bad. I think we need to pick and choose. We should keep what works and scrap what does not.