Happy Election Month! (I’m actually writing this article on Election Day itself, but I always write these well in advance of when they’re published.) Recently, the streets have been littered with “Vote for so-and-so” and “Choose so-and-so” and “So-and-so for Congress” and “Vote for so-and-so or we’ll burn down your house!” signs. Our mail was full of postcards and pamphlets telling us “Don’t vote for so-and-so!” and “Choose so-and-so for an ocean of red ink,” complete with a picture of a red ocean. It’s either a Photoshop job, an ancient picture from the plague of blood in Egypt, or an actual red ocean that exists in the middle of Iceland that no human has ever seen until now. Actually, if that’s the case, then we should really all vote for that politician, because clearly he’s very talented in getting to godforsaken places. But I digress.
How well do I know the candidates themselves, you might ask? Well, I can list you some names. I can maybe give some parties. I can certainly give some unsavory facts about some from the negative mail their opponents sent out, for better or for worse. But I myself really can’t say much about them, simply because I have to admit that I haven’t been following the election very much. Sure, I know about the issues–from Ebola to Israel to ISIS to immigration, the issues are all over the news. And I see some political ads, read a few articles in the paper, that sort of stuff. But I’m not anything near “knowledgeable” about the current election and candidates.
It’s not something I’m proud about. I could use the excuse that I’ve been too busy with schoolwork and everything, but if I’ve been able to (mostly) keep up with my favorite TV show Doctor Who, I should be able to keep up with something that really will change the country I live in. It might have to do with the fact that this year’s election doesn’t seem so…exciting. With all due respect to all of the candidates who ran, it’s really a midterm election and, at the surface level, doesn’t feel so much as if it’ll really be affecting me so much.
However, this year, Election Day holds a special significance to me because I’m 17 years old now. It’s the last year I will not be able to vote. In other words, next year, right after school ends, I’ll be able to rush out of Ramaz, in such a hurry that I’m still carrying 50 textbooks, grit my teeth on the bus ride home, and dash to the polls in Fair Lawn. (Or I can vote right at sunrise, which is certainly a pretty picturesque time to vote.) I’ll at last be able to add my voice to all of those voting in this country, to be able to make a tiny but significant difference, to do my duty as a citizen. And I’m looking forward to voting for the…well…for whichever government position is up at bat next.
Well. I suppose I can forgive myself for not knowing what next year’s elections will be covering when this year’s have just finished. But I’m resolving now to educate myself, to have a better idea of not only the issues but who takes which stance on them. I want to not only be aware of the candidates’ names and parties, but also the sides they take. And most of all, I want to be able to really come up with my own opinion about whom to vote for and to walk into that voting booth in 2015 ready to do far more than just randomly pressing a button.
Some could say that being fully educated about the elections and voting in November is part of my duty as a citizen of the United States once I turn 18. To me, it’s not only that; it also just feels like the right thing to do. It’s giving back in a small way to a country that probably supports me far more than I realize in many ways. And tying it to the larger Jewish community I live in, every year there are important Jewish issues at stake–such as with Israel and with how our community functions. I want to be able to vote for someone who has our community’s best interests at heart.
I want to leave you all with this message: Don’t drown in any red-ink oceans–if they do exist somewhere. (There was some meaning to that political letter–an actual one we received–but I’ve always been a very literal person.)
Oren Oppenheim, age 17, is a junior at Ramaz Upper School in Manhattan and lives in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. He spends his free time writing and reading, and hopes to become a published novelist. You can email him at [email protected].
By Oren Oppenheim
