For many of us, this November will be the first time that we’ll get to vote in a presidential election. We’ve tuned into the first debate, possibly Googled our way to deciding whom we’re voting for, and most likely retweeted a few Big Bird memes.
That’s right. Big Bird.
After a gaffe that Romney made during his first debate against Obama about cutting PBS funding, which would mean canceling Sesame Street, there were memes all over the Internet from the birdbrain’s point of view.
Although we at the Loquitur are fans of the big yellow bird and his furry friends, they’re not what the election is about.
The presidential bid is bigger than Big Bird. This is the future of the country that we’re talking about – it’s not just about ruffling a few super-size canary feathers.
For those of us who’re freshly registered to vote come November, it’s tough to dig deep and really decide who we want to vote for, let alone what we believe in or approve of.
But this doesn’t mean that we should be focusing on the memes, the gossip and the bright lights; we need to look beyond what we see on billboards, on magazines and on YouTube.
What we need to look at now are the issues that will directly affect us and what kind of world we want. Instead of taking a cue of who to vote for from our parents, we must focus on how the policies of either party would affect us and our world.
Below are two websites that are useful for anyone to get a grasp of which candidate they should vote for, based on who the individual voter is, on what values and opinions give themselves purpose – the easiest way to consider one vote’s impact.
It’s important to see yourself, to see your vote, as more than “just one,” however. In a country with over 300 million individuals, it’s easy to feel insignificant – but it’s even easier to feel like your decisions won’t affect others.
It’s easy to feel like a fish out of water or, dare we say it, a bird out of its cage, when tackling politics. But your individual story matters; you have a bigger impact than you think.
All it takes is one bird to rise up and be the Big Bird in town. Just make sure you don’t crush all the other birds on your way up.
