Vote 2008
By: Jalene Stringfellow
As you all probably have heard by now the presidential election is coming soon. The date for when everyone votes is Tuesday, November 4, 2008. Most teens these days don’t seem to pay a lot of attention about politics, but what they don’t know is that their opinion really does matter and so does their vote. One vote can make a difference. They can have a say in who they believe should be our next president. The main issues for topic of discussion are abortion, housing, economic stimulus, immigration, education, Iran, Iraq, energy, environment, same-sex marriage, free trade, social security, guns, stem cell research, health care, taxes, and homeland security. The Democratic candidates are Hillary Clinton who is a senator from New York, Barack Obama who is a senator from Illinois, and Mike Gravel who is a lecturer. The Republican candidates are John McCain who is a senator from Arizona, Mitt Romney was in but decided to drop out on February 7, 2008, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul who is a representative from Texas, and Alan Keyes who is an author and a speaker. The Democratic National Convention is going to be here in our own state of Colorado. It will be August 25 through the 28, 2008. The Republican National Convention will be September 1 through the 4, 2008 in Minneapolis and St. Paul Minnesota at the Rivercentre/ Excel Energy Center. The 2008 election is a huge topic of discussion right now. Many teens do not take the time to watch or read the news about the politics. What some don’t understand is that their vote can make a difference. If they want change in their society then they need to vote. Teenagers need to understand the consequences of standing on the political sidelines. They need to start realizeing that if they don’t take a stand, they’ll be the ones paying the price. If you are interested in finding out who you would be aligned with on the issues for the election, you can go to http://www.wqad.com and http://www.speakout.com to take a quiz and it will show the results of which you are most aligned with based on the issues.
