Saturday, Nov. 3, the College Democrats played the College Republicans and the Republican Women at Maryland in the first annual College Democrats vs. College Republicans Charity Football Classic. The Democrats won 56-14, but the groups came together to contribute $350 to a local veterans charity, and, more importantly, did something other than debate.
Coming together for something fun like our football game was exciting, but we wanted to do more than just play around with bi-partisanship. In an environment where partisanship has been around forever and is alive and well today, doing things together becomes more and more difficult. Student groups mostly want to hear us debate and bring us together for that purpose. But this year, the three of us are working together for one goal: getting people involved in the political process.
With democratic rights comes great responsibility. Increasingly, we see the right to vote to be at a crossroads. In Pakistan and the country of Georgia, populations are losing their right to protest the government and vote them out. Meanwhile, in College Park and Virginia, races are being decided by only a handful of votes.
While in some countries one vote does not even exist, in ours, one vote can change everything. The facts don’t lie: Your vote matters.
As Heidi Hempel articulated so well in last Wednesday’s iss of the Diamondback (“Student turnout far short of SGA goal”), “It’s every citizen’s obligation to go out and vote or someone else is going to make the decision for them. And that’s not the point of democracy.”
World events show us that the right to vote is not really a right, it’s a privilege. Living in America is a privilege. All of us are at a state university funded largely by citizens: we all enjoy the benefits that our country gives us to succeed and to pursue any life we want. If something is happening that we don’t like, we can vote to stop it. But, without the action of all of us, to speak out on issues that we care about, people will still be speaking for us, and in the worst scenario, our voice will be taken away altogether.
The United States has a low voter turnout, clocking in at 41.3 percent in the last midterm election. For college-age students, the largest turnout in 20 years took place in 2006, when 24 percent of us turned out to vote. Fewer than a quarter of college-age students came out to vote and look at the difference we made! This year, Congress passed the largest investment in students since the GI Bill, which was signed by the president into law. All it took was 24 percent. Can you imagine what might happen if we could get half of our peers to vote?
We think we can do better than 24 percent at the university. We agree that the student body at this university, can be the national example of voter participation. Seriously, we’re 20 minutes from Capitol Hill; if we don’t like what’s going on, we can physically go and talk to decision-makers.
To make this happen, we need your help. Maryland’s presidential primary takes place on Feb. 12, 2008. No matter what you know about politics, it is important to get involved to maintain the strength of our democracy, so come out to our meetings, e-mail us with questions or pick up the paper to keep up. The College Democrats and the College Republicans meet separately in the Stamp Student Union at 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively, on Wednesdays. The Republican Women at Maryland meet Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. in Woods Hall. We hope to meet you there and help you get involved.
At the end of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked, “What have you wrought?” and he replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” Let’s keep democracy strong together.
Jonathan Sachs is a sophomore government and politics major and serves as the president of the College Democrats. He can be reached at president@umddemocrats.com.
Chris Banerjeee is a sophomore government and politics and history major and serves as the president of the College Republicans. He can be reached at chrispat@umd.edu.
Grace Thompson is a junior government and politics major and serves as the president of the Republican Women at Maryland. She can be reached at gjthomps@umd.edu.
