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Busted Enthusiasm
"And it’s undoubtedly thrilling and historic having a woman and an African American vying for the Democratic nomination, but what about the other half of the country who simply do not support the ideals and values that the Democratic candidates stand for?...What about me?"
By Meghan Scheidemann
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It’s exciting to be a first-time voter - a chance to have your voice heard and your vote counted. But what’s it like to be a first-time voter when the candidate you support, isn’t the one receiving most of the attention? 18-year-old Meghan Scheidemann, a freshman at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, is in exactly that position.
The attention surrounding the Pennsylvania primaries may be ramping up, but you wouldn’t necessarily know it on my conservative campus. I often see a small group of Barack Obama supporters around school encouraging people to vote (Actually it’s more like they’re harassing students to pledge their allegiance to Obama, every time someone enters the cafeteria for a sandwich).
I haven’t seen any outward support for John McCain or Hillary Clinton though. It’s kind of surprising to me that McCain supporters haven’t been rallying around campus – St. Joe’s is a Jesuit school and the student body tends to be socially conservative. While I am sure many of my schoolmates will vote for him, popular enthusiasm for McCain as a candidate just isn’t there yet.
I’m excited though - I’ve been a big McCain supporter from day one.
My conservative political leanings come in large part from my family. My dad is a public school teacher, and my mom is a stay-at-home mom. Married for 25 years, they value hard work and personal responsibility and have instilled those values in their four daughters. I agree with most of my parents’ political views and I’ve adopted the same conservative ideology. I believe in smaller government. I believe in the importance of economic liberalism and strong national defense.
Politics has been important to me from an early age. While my sisters were engrossed in their issues of Seventeen magazine, I was poring over real issues, in my dad’s copies of Time and Newsweek.
I assumed it would be an exciting year, going to school in a swing state. I had no idea how true that would be. When I watch national news covering the Democratic race from somewhere in rural Pennsylvania or my city of Philadelphia, it is exciting. Yet some of my first-time-voter enthusiasm has been thwarted when I see how little media coverage is being given to my candidate.
I know it makes for big news that Senators Clinton and Obama are neck and neck in an increasingly hostile race. And it’s undoubtedly thrilling and historic having a woman and an African American vying for the Democratic nomination, but what about the other half of the country who simply do not support the ideals and values that the Democratic candidates stand for?...What about me?
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