The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

Democracy means someone's got to lose

I was reading Monday's paper when I saw a paragraph in an article that disturbed me ["Democrats reflect on lost cause," pg. 1].

In it, there was a quote by a student who said, "People felt like people told them for six months their vote mattered, and it doesn't look like it did." This addresses a very real problem that a lot of students have. That is, they forget that the rest of the world, or country in this case, does not think the way they do. Their mindset is that they are in college, learning, thinking, and trying new things, and with this increased knowledge comes increased enlightenment that entitles their opinion to matter more.

What about those students who believe differently than they do? I voted for Bush and absolutely feel like my vote "mattered." I was told the same things that the other student was, but I also know that the rest of the voting populace was told their vote also matters. To my fellow college students who feel their vote did not count in this election, let us take your votes away from Kerry's popular vote tally, but that will leave us with an even bigger margin of victory for Bush; when you say your vote did not matter, you are essentially taking your vote away from your candidate.

Instead of crying foul, be happy that a huge effort was made by our fellow students to get involved. We have four more years under this president. You have several choices to what you can do. You can learn how your representatives stand on an issue, and rather than complain that you are unable to get a complete turnaround, try to make changes in small shifts.

We are tomorrow's leaders, but people have to be convinced to think like you, they will not be forced to see your point of view. That will only breed resentment. Over time, with a family and/or a career, your views may, and probably will, change. The purpose of our lives is to increase the quality of life for those who follow. Complaints and protests, while effective at voicing opinion, will not get change to occur like you are hoping.

What we need is compromise to get our voices heard by the leaders of today. If you make one small change through compromise and understanding, that is a vast improvement over what you would get done by abstaining from being active in your country.

Matthew Barba
junior, English and philosophy

Google
	Error

Not Found

The requested URL /ejones.html was not found on this server.

Today's News | Sports | Voices - Editorial | Letters
Newsbriefs | pulse - Arts & Entertainment | Calendar | Photo Staff
Apts & Rentals | Photo Personals | Live DE NewsCam | Classified Ads