Sunday, November 13, 2016
The Waldo Moment and the Presidential Election
This past class, we watched the clipping of "The Waldo Moment" and it was in reference to this past presidential election. This election was one of the most notorious and horrific elections of my very short adult life. The options between either Donald Trump running as the Republican candidate and Hillary Clinton running as the Democratic candidate gave me the options of voting bad or worse. This election also opened my eyes to a lot of the mess ups that the United States has in its voting process and in the way it so calls "represents the people." In the United States, there has to be some kind of change to the voting process and also with the media for the way they present it. This voting process uses the electoral college to decipher who will be president and not the popular vote. Yes, I understand that small towns and small states need the electoral college but you would think that there could be some way to somehow combine the two numbers to get a more equal vote. With the electoral college in place, it makes me feel as if my vote has no say so at all. If all the state's citizens voted left and our representatives voted right then the right side would get the vote of Tennessee, right? That's what this electoral college looks like to me. Like I said in class earlier, those in small towns can basically tell their representative face to face what they want to represent for the people. However, those in bigger states like Tennessee, Mississippi and Florida (since they can never make up their mind) have basically no way of telling our representatives what we want exactly as a people. Those elected in those chairs might have had what we thought was the same mindset as ours when they were running for the seat but people change all the time, get persuaded one way when they used to be all into the opposite way. So how does my vote count? I am an African American, meaning that its basically my obligation to vote since there's the cliche' saying of, "Your ancestors got bit by dogs and fire-hosed and thrown in jail to give you this right, girl! You gone vote whether you like it or not! Martin Luther King didn't go through all that pain and grief for you to sit and do nothing!" And in result, I voted. It wasn't until I had gotten to my choices on the screen that I saw more than two names on the ballot and it kind of threw me off because I was in somewhat a rush. But in short, I chose between the two main parties and kept going because my theory has always been if you vote for a third party then you have basically wasted your vote because you're already represented by the smallest of percentages and for someone to vote for a third party, you won't get represented at all. That third party candidate won't get any more recognition than they did when they were running, which was basically none because no one could tell me who they were, and you already knew that they wouldn't win anyway. In the movie, Waldo was a third independent candidate who wasn't designated to a party but he got some recognition. He didn't win but he gained some fame. But in reality, third parties may get the most of fifteen minutes then they're done only to pop back up every now and then, I guess for comic relief like Waldo.
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I used the same words "comic relief" to describe Waldo as well. Waldo wasn't even in it to actually win and make a change, but instead ran in order to gain more publicity and bring in more money to his owner. The fact that he was recognized like people couldn't see through that act was crazy. I agree with you on that there should be a more effective way to make everyone's vote count because now it doesn't seem like they were. We should also find a better way to stay informed.
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