Remember that note I wrote about the importance of going out and voting, even if you haven’t thoroughly researched every issue?
This article in yesterday’s Sacramento Bee shames me. Since you have to go through an annoying registration process to read the article, let me hit some bullet points for you…
- Out of 22.7 million adult citizens in California, only 7.5 million voted last week, an all-time low
– 75% of voters were non-Latino whites, even though they are less than 50% of the state population now
– At least 65% of voters were over 45 years old, and less than 33% had children at home
– Even though California has a reputation as a very liberal state, at most 33% of voters were self-described liberals
– Voters are also better educated and wealthier than the state average
Think about those figures for a second… does it sound like the majority of voters have your interests in mind? Do you think that rich old white people are going to want the same things as you when it comes to tuition, taxes, minimum wage, etc.?
Chew that little koan over for a second…
Think you’ve got an answer? Good! Now think about this: ASUCD elections are today through Friday morning. Like the California general election, ASUCD voting is at an all-time low. Last year, only 2,145 students voted. That’s about 9% of the student body.
I bet you’re thinking, “But Dinh, who gives a damn about ASUCD elections?” Well, YOU should!
Every quarter you’re at Davis, $35 of your fees goes to ASUCD. Of that $35, $8 goes to the general fund. That doesn’t sound like much, but after you add up everyone’s $8, you’ve got over $9.6 million dollars! I dunno about you, but I think that for $9.6 million dollars, we should be able to see a lot more change than some staplers in the computer labs.
Please, do a little research (and, as always, take editorials with a grain of salt) and go vote!
DINH IF I COULD DIGG FACEBOOK ARTICLES I SO WOULD.
Please make this note Facebook frontpage. kthx
Posted by Jimmy Pan on November 15th, 2006.
Hey Dinh,
I almost commented on the last two notes, but there was a character limit on the comments, so I decided not to post three or four separate comments for each of them.
Being a graduate from a very solid California university, you will likely end up in the top twenty percentile in terms of income. You will be one of the “wealthy” people whose incomes the state will be redistributing. Realistically, the rich white males are probably a pretty close fit to your future interests.
Based on some calculations on one of your figures, it seems that Davis has approximately 1.2 million students. That strikes me as a pretty rough estimate, to say the least.
Keep up the note-writing, though! They’re certainly interesting.
Mike
Posted by Michael Powell on November 15th, 2006.
Hey Mike,
I didn’t know you ended up at MIT! Whoa!
Anyway, in response to your comment, MAYBE old rich white people (not necessarily males… I don’t have the figures on that demographic) may be looking out for my FUTURE interests. But shouldn’t this election represent the majority of Californians’ immediate interests? I mean, that’s like saying cutting education spending is good for kindergarteners because they’ll appreciate it later after they become millionaires.
And actually, ASUCD has revenue other than student fees. (Such as profits from the Coffeehouse.) But $8 each and $9.6 million budget are accurate numbers.
Oh, and I’d like to hear your opinions on my previous notes… feel free to Facebook comment/message or e-mail me!
Posted by Dinh on November 15th, 2006.
Hey Dinh,
Yeah! I can’t believe I’m at MIT now. As an undergrad., I always wanted to come here, because they have one hell of a Ph.D. program. I hope they’ll let me come back next year, though. It’s pretty intense out here! (At least it hasn’t snowed yet!)
Posted by Michael Powell on November 15th, 2006.
Here are some not-so-well-thought-out responses to a couple of your comments:
“shouldn’t this election represent the majority of Californian’s immediate interests?”
This isn’t so clear. Many of the decisions you personally make today have impacts on your future well-being. A carefully thought out decision should place a significant amount of weight on these impacts. A similar argument, I believe, should hold for the decisions of a government.
Posted by Michael Powell on November 15th, 2006.
“that’s like saying cutting education spending is good for kindergarteners because they’ll appreciate it later after they become millionaires.”
If, indeed, cutting education spending will cause more kindergarteners to become millionaires later (all else equal), then I completely agree with your claim.
More seriously, there are quite a few voters who have children in the education system. Assuming these parents want what’s best for their children, then children indeed have someone voting on their behalf.
Posted by Michael Powell on November 15th, 2006.
My main point was that it has been my observation that “poor college students” (of which I certainly was at UCLA) often have the mistaken view that they will forever live in penury. As a result, they tend to support issues that, in net, will negatively affect them throughout their lives.
It’s true, though. There are poorer people whose needs/wants do not coincide with their richer neighbors. I agree with your previous post that they cannot (and should not) rely on their neighbors to vote in their best interest.
However, I also agree with Greg Mankiw’s claim that people should only vote if they are informed about the issues and how they personally will be impacted by them. I’m not suggesting in any way that it is bad to be sympathetic toward the poor and to vote accordingly. I am, however, suggesting that it is worthwhile to think of both short-term and long-term impacts of one’s vote. If one is not willing to do so, then I agree with Mankiw that that person should not vote.
Posted by Michael Powell on November 15th, 2006.
Regarding college tuition and minimum wage, I’ll defer expressing my opinions until after you write something about them.
Posted by Michael Powell on November 15th, 2006.
deep…
Posted by Elyson on November 16th, 2006.