welcome October 18, 2004 Issue

Rock the no-vote

Warren Bolon

My First Opportunity to vote in a national election wasn't exactly a shining citizenship moment. It was about this season during my senior year in college. I remember talking late one night with my friend Christina about the upcoming election. She was strongly in favor of one presidential candidate and urged me to get involved, at least to vote. I wasn't disinterested in politics but was disillusioned with the state of my country at the time.

My response to my friend was essentially that neither candidate was trustworthy, and that the whole political process looked meaningless. We were at war, and the war probably would continue no matter who was elected

I did not vote that November. And I came to regret that nonvote decision—not just because it meant watching an important election from the sidelines. There was another missed opportunity, that of asking God for help in sorting things out. Politics and politicians weren't the problem. The real enemies were disillusionment and cynicism—the mental state that doesn't allow the one who's in it to see beyond the fog of self–concern.

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