“Life’s a bitch; don’t vote for one.” A car driving around the University had a bumper sticker with those exact words on it. When I first looked at it, I chuckled a little; how many different ways can people think of bashing Hillary Clinton by using her gender as the crutch? It really got me thinking, however. Chances are, the person driving that car is a student of voting age, and since I managed to see that it was a male in the front seat, it made me stop for a minute. On a campus where there are thousands of students, inundated with news show upon news show upon bleeding-heart liberals upon right-wing crazies, how do students decide which candidate gets their support? Are people seriously basing their politics on gender and race, instead of views and policies? We would all love to think that people do serious research on all candidates, get all the facts, see what their views are and then decide which candidate to support based on all these findings. Oh, and they definitely don’t pay any attention to the biased media.

Yeah, and maybe Larry Craig will keep his hands in his own bathroom stall for once.

Let’s be honest, young adults these days aren’t doing that careful research because it seems almost futile. Knowing this, I did a little questioning of my own and came to the conclusion that college students of voting age can be split into two groups. There are the people who ultimately inherit their political ideologies from their parents, but then eventually grow up to do their own research, and then there’s the group that really grinds my gears. People who just don’t care. And by “don’t care,” I mean people who base their political feelings on people like, dare I say it, Michael Moore. I like to call them Michael Morons. Or at the other end of the spectrum, Rush Limbaugh. Makes your skin crawl, doesn’t it?

At a school where there is such a diverse population, and in a place where politics is of great importance, you would think people would get off their butts and start to play ball. My parents are split in terms of ideology; my mom supports the Democratic Party and thinks George W. Bush should rot in…well…you know, and my dad is slightly more conservative, whose words still ring in my ears every now and again: “I don’t like George Bush, but I will never vote for John Kerry.” Well, we see how well that turned out.

I wasn’t raised in a family where both parents were giving me information on one political party. Instead I was raised in more of a metaphorical, heavy metal concert where everyone is screaming whatever the hell they want, and I had to pick and choose which made the most sense so I could repeat it myself. Lucky for me, my rock concert didn’t include any metal chains. But these two groups of University students really make me interested in why some people genuinely care, and why some people don’t. Most conversations around here end up being about politics anyway, so why not get informed a little? I asked a friend of mine where she picked up all of her political feelings, and her response to me was “I just listen to what you people say.” I guess my contorted face was hidden from everyone else, but it almost gave me a brain-freeze. “You mean, you don’t really care about who the next leader of the free world will be?” It’s frightening, really.

Thank goodness for people who care. Although their political choices are based on the household they grew up in, it’s not like they’re at home anymore. Now it’s up to them as independent adults to open up a newspaper or turn on the television and see what really makes sense and what just sounds ridiculous. Knowing that there are educated people who give two hoots about politics kind of puts me at ease, and as the political debate to be held on this campus creeps closer, there will be students who are up-to-date on everything that’s happening instead of letting the chips fall where they may.

In an election year where the vote is oh-so-important, I think we should all start brushing up on our candidates and see who really deserves January 20, 2009 to be their day. And if you happen to meet somebody who genuinely doesn’t care and hasn’t even attempted to inform themselves, kick them in the shins and run away. That’ll teach ’em.

Sara Kay is a sophomore print journalism student. You may e-mail her at skay3@pride.hofstra.edu.