ASUnited (Arizona State University Weblog)

The inspiration for this post comes from a story my friend Mike told me back in 2004. During the intense months of the Bush – Kerry show down. He was in his arts class. The teacher wanted to spice up the class and asked the students to stand up for who they would be voting for. Mike explained the scene to me somewhat in these words. ‘Of those that stood up pledging to vote for Kerry the thing I noticed was their manner of appearance. Goths, people with tattoos and piercings, rebels, outsiders, and others that promoted themselves by dressing in defiance to others. When Bush was announced, those that stood were mostly guys in long-sleeve button up shirts, nice jeans, and girls wearing nothing too outlandish. One group, looked like professionals, the other, lost.’

I have been quite enthralled by the recent campaigns and their affect on ASU. I look forward to the upcoming months, where reason will be demanded, but never given. Proof and common sense will be catch phrases rather than reality. Rhetoric will replace personal convictions and people will argue until they don’t even know what they are arguing about….. they just don’t want to give up.

There are reasons the student body is so split. Conservatives tend to be people who want and tend to deal with problems using simple explanations and solutions. People who think that the standard American is as human as the rest of them, and can do just fine when left alone to work things out for themselves. Liberals tend to want to delve into the complexities of each situation. They often find themselves representing some forgotten segment of the whole, and forget the whole entirely.

Being a student in the Business school my head has been hurting lately. Taxes have been proposed by some to reduce gas prices. (what the…. Ahhhhh…. Seriously?) We’ve been given a stimulus check and then turn around to find that taxes have been increased on gas and we simply have to return that stimulus check to the government that gave it. (All the while incurring all the costs that go towards the bureaucracies that write the checks, mail the checks, and collect the taxes) So it was hard for me to continue to root for Obama. I just can’t. Why study economics and then not use what little power I have to use it. Obama wants to increase taxes on gas….. McCain says increasing the supply of oil will lower prices. Anyone who knows anything knows which plan will work. So I can’t put all my chips on hope anymore… I need common sense.

Truth is we all stand to learn something. I look forward to doing that myself over the course of this campaign, but until Obama starts making sense about cents….. I can’t. As a member of this country who likes to study business and economics, use my knowledge and understanding to go against what I know to be best for this country. As for the social issues, I know right from wrong….. As long as they protect my freedoms I am fine. Leave the other social issues to someone who doesn’t believe in picking himself up by the bootstraps…. I’ll be doing what the W.P. Carey school of business teaches us to do in a very republican manner…. I’ll be working.

- - Pelegray