Election Coverage

I gave a blog assignment today about the election.

Assignment:
Today on your blog write about your opinion and views of the election
OR
Write a letter to President Elect Obama telling him what you think he needs to work on or change now that he is going to be president.

It was interesting to see the reactions of the students. It is really difficult for a lot of them to express opinions about major national events. They know what happened, but it is hard for them to make any meaning out of it. There were some insightful comments and some strong opinions, but for the most part it seems that politics is a very distant idea to them. They don't really see how it relates to their lives at all. I wish that these students could have been out at one of the big rallies just to get a feeling for what is really going on here.

It's incredible how distant we can become from our own democracy. We live in a country that has one of the most open democratic voting processes and we don't even realize it most of the time. I watched a little show on some Chinese journalism students who were following the American election and they were astounded at how the people, just normal citizens, had access to information about the government and had a say in how things would go. I was reminded of how much we take for granted. They have no voice in their government and now choice as to how it is run or what happens.

Even though sometimes it doesn't really feel like I have a lot of say in government, it's good to remember that I have a lot more than most of the world and for that I am thankful.