First Person: My First Vote

 
The Watters Family: Mike, Margaret and Patty

My parents cast their first ballots in the 1968 race – Nixon v. Humphrey. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy had been assassinated the previous spring, and the country was in the throws of the Vietnam War. A generation later, I would study the era of the My Lai massacre, the Tet offensive and the unfaltering determination and spirit of the Civil Rights and Women’s movements. The country was on the cusp of great change.

Forty years, Watergate, 9/11, Iraq and many political roller coasters later, I now stand in my parents’ shoes, suddenly a recognized adult, preparing to "pull the lever" for the first time.

My generation – the infamous, aggravating, overachieving, high maintenance Generation Y – is reportedly not afraid of change. We took computer science in elementary school, caused social turmoil over IM in middle school, had cell phones and PDAs in high school and now live most of our college lives on Facebook. According to a 2005 USA Today article, we’re not scared of switching jobs, careers, locations or company protocol.

For many of us, this is our first election, one that perhaps, not surprisingly, is based in the expectation of change. I thank fate for not entrusting me with candidate decisions four years ago, when honestly, I was presented with two options that didn’t interest me – President Bush and Sen. John Kerry.

Without belaboring the last administration’s faults further, the reality is, both parties are campaigning for change. Candidates, who 40 years ago would have been fighting for their legal rights, just finished a grueling battle for the Democratic nomination. Although my demographic is almost completely held by Barack Obama, both party candidates are fighting for us to believe that they are the answer to our most pertinent question – will you be different?

The actual act of voting holds all the promise and idealism youth is so often accused of. Across party lines, all of my friends intend to vote. My once politically inactive campus – Miami University of Ohio –†is stirring to life with speakers, banners and buttons. This election doesn’t dictate our political alignment or activism for the rest of our lives but it is one of many firsts. My first real participation in government, my first benefit to reap. Not being a smoker, hunter, enlisted in the armed services or of age for legal alcohol consumption, presidential voting is my first government-sponsored milestone of adulthood.

It’s a different world now than it was in 1968 and although many argue Generation Y is politically complacent when compared to our parents, I don’t believe it. The questions have changed as globalization has changed the game. The world is flat now, or so I hear. We wonder how the United States’ world role will change and question our sustainability. The discourse has moved into the blogosphere and international chat rooms.

I’m excited to be counted. For better or for worse, for richer or poorer, for researched choices or the luck of the alphabet, you take me to be your lifelong citizen. Two years ago, I was just a blip on the political radar being sucked for social security.

But now, the candidates are courting me. Atlanta, state and country, you think I matter now.

Margaret Watters is Atlanta INtown's summer intern. She can be reached at margaret@atlantaintownpaper.com.