After All That, This Election Was Meaningless
Erin Traylor

This past year all I heard was how important this election was going to be. I attended National Political Hip Hop Conferences, saw Michael Moore movies, did non-profit internships, and even voted. However, to tell you the truth, no matter how 'important' this election was, it now feels meaningless to me.

Now, it's not that I didn't enjoy my time waving signs and filling out my ballot, I just have yet to be convinced that any of it made a real dent in the system. I will say it was refreshing to see my fellow youth taking breaks in their conversations about who just got jumped, or who said what, to say "Nah dawg, I gotta go home and vote."   Perhaps those Political Hip Hop Conferences I went to really did have an impact, or perhaps it was Sean Puffy Combs' Vote or Die campaign that gave people a sudden sense of political engagement.   No matter what it was, Bush still won and we are back to square one. So I am left wondering, what's the next step? What will be our next campaign? Will we just spend the next four years in the fetal position scared of what our 'leader' will drag us into?

The next four years definitely do not inspire hope in me. There is talk about us being faced with the possibility of a draft. Whether we are sent across seas or not, we are still faced with the reality that we won't have a lot of job options, and will have less money than we need to survive, much less succeed. We still have to find a way to eat and stay warm while trying to get an education we can't afford. We will still be faced with trying to find a place to live and we still have to find a way to take care of our parents as they get older.   I don't think Kerry being elected would've made these issues go away, but at least with him we could've focused on the issues at home without having to worry about dying across seas.

The fact is I don't care anymore. I wouldn't call this apathy, because I actually do care, I've just run out of answers. I would like to work with people with their own creative solutions, such as reshaping the system, or living through the possible loopholes in it. I know for a fact, no draft can force me to fight for the occupation, no matter what it takes. I like living where I am at home, but when it comes down to it, if things do not shape up, Canada or Mexico are looking great.