Politically "Uncool"

So, I was at Wendy's today, enjoying an ice cold Frostee (TM) where I overheard a student talking to, I assume, one of his friends. He was really excited while narrating to his peer the experience he had during his very first Presidential vote cast. He then proceeded to question his friend on what his time at the poll was like, until it became apparent that his friend had not bothered to vote. At this point, the young man then chastised his friend for being politically apathetic and basically told him to get up right then and there and go down to Marks on campus to cast a ballot.

I don't know if it's because I'm in college or what, but I have never felt this kind of excitement during an election period before. Maybe it's the because I'm in an age group who's never voted before and they're all excited about it, maybe it's because of the prevalence of the internet, or maybe it's because of the events these past four years, but for the first time in a long time, I feel as if it's very "uncool" to be apathetic about politics. Just take a look at some of the away message my friends have put up for the night...

"so it looks as if our country is in the hands of a moron - what can you do about it but sleep it off and hope that no more of our troops die in a pointless was in Iraq. obviously our country doesn't care about the rights of the individual and the pointless deaths of americans. it's a sad time to be an american, and i hope this country comes to realize what a mistake it was to REelect a fuckin idiot to office. 'night"

"GO OHIO, GO FLORIDA, GO BUSH!!"

"In the living room watching election coverage...1 shot for every blue state!"

"George won... get over it CNN. Stop making up color codes. Get a life. To the rest of you limp wristed liberals...you know where you can stick it"

"It looks like W is being reelected. See you in basic training."

And, my favorite...

"election party!!"

Unfortunately, I think it's just my environment. According to the US Census Bureau, there are nearly 218 million eligible voters. It seems that nearly 116 million people came out and actually voted this year, or only about 53% of the eligible population, a decrease from the nearly 60% of eligibles that turned out in the year 2000!

If only everyone in this country had a friend like the Wendy's kid.