November the 6th is the 2012 Presidential Elections in the states. In Britain we have a traditional view of politics being for stuffy middle-aged men in suits and glasses. As young women, it seems that politics is boring and something to be interested as we are older – something not to worry ourselves about now. However, this view couldn’t be more wrong – getting involved with politics is interesting, important, and most definitely cool.
In America, celebrities everywhere are getting behind their preferred candidate and publicly declaring their support. This year, there has been an unprecedented amount of support in the way of fashion. At Katy Perry’s performance in Las Vegas last Wednesday, she wore a white rubber dress resembling a ballot with Obama’s name ticked, her skin-tight way of showing her political support. Perry is not the only singer openly backing Obama, with Beyonce showing her faith in the current President too. She has been showing her support by proudly wearing huge statement Obama earrings designed by Erika Peña which have unsurprisingly flown off the shelves since. Beyonce along with her ultra-cool rapper husband Jay Z has also designed Obama babygrows which have raised a huge $4 million for the Democratic leader’s campaign. Actress and Fashionista Sarah Jessica Parker has also jumped on the bandwagon, designing a t-shirt that says ‘Viva Obama’.
Obama isn’t the only one with celebrity support with rock legend Meat Loaf supporting Republican hopeful Mitt Romney by blasting (murdering) the patriotic anthem ‘America The Beautiful’ to him at a rally in Ohio last week. Further celebrity fans of Mitt Romney include actor Jon Voight (Angelina Jolie’s dad) and musician Kid Rock.
If Kid Rock, SJP, Jon Voight, Meat Loaf, Katy Perry and America’s coolest couple Beyonce and Jay Z are getting involved in politics, along with many more it can definitely be considered cool to do so. The days of politics being confined to just one type of person are long gone. Jay Z is a far cry from the political stereotype I previously described.
So what we can we do? Obviously we cannot vote in the Presidential Elections and our General Election isn’t looming but there are plenty of other voting opportunities. Nottingham City Council have frequent referendums on all sorts of topics that could affect us as students and residents.
Register by following this link http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=883
Read up on upcoming referendums and vote!
In the mean time, although you cannot vote in the US elections, make sure you watch it on Tuesday. It will be shown in Mooch from 8pm by the AmeriCan and Politics Societies – details here.