Nikki’s Decision 2012: Educating Yourself About The Election

 In 2008, I thought that I had every correct opinion about the election based solely off of Huffington Post articles and NBC news reports and interviews.  For the first time ever, I hated my August birthday and the fact that my less informed classmates could cast their vote for John McCain for no better reason than the fact that seemingly everyone in our town voted Republican because we lived in the birthplace of the Republican Party.  I strived to inform the quiet listeners who sat back and followed what everyone else was doing, but being one of three Democrats at my school, I came up short.  At my school’s mock election, McCain won by a landslide, but in reality, Obama had the charisma and the marketing team that caused a majority of other young people to believe that he was the change that they could believe in.
 

After the Democrats got the W, I eventually decided that my smug little smile that I sported the day after the election was enough revenge for all of the debates I had lost to my teachers, yes, I said teachers, and I moved on.  I soon got so caught up in summer and adjusting to college the next year that I didn’t think much about politics unless the state of the union was on or health care was being debated, but those issues didn’t concern party lines as much as the well being of the American people.  Now that I actually have a voice in Decision 2012 (that I am probably taking way too seriously), I want to make the best decision possible for me. I guess you could say that I’ve turned (almost) independent.  Whoever becomes president will handle the job market, housing market, and economic status of our entire country at the exact time that I will be looking for a job and a house.   So go ahead and laugh high school friends, Nikki Williams is researching Republicans. 
 

This new revelation is coming at what I can label as a very “mature” point in my life.  Moving to the arguably most liberal town in Michigan after living in the most conservative has opened my eyes to the fact that I’m actually more conservative than I had originally thought, which led to my googling spree of all the important Republican hopefuls.    After sifting through the enormous amount of information on all of the announced candidate’s websites, I put together a little list of what I’m looking for to make sure that I am as informed as possible on all of the topics that matter to me.  Throughout this process, it hasn’t been so much about party lines as it’s been about me.  Usually I always try to put others before myself, but the election calls for a free pass to be self-centered.
 
This year, I am looking into a few particular issues before casting my vote:
 

1. Does the candidate have a concrete plan about how to deal with the job market?
2. What does the candidate have to offer college students who may go to grad school? (loan policies, budget spending in those areas, option to stay on parent’s health care for a longer period of time, etc.)
3. What are the candidate’s passions and interests and do they have a plan to use those special interests in the White House? (ex:  Mrs. Obama’s fight to end child obesity)

 
If everyone took the time to ask themselves two questions,  “What am I looking for in a candidate?” and “Which candidate stands for those things?” then they would have a much stronger voice in Decision 2012.  I am not publicizing for any particular party, I am advocating that everyone make the decision that will best benefit themselves, and the only way to be able to do that is through the power of knowledge.   My Decision 2012?  You’ll have to wait until next week to find out!