College kids and trendy candidates

You want my vote for president? Show me a political platform. Amid growing election buzz, it’s easy for students to get behind a trendy candidate without understanding the ins and outs of his platform.

Of course, educated voting is vital to any healthy political system. But it’s especially crucial for young people to be informed, given the outsize influence of the youth vote in the national political dialogue.

I’ll admit, I’ve put two Obama stickers on my car with only a vague idea of his economic, domestic and foreign policies. Most of my initial political opinions came from my left-leaning parents, most especially my mother, who likes to yell obscene things at Republican politicians on television.

Luckily, I happen to agree with most of Obama’s policies. But after watching this year’s Republican debates, I realized how little I knew about his potential opponents. So I set out to figure out who these guys are and what they believe in.

As students, we have access to limitless information and incredibly diverse opinions. It is our civic responsibility to educate ourselves, regardless of whom we support.

Of course, young people’s tendency to blindly support a candidate isn’t limited to Democrats. In Iowa, Ron Paul swept the youth vote, claiming support from 48 percent of voters ages 18 to 29.

To put it in perspective, the next runner-up, Rick Santorum, only got 23 percent of this demographic. At UNC, I’ve spoken with several students who say they’d support him in a Republican primary.

Now, I’m not here to support or refute those who would vote for Paul. But I believe he is a candidate whose actual platforms are too often drowned out by cries of “Ron Paul’s my homeboy!”

Young people tend to support Paul because he says he would bring greater individual liberty to Americans. He plans to de-regulate many federal agencies, leaving states to set their own policies.

This manifests itself in almost every aspect of Paul’s platform, and I certainly can’t take every issue on in the space of this column.

But I ask my peers to think seriously about the effects this de-regulation would have on some of the policies they may take for granted, but nonetheless are impacted by every single day. I, for one, take comfort in knowing that my cheeseburger from Buns doesn’t have mad cow disease. Clearly, the effects of Paul’s policies would be more radical than just legalizing marijuana.

To take another example, look at how Paul advocates home schooling rather than public education. He’s so busy talking about the tax dollars we’d save that he forgets to mention the detrimental effects this would have on public universities (like the one we attend here in Chapel Hill).

Regardless of what some cynics may say, students hold significant power in deciding how this country runs and who runs it. But our votes are wasted if we don’t really know who our candidates are and why we’re voting for them.

I challenge students in the UNC community — and myself — to take a study break and catch up on the candidates and the issues. It’s important not just for this next election, but for how this country functions as a liberal democracy.