“I’m not 18 and I can’t vote yet, so I don’t really care about the government,” says a friend of mine. “You’ll be 18 in a few months, though,” I respond. “True, but..” But what?

Most people at south, if not at most high schools, couldn’t care less about politics and couldn’t know any less as it is. But why should any freshman through senior care about anything right now besides Spring Break, let alone politics?

What I can say is this – people who don’t care and don’t contribute still complain. They complain about parking in the student lot, and they’ll grow up to complain about parking elsewhere or maybe even something a little bit more complex, like healthcare. Or the President.

Let’s look at a current example. If anyone didn’t know (they didn’t), President Bush’s approval rating right now is quite low. “Well, that’s because he’s awful!”

I’ve heard plenty of people slander the President; on television, in print and even in the hallways of South. It’s easy. Low approval rating means bad president. But does anyone care to understand why? No. They get sucked into a mob-mentality, perpetuated by a media that has recognized the trend and has continued feeding viewers with what they want to hear. People who know almost nothing listen to more people who know almost nothing who happened to hear something from someone who thought they knew something — that’s how opinions are formed. That’s how many people vote. And that’s how our country is run. It’s okay to complain, and it’s okay to dislike the President. But shouldn’t you at least know why?
That’s exactly why you can’t just suddenly become well-versed in politics or current affairs once you turn 18. Because turning on CNN every day will get you nowhere. You’ll only know what’s going on at CNN.

People don’t realize that the freedoms that we have aren’t God-given rights – they’re responsibilities and privileges. But everyone takes them for granted. Most people will never care. This column isn’t going to change that, and neither is an MTV campaign to get people voting. It’s why we have a representative government. One person who cares a lot takes the place of thousands who don’t. But what happens when those people know nothing? Could the representatives eventually be the ones who decide everything? Their parties? The federal government? Whatever other organizations they’re influenced by?

I suppose that there’s nothing wrong with being a passive member of society if that’s what makes you happy. We all have the right to the pursuit of liberty and happiness. In a bubble like Glenview, where problems are relatively non-existent and rarely serious, people have worked hard to get to a point where they have the luxury of not caring. For their sake, I really hope they never have to disagree with anyone. They just wouldn’t know where to begin.

George Birman, editor-in-chief