The New First Family, A New President, A New America

Voting on Gay Marriage Today - Nov 4

While McNeil-Lehrer reports a record breaking turnout from the electorate today, major initiatives concerning gay marriage are being decided in voting in three major states.

"Initiatives dealing with gay marriage, stem cell research and abortion also are on the ballot in several states.

California's Proposition 8 would terminate marriage rights for gay couples. Arizona's Proposition 102 would amend the state's constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Similarly, Florida's Proposition 2 would amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage."

Why is it that humans fight over defining laws for other people in this manner? What is the assumption about humans that such activity suggests? That we must be all the same? What do you think?

Register to Vote - Tell Five Friends Today

Today is the deadline to register to vote in New York. Do it online. See info in video.

ARE YOU ELIGIBLE? Make sure you register and make sure you vote Tue Nov 4th

At the following link you can register to vote in any state in the U.S.
http://www.rockthevote.org/

There is little time left to register. Please do that now!!!

NYU Students Would Trade the Right to Vote for an Ipod Touch or Full Tuition

Tuesday in class, Stephen Seymour (4:10 section) showed me a set of statistics on a study done at NYU that appeared in an issue of THE ECONOMIST. It said something like students at NYU were surveyed and would give up their right to vote for a year in exchange for an iPod touch and they'd give up their right to vote forever for free tuition (a free ride). I was stunned.

What's interesting is to compare and contrast the November 22nd print version that appeared in The Economist (very short):

For sale
A poll of New York University students revealed that 20% would give up their vote in the next election for an iPod and two-thirds would do so for a year's college tuition. Half would renounce their vote permanently for $1m.

with the longer version dated November 14th that appeared in The Politico:

...66 percent said they'd forfeit their vote for a free ride to NYU. And half said they'd give up the right to vote forever for $1 million.

But they also overwhelmingly lauded the importance of voting.

Ninety percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for the money also said they consider voting "very important" or "somewhat important"; only 10 percent said it was "not important."

Also, 70.5 percent said they believe that one vote can make a difference — including 70 percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for free tuition.

The class — "Foundations of Journalism," taught by journalism department chairwoman Brooke Kroeger — polled more than 3,000 undergraduates between Oct. 24 and 26 to assess student attitudes toward voting.

Which version says more and what difference does it make to the reader? How might the shorter or longer version be better or worse for cultural perceptions of college students? In what way does each contribute to stratification along class lines and to concerns about wealth, power and prestige in the U.S.?