{"id":7751,"date":"2018-05-10T18:49:15","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T02:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=7751"},"modified":"2018-05-09T18:50:53","modified_gmt":"2018-05-10T02:50:53","slug":"staying-out-of-politics-is-a-privilege","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/staying-out-of-politics-is-a-privilege\/","title":{"rendered":"Staying out of politics is a privilege"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Dunaway | News Editor<\/span><\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, I was driving around with my boyfriend and began thinking about the upcoming midterm elections. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHave you registered to vote?\u201d I asked him. He didn\u2019t respond.<\/span><\/p>\n

I asked, \u201cDid you update your current address online?\u201d He replied with a small shrug.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAre you voting at all?\u201d I inquired.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just not interested in politics,\u201d he replied. And we left it at that.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re curious, my boyfriend is a white, cis-gender, middle-class male \u2014 one of the most privileged groups out there. So, it\u2019s no surprise that he can turn a blind eye to politics because he\u2019s \u201cnot interested\u201d or doesn\u2019t \u201cget into politics.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But, for some people, politics aren\u2019t something that they can brush aside and choose not to participate in. For many, if not all, minority groups, politics govern their lives and well-being. Politics determine whether or not they have to stand in front of a capitol building and ask to stay in a country that they\u2019ve lived in since they were children. Politics govern whether or not they can get married, own a home or get a job, based solely on their sexual preference or gender identity. Politics can dictate if a person\u2019s religion will ban them from their home country and label them as a terrorist. Some individuals don\u2019t get the choice to ignore politics.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy as a white male \u2014 or even for me, as a white female \u2014 to not have to worry about politics taking away our rights. So, if you\u2019re a person who is generally not affected by federal and local policies, why should you care about politics?<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same reason that men stand alongside women during the Women\u2019s March, why I witnessed a room nearly full of white, older adults demanding support for DACA recipients at a town hall with Ron Wyden and why individuals living 2,000 miles away showed solidarity for members of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation \u2014 to look past your privilege and stand up for those that need it. That support begins with the candidates you choose to represent you and your community.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s one thing to be slightly uncomfortable when the name \u201cTrump\u201d comes up at family dinners, but if you\u2019re actively not voting because the outcome of the election wouldn\u2019t affect you, you\u2019re turning away from the minorities in your community that are fighting for their lives because of politics. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a choice not to vote, and not voting is relying on your privilege to protect you. I just hope you consider the people around you who don\u2019t have that luxury. <\/span><\/p>\n

Contact the author at <\/span>sedunaway13@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sam Dunaway | News Editor A few weeks ago, I was driving around with my boyfriend and began thinking about the upcoming midterm elections. \u201cHave you registered to vote?\u201d I asked him. He didn\u2019t respond. I asked, \u201cDid you update your current address online?\u201d He replied with a small shrug. \u201cAre you voting at all?\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1030,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1030"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7751\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}