Blogcoven

More than half of the students polled by an NYU journalism class said they would trade their vote in the next election for either a year’s college tuition or an iPod.

This one is a no-brainer, people. The only question that remains is who is willing to buy my vote?

Seriously. If someone from the Giuliani campaign came up to me and wrote me a cheque for the balance of my student loans (plus enough to cover the related income tax, of course — I’m not stupid) and told me I was not to vote in either the Presidential primaries or the general election, I’d do it. Definitely. No questions asked.

Well, maybe one or two. “Really? You mean it?” Or perhaps, “You’re actually from the Ron Paul campaign, aren’t you?”

This is not to say I think voting isn’t important (and indeed, most of the respondents in that poll believe it’s extremely important). It’s just that my personal debt has far greater impact on my life than whoever wins the overpriced mudfight. I can say this with some confidence, since nearly eight years under the Bush administration has merely enraged me. It’s true, horrible things have happened as a result of Bush being in office as opposed to Kerry or Gore, but I’m not convinced horrible things wouldn’t have happened if Kerry or Gore were at the helm.

It’s also true that if California becomes a contested state, there’s a decent chance my vote will be erased anyway. I might as well get something out of it.

It’s an interesting question. What if everyone in the country was offered $40,000 (the current going rate for a year at a prestigious college) for their vote? My guess is that we’d get another Republican President — the only people whose eyes wouldn’t light up at that much free money are the ones who have lots of it around. People who tend to vote Republican.

There would be a few die-hard bleeding hearts who would say no, I think. (Like the bright spark quoted at the end of the article I linked who feels people who would sell their right to vote should be deported. Should someone who doesn’t realise you can’t deport a citizen be allowed to vote?) I do believe they would be outnumbered by the remaining Republican voters. The result would be striking, though possibly worth it. After all, we’d all be allowed to vote in the midterm election, right?

Added later: Of all the people who’ve commented on this entry elsewhere, none of them have addressed my basic point: my vote is not only not going to change the world or even help it that much, but it has very little effect on my life, direct or indirect. Not only can my vote not stop terrorism, it doesn’t hold anyone accountable for anything (if history continues, and people I dislike and vote against continue to win elections). Of course I’d sell my vote for an ungodly amount of money. It would be silly not to.