You Have the Power! End Women's Suffrage!

With all this election talk going on and both sides arguing about how the other side is uninformed on the issues, I was reminded of a project I did a couple of years ago for my Government class. I was to create a bill, and get 500 people to sign a petition in support of that bill. We were allowed to make signs, go on street corners, make ads- basically, do whatever it took- to get those 500 signatures. Another requirement was that we have handouts and the "literature" of the bill for the people to read, if they wanted to, before signing the petition.

And so I created a bill to "End Women's Suffrage". We made signs and "protested" on a street corner between two large industrial complexes, and one large church. In a day and a half we got well over the required amount of signatures (close to 800). Now, you may be saying to yourself "Good for you, Rach! Way to go!" If so, you are either a chauvinist or have not yet gone to wiki-pedia to find that "suffrage" is actually "the right to vote".

These results were both hilarious and disconcerting. These were professional people! All seemingly well-educated and put together, yet 800 of them were in full, compassionate support of ending women's suffrage. When asked if they wanted to read the literature, many said no and signed their name and commended us on our efforts. Those who didn't sign were just as fun. We got the finger a few times, but mostly the light chuckle and shake of the head.

So with election time drawing closer, it got me thinking....how many of us are like those 800 people who, without reading the literature, give our support (or don't give our support) to something because it "sounds right" or because the people in the T.V. ads (or on the street corners) are passionately protesting for or against it?

Whether you're Ba-Rocking the Vote or Raising McCain, supporting or not supporting props 1 to one-bazillion, it's just important to note the importance of knowing exactly what you're voting for....or you might just end up signing a petition to "End World Suffrage" (Coming to a street-corner near you).