Kalamazoo Electorate Discusses Hopes and Nerves
by Colin King
KALAMAZOO, Mich.-- It seems the majority of people who frequent Kalamazoo College's Upjohn Library are nervous but hopeful about the upcoming 2008 presidential election. They focus on different individual issues and have different anxieties but the general sentiment is similar.
"The biggest issue for me is alternative energy, and I believe that 'Drill, baby, drill' is disgustingly immature and I have much more confidence in the Democrats' plan for alternative fuel," said Joseph M. Malone, 19 from Grosse Ile, Mich. He said he was raised in a conservative household, but now is attending a very liberal college so he tries to e unbiased in his choice of a candidate. But not everybody shares his decisiveness.
I really don't like politics," said Haley M. Decker, 19 of Ann Arbor, Mich. "It's too much about personal gain and not about the greater good." This makes Decker skeptical of both parties and politicians in general.
"Right now the right and the far right are our two parties," Berkeley, Calif. native Kimberly H. Upstill, 20 said. While this is a common thought among students, the adults of the Upjohn Library seem far less concerned about the outcome and circumstance of this election.
"I'm not nervous. I know the polls aren't definitive but I don't think the Republicans can steal it this time," said Jeannie D. Sanders, 45, of Bangor, Mich. "Barack Obama represents the middle class. The majority needs to be heard."
This sort of optimism and idealism is not completely embraced by Sanders' contemporaries. Heather M. Garcia, 38 of Kalamazoo, Mich. maintained a healthy dose of skepticism of the political processes.
"I'm happy the polls look good, but I am nervous. In the past we have been sorely surprised."
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