4 - Tuesday, November 6, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycam 10 4 - Tuesday, November 6, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom ce Midiian BaIVy Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com TIMOTHY RABB JOSEPH LICHTERMAN and ADRIENNE ROBERTS ANDREW WEINER EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. FROM T HE DAILY DIY government Voting essential to maintain democracy j day, the 2012 election cycle comes to an end. With it, thou- sands of politicians and laws will be added to our nation's lexicon thanks to the voices of millions of citizens. Amongst those voices should be University students, expressing their per- sonal beliefs and ideologies in hopes of creating their vision of the . Unfortunately, due to a marked difference in the tenor of college- aged excitement about President Barack Obama compared to 2008, and in conjunction with historically low rates of youth engagement, the reality is that far too few of us will make it to the polls this time around. Plenty of solutions have been proffered to fix this, from Jay-Z and Bruce Springsteen campaigning with the President to Lena Dunham of "Girls" likening the first time voting to losing one's virginity. The simple fact of the matter, however, is that voting is an essential form of participation in the democratic process and those of age must participate in order for the system to succeed. Rorney Reaganomics As we head to the polls to elect our president, mem- bers of Congress and decide countless other decisions, his- tory will be in the back of our minds as we check off the ballot boxes. Regardless of who is elected, this election will JAMES parallel some BRENNAN period in our country's his- tory, and our decision will illustrate which period we want to see again. In the 1920s, the United States saw an economic boom. The coun- try exploded with wealth and con- sumption, leading to the acquisition of huge fortunes for many individu- als. But as we all know, the ride didn't last for long. As the stock market crashed 'in 1929, the world fell into the worst economic depres- sion in human history. This wasn't an accident, and perhaps could have even been prevented. Ram- pant speculation and easy credit led people to gamble and over-invest, while the government had little regulation in place and virtually no capital requirements when it came to financial dealings within banks. The bottom fell out, and the whole system collapsed. The same thing happened with the housing market in 2008, and we've been dealing with the repercussions ever since. In the 40 or so years following the Great Depression, the federal government introduced tight eco- nomic restrictions on banks, indus- try and individuals. Economically, the United States was the most suc- cessful nation in the world during those years, benefiting from our own ingenuity and government- imposed fiscal responsibility. We may not have seen a boom like the 1920s, but economically speaking, life was pretty good in the 50s, 60s and early 70s. As government control of major industries waned in the late 70s, the country began to see unemployment and energy costs rise. Inflation hit the economy hard, leadingto stagfla- tion - a combination of inflation and high rates of unemployment never before thought to be possible. Then, in stepped President Ronald Reagan. Reagan proposed slashing taxes, deregulating businesses and letting the free market take over again. Even the man who would eventual- ly become his running mate, George H.W. Bush, called his policies "voodoo economics" when he ran against Reagan in the 1980 Republi- can primaries. Bush was right. As the economy boomed in the 80s - just as it did in the 20s - a time bomb began toetick. There were plenty of warning signs: a stock market crash in 1987, an early-90s recession and another crash in 2000 followed by a recession. Then, the explosion: the housing meltdown of 2008 and the worst economic situa- tion since the Depression. For almost 30 years our country went back to the economic pros- perity of the 1920s. If Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is elected and his economic policies are put into place, we will besetting ourselves up for another visit from our ugly past. I'm not saying Obama will be the next Franklin D. Roosevelt - though I wish he would. Heck, I even wish Mitt Romney would be. Frankly, we need another president to tame our country's economy, as FDR did in the 1930s. The White House needs to stop banks from betting vast amounts and provid- ing their workers with an unliv- able wage. The government can't allow people to take out expensive mortgages they'll almost certainly default on. These situations could lead usto a double dip recession and destroy plenty of lives, squandering the hard work of millions of people trying to claw their way out. I'm not saying Obama will do all of these things. What I'm saying, instead, is that Romney certainly won't. The Romney-Ryan economic plan is the same one Republicans have been pushing since the Rea- gan era. They want less regulation, less government in all aspects of the economy and lower taxes - meaning less money to fund the necessary agencies to regulate businesses and individuals. History is bound to repreat itself after initial 40 economic boom. More government, I'll admit, isn't always the answer. Sometimes, regulation and over-taxation stifle growth and prevent innovation. I want to be clear that this isn't an attack on capitalism or the free market - our freedom to develop business and technology is what makes our economy run better and more efficiently than any other in the history of the world. Govern- ment regulation will mean that the booms from the 20s and the 80s will be essentially unachiev- able. But what we will get in return is stability: fewer recessions that are less severe, a more even spread of wealth and a stronger middle class. A Romney economy may pro- duce a bigger boom, but it won't last. When it runs out, history will repeat itself, and we'll be right back where we started. - James Brennan can be reached at jmbthree@umich.edu. People should realize that when they vote they are not only choosing a candidate for the next two, four or six years nor are they merely choosing which bonds to renew or to impose. More importantly, they are forcing politicians. and fellow citizens to consider their demo- graphic and the issues important to them. Women's rights, marriage equality, fair trade, unemployment, the rising cost of education and the increasing tax burdens cast upon our gen- eration and those to come are just a few of the issues thatappealto students more thaneothers. By voting we are using the voice given to each of us by our democratic process, and that right is under fire in some states. Check your voter registrationcard to see where you're reg- istered to vote - polling places are open from 7-a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 6. Be sure to bring a driver's license or another form of photo iden- tification, such as an MCard, U.S. passport or other government-issued ID. If you don't have a photo ID, it is possible to sign an affidavit at the polls to affirm your identity. It's necessary to bring your voter registration card or a util- ity bill if your forni of identification does not include your current address. Apathy, disillusionment and the feeling that one vote doesn't matter are all regularly cited as reasons to remain at home on Election Day. All these argumentsdposit that an individual vote is insignificant and therefore not worth casting. This line of thinking strays when it assumes that democracies are reflections of individual desires rather than the culmination ofour collective action.America is not just built by presidents or ballot proposals, campaigns or special interests; our nation is built by all of us - for all of us. Often people forget this. They become more concerned with how their particular brand of politics reflects upon themselves and fail to consider how their political beliefs - pro- testing through inaction - reflects on their country itself. This creates public and private forms of non-participation. The silent plural- ity of non-voters finds itself with nothing to say about the far-removed notions of the political world. This inaction then becomes the cause of their disenfranchisement since politicians, lawmakers and lobbyists can only interpret the words and actions of voters: they simply do not have the means to interpret the silence. If you have a grievance, you must air it or fix it your- self. Since the issues we face as a country are greater than any one of us, it will take all of us to solve them. Today the 2012 election cycle ends and a new one begins. The only change we'll see is the change we initiate. Let us leave our indeli- ble mark on the history books so that tomorrow we maysaywe started to create the countrywe wanted today. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Kaan Avdan, Sharik Bashir, Eli Cahan, Nirbhay Jain, Jesse Klein, Melanie Kruvelis,Patrick Maillet, Harsha Nahata, Timothy Rabb, Adrienne Roberts, Vanessa Rychlinski, Paul Sherman, Sarah Skaluba, Michael Spaeth, Gus Turner INTERESTED IN CAMPUS ISSUES? POLITICS? SEX, DRUGS AND ROCK'N'ROLL? Check out The Michigan Daily's editorial board meetings. Every Monday and Thursday at 6pm, the Daily's opinion staff meets to discuss both University and national affairs and write editorials. E-mail opinioneditors@michigandaily.com to join in the debate. NICOLE MILLER IE;WP'