Melissesages

Last night, Tyler and I went down to the city building in Madison to vote in the 2008 presidential elections. (Wisconsin is one of the states that allows you to vote early, with the idea that it’ll decrease the waiting time at the polls.) Anyway, when Tyler and I arrived, and saw the enormous line winding through the building, I couldn’t help but look at him and say, “Why are we doing this again?”

See, the thing is, I’m voting for Obama (There, I said it.) Not because I’m hugely in favor of him over John McCain, because I think they’re both qualified, but I like Obama’s policies on healthcare and the environment better, and I’ve pretty much always voted Democrat. So that makes that pretty easy. Now, Wisconsin is already a blue state. Obama has led every single poll in the state since May, and often by double digits. Moreover, Obama has such a strong lead in the national polls that he’s slowed down his campaigning in blue states and started to concentrate on flipping red ones.

To summarize: Obama is sure to win Wisconsin, and is looking good to win the election, period. And, at any rate, the election will be decided by the Electoral College, not the popular vote. So I ask again: why does my vote matter, really?

Right now, as election fever builds, patriotism and civic responsibility are on everyone’s minds. We’re being bombarded with ads, celebrity endorsements, and a truly impressive marketing campaign designed to guilt-trip us all into voting. The machine urging us to vote, either for one candidate or the other or just to vote, period, is stunningly expansive. And it’s not a bad idea by any means: I believe in the democratic process. I do. Though I’m often unhappy with our country’s attitudes and actions, I don’t consider myself un-patriotic. I have great respect for the ideas that went into the founding of this country, even if they were brought forth by a bunch of slave-owning misogynistic white guys. I’m glad to live someone where we elect our officials, and though I hope to travel the world someday, I don’t think I’d ever set up residence in a country other than America. (Unless there’s a draft.)

But at the same time, I think it’s important to remember that we’re not exactly talking about a perfect system here. I think the Electoral College thing is bullshit: the idea seems to be “isn’t it awesome how we live in a country where the people pick their own leaders? Great, now, we don’t trust you to have an intelligent opinion, so we’ll just take your vote as advice, okay?” And the depth, detail, and volume of all these ads should really be illegal – it’s way too much. Not to mention that we seem to be encouraging people to vote because Lindsay Lohan is doing it, not because it’s the right thing to do. Marketing campaigns are very powerful, and the Get Out the Vote one is one of the best, but this election is getting awfully overwhelming.

So, I return to the question from the beginning of this post: based on my feelings about the election process, the value of my vote, and after a long, tired day, did Tyler and I wait in line for over an hour in a stuffy government building to put our two cents in? The answer is yes, we did. In the end, I chose to vote not because I think my vote will matter, because in all honesty I don’t, and not because Lindsay Lohan wants me to. I voted because at the end of the day, I believe in two things: first, that you don’t have the right to criticize the government and the country unless you make an effort to do your part, and secondly, that history is ultimately decided by the people who show up. Even if, in this particular case, we’re just showing up to wait in line and turn in a piece of paper that may not end up meaning that much. As my dad would say, it’s just the principle of the thing. I just wish I knew that my showing up actually meant something.

There’s a lot of talk, when it comes to movies, music, and to some extent, television, about pirating. Illegal downloads have been around for awhile, and it’s something that’s been debated and argued and legally enforced again and again, until we’re all kind of familiar with the whole saga. There are plenty of people who still illegally download, and plenty, like me, who don’t out of fear of getting caught, but I had some new insight into the whole thing this week when something kind of sad happened in the literary world. As some of you know, I’m a fan of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. It’s a four-book series, it’s addictive, and it’s often compared to Harry Potter as a YA series that just appeals to adults and teens across the board. In fact, a few weeks ago I wrote an article for the paper on the latest and final book, “Breaking Dawn,” which you can find here.
Anyway, the series is written from the perspective of Bella, a human who unfortunately falls in love with Edward, a vampire (I know, I know – overdone, right? But Meyers puts a fresh spin on it, trust me). Now that the series is over, just for fun and for the fans, Stephenie Meyers decided to do something pretty cool: she started writing a fifth book, “Midnight Sun,” which retold the story of “Twilight,” the first novel, from Edward’s perspective. She put the excellent first chapter on her website for all to enjoy, and “Twilight” fans who were depressed at the series’ ending had something to look forward to as a little bonus.
All good, right? But last week, someone got a hold of the first, uncompleted draft of “Midnight Sun,” and posted it online for all the world to find. And lots of them did.
Stephenie Meyers was understandably upset, feeling violated and angry that an imcomplete work had been essentially published without her permission (I’m not suggesting that it’s ethical, but when someone steals a new Jason Mraz song or the Iron Man movie, they’re at least dealing with a finished work). In a powerful blog on her website, Meyers makes some really good points about an author’s work belonging only to the author until they’re ready to show it to the world. “Writing isn’t like math,” she says, “in math, two plus two always equals four no matter what your mood is like. With writing, the way you feel changes everything.” She’s right, too: when you write, you make things up as you go along, and every idea is a different one than you might have had on a different day. The whole revision process (and trust me, it’s a big, long process) exists to make sure that everything works out the way the writer wants it too in the grand scheme of things. By publishing an unrevised manuscript online, the thief took away Meyer’s chance to do that. She was really upset about it, and I don’t blame her one bit.
So, Stephenie Meyer has decided to stop work on “Midnight Sun,” feeling too upset to continue, and afraid that her feelings would tarnish the writing. But then she did something really, really classy: instead of running around trying to legally halt the posting of her work online, she simply put the draft of “Midnight Sun” right smack on her own site. It was a smart, mature move (and a little surprising, given that she’s essentially sacrificing any money she might make from the sales of the draft – can you see JK Rowlings doing that?), and it gave all us fans a chance to read the unfinished draft guilt-free, without feeling like we’re ethically compromised.
And I’ll tell you something: it’s good, too. In fact, the draft that appears made me understand exactly why posting it online is so smart for Meyers: it proves how much we all would have enjoyed the book, if she’d been allowed to continue the way she wanted. The people who like her work and respect her copyrights get something, at least, and the people who were responsible for the leaking and spreading of the book will be made to realize that by leaking the draft, they’ve only hurt us all. Because, as it is just a draft, the book is unfinished, and while we get to read about many of the first novel’s events from Edward’s perspective (made even more fun, by the way, by the fact that Edward is telepathic), we don’t get any of the really big stuff towards the end. I’m angry that the leak happened and I don’t get to read the rest of “Midnight Sun,” but I’m impressed with Stephenie Meyers, who surely took the high road here. And you know, if she ever does decide to continue writing “Midnight Sun,” I’ll be first in line to pay my hard-earned money for it, in a completely legal sense. I just hope she realizes how much we all want her to.