Did not participate

By Alex Rieger

Waiting at the entrance to the Union Ballroom, where the Mock Presidential Election is being held through Nov. 3 (after which it’s moving to Western Hall), freshmen stood in line to become mock delegates of their respective states.

Many were dressed in formal attire, the smell of hairspray thick in the air. A young man in a suit puts up a statistic about the national debt on the wall next to the ballroom. He wears a button that says "Romney for president."

An all-too-real parallel also was evident in this tidy brick building on Macomb’s north side: people playing dress up, listening to candidates recite cookie-cutter speeches, and voting on the biggest popularity contest ever created.

Like many U.S. citizens in a country where barely half of the electorate votes, I chose not to participate.

They say that not voting is unAmerican. Well, I say that the voting system is unAmerican.

Instead of the same old campaigns, candidates should compete in ways that can appeal to the regular person.

My proposal: Have each candidate compete on the TV show "Wipe Out." On this show players try to complete an obstacle course above a body of mud or water.

Or perhaps an arm-wrestling competition …

The bottom line is that politics don't appeal to the typical American – let alone young men and woman in college.

Hey, U.S. political system – it's time for a face-lift.