By Matt Won

Last year, when some dude from another dorm ralphed all over one of my floor’s toilets, I didn’t think Jackson Pollack. I thought douchebag.

People in the South were not fans of carpetbaggers when that whole thing was going on. It wasn’t (always) because those Southerners were redneck racists. They just resented outsiders coming in and meddling in their world.

When election day rolls around, all those people who care so much about our world take it upon themselves to enact their passion for political involvement on me, in ways that completely fail to turn me on.

Paternalism never fails to rear its ugly head at Mac: “Why would anyone not want to take a stand against the right wing monster?”

Because I have issues with imposing myself in an election where I’m just a visitor? Because I care about politics in my own state?
Why are these not acceptable criticisms? When you really break it down, the space of legitimately debatable issues at Macalester is way too small. Voting in local elections is not in that space.

I’m going to be in Minnesota for maybe four years. I’m just not about imposing myself on the dumb townies because I know better. Just because you’re in Minnesota doesn’t mean you can’t be a carpetbagger.

No matter what happens in Minnesota politics, we will still be able to find refuge in our Macalester bubble. Not much generally changes in here, other than the odd athletic facility and favorable mention in Newsweek.

Most of St. Paul and Minnesota’s residents are here for the long haul, while most Mac students aren’t. They just care very passionately about what’s growing in their neck of the woods.

I don’t know that it’s right for me stick my two cents where it’s not wanted. Sure it’s legal, but is it just? Please at least ask yourself this question before availing yourself of the political system here.

And dont forget your roots. I was born and raised in Hawaii, and there are vital political issues at stake there, like an identity crisis within the Democratic Party. My mother and most of my family will probably live out the rest of their lives there, so the state’s future is important to me.

For example, I don’t want a faux Democrat in Congress who aims to represent the “new” Hawaii (read: Caucasian haoles and rich landowners).

Don’t lose sight of your home, and don’t stop lending your voice there just because someone’s heart bleeds Minnesota, because the odds are yours doesn’t.