I feel conflicted after this past election. Part of me is happy to see so many people turn out to vote and support democracy.

But the other part of me is worried because so many people turned out to vote whether they knew if they were supporting democracy or not. I have suspicions that a lot of the people who recently voted did so for the wrong reasons. They voted because their candidate was black or because he wasn’t.

Of course a lot of people out there knew the issues and knew where each candidate stood on those issues. They didn’t let race or party decide which way they were going to vote, they decided on who they thought would be best for the job. That’s the way it should be, that’s the way our democratic system is supposed to work. This isn’t American Idol; it’s not a popularity contest. At least it’s not supposed to be.

I work at the biggest mall in Sacramento and attend Sacramento State, so I see the youth of this city quite a lot. In all the time leading up to the election not once did I see anyone, much less anyone under the age of 25, wearing a T-shirt with John McCain’s face on it.

However, I did see countless people wearing shirts plastered with Barack Obama’s face though, it has become more of a fashion trend then a political statement. Every time I see someone wearing an Obama shirt I wonder if they really know what he stands for or if they’re just trying to look cool?

It doesn’t stop with Obama however; plenty of people blindly voted for McCain as well. Sure, they don’t have the trendy designer clothing to show their party allegiance, but 48 percent of this country still voted for him.

There were 58 million people who still voted for McCain and I know not all of them did so based on his policies. A friend of mine who has family in Texas recently told me that her dad was planning on voting for McCain. He doesn’t necessarily like McCain, but is much more averse to the thought of having a black man, who he assumed is Muslim, in office.

One example of my mistrust in the youth of America and their support for Obama is simple. Just last week I was in a movie theater and four teenagers were escorted out of the film right in the middle of it. They almost quietly left their seats and made their way out not causing any kind of disruption or disturbance to the audience.

Right as the last teenager was about to leave, she screamed out for everyone to hear, “Obama!” Of course this doesn’t make any sense in any way you look at it, but it is this absurd line of thinking that has me worried.

Do I really want someone to vote on the future of this country who would get kicked out of a movie and then in some show of mock defiance yell out the name of the pseudo-celebrity, President-elect Obama?

NO! Large voter turnouts are not great, who cares if a lot of people show up to vote if they don’t know why they’re voting? I would rather have a smaller, more informed voter turnout, than one full of sheep.

Obama may well have been the best choice for president in this past election but do a lot of the people who voted for him know why?

Matt Rascher can be reached at [email protected]