To the editor,

By the time this article is printed, our votes will be cast, and our State Representatives will have already been chosen.

That is why I would like to applaud Mr. Noah D. Meeks for the brilliant strategic timing of his article titled, “Time to vote Dems out,” in which he argued that “we need to restore honor and dignity and hope to Frankfort” by voting the Republican ticket.

Since the article was published in the last edition of The Northerner before election day on Tuesday, Nov. 4, no opposition was afforded the opportunity to respond before it would make a difference in who would be elected.

Though this was not an ethical or responsible way to rally college voters toward a specific party, it was none-the-less quite strategic.

I wish I could also applaud Mr. Meeks for the content of the article, but it represents a trend in mainstream media and politics that I find particularly disturbing and destructive to our democracy.

This trend is to give biased and incomplete information to an audience so that their opinion will be swayed in such a way as to induce an action or attitude that promotes its own interests, and may have undesired consequences for the individual called into action.

As president of a political organization on campus, a leader such as Mr. Meeks should exercise his constitutional right of freedom of speech in a much more responsible manner.

For example, he could take the approach of SGA President, Chris Pace, who traveled to Frankfort, asked both gubernatorial candidates four questions that directly concern Kentucky students, and published their responses verbatim so that voters could decide for themselves who would best address our specific needs on one of many issues.

The editors of The Northerner could have also followed this example by publishing quality information about both the candidates.

While I do not mean to discourage Mr. Meeks from sharing his political opinions in the future, I challenge him to do so in a more balanced manner.

His political leadership and strategies are much needed on our campus; for this reason, I felt it was necessary to appeal to him, as a leader, to uphold the highest principles possible.

Sharon Schuchter Senior, English