Wake Up To Politics - November 4, 2014 - Election Day 2014
To read today's edition of Wake Up To Politics in a PDF format, click here. Continue reading to find the text of the Wake Up in the body of the email!
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Election Day 2014
734 Days Until Election Day 2016
It's Tuesday, November 4, 2014 -ELECTION DAY!!!!!, I'm Gabe Fleisher for Wake Up To Politics, and reporting from WUTP world HQ in my bedroom - Good morning: THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL!!!
To send me questions, comments, tips, new subscribers, and more: email me at wakeuptopolitics@gmail.com. To learn more about WUTP or subscribe, visit the site: wakeuptopolitics.com, or read my tweets and follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/Wakeup2Politics.
From the Editor's Desk
- Ahh, Election Day, my favorite holiday! After months of reporting, it’s time to sit back and watch the results flood in. There’s nothing to do any more. No more ads, no more polls, or endorsements (until 2016). There’s just one thing left to do in the 2014 election cycle (if you’re 18 or above, that is): VOTE!
- Now, I trust that most of you will be good citizens and head to the polls today. I’m not going to hit you with one of the silly clichés you’ve heard a million times encouraging you to vote. I’m just going to hit you with a cliché you’ve never heard before.
- According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word “idiot” refers to “a foolish or stupid person”. But if you keep on scrolling down on the Merriam-Webster webpage for “idiot,” you will soon discover the origin of the word. And you may be surprised to hear that in ancient Greece, the word idiōtēs meant “one in a private station”. The word was used (often as an insult) to describe a “private person,” which meant in Greek society, “a person who is not actively interested in politics”. Or in other words, a non-voter. The people that stayed in the privacy of their homes rather than go and take part in the political process and make decisions for the good of the people.
- To the Greeks, an idiōtēs was held in such contempt and judged as a selfish and stupid person – one who obviously did not care about others or was not smart enough to vote – that it evolved into “idiot,” a stupid person. In Greece, a non-voter was seen as either too stupid or too selfish to vote, and scorned endlessly for their lack of participation in the political process.
- Now, to me, no faithful reader of Wake Up To Politics could ever be an idiot. However, to the Greeks….
If you want to receive updates on election results throughout the night, follow me on Twitter @WakeUp2Politics. I will be tweeting results as they come on, as late as my parents let me J
Or just check your inbox bright and early tomorrow morning (and the next day… the next day) for the results edition(s).
If you follow me on Twitter, you may even get a glimpse at my beloved whiteboard, which I used to predict the 2012 presidential election, and may be bringing back for results tonight and tomorrow morning. The return of the whiteboard will depend on how much homework my teachers give me (apparently Election Night is not a homework-free holiday, although we all know it should be!)
With that, go vote!
