Hundreds of years ago, a brave group of religious outcasts, hired servants and freedom seekers embarked on an uncertain voyage that would subsequently transcend the course of civilization. These valiant individuals sought a means by which to escape persecution levied by an unforgiving dictatorship and they found such means in the establishment of what is now the United States of America. These people, our forefathers, created a democratic government that, to this day, thrives on the collaboration of each citizen.

Without this collaboration, democracy, despite its beauty, encounters its own fallacy; meaning that as we, as a trailblazing nation, have grown and progressed, our priorities have shifted greatly. In a day and time where our own practical application of science is becoming master over our society, we must ask ourselves: Is technology threatening to become our downfall?

The long-awaited Apple iPhone 4G, which comes in 16 GB ($199) and 32 GB ($299) with a two-year AT&T contract, was released to local AT&T retail stores across America Tuesday for in-store purchases. The stores received a shipment of the phones last Thursday, but they were reserved for customers who successfully completed a pre-order. The pre-order date, June 15, proved to be a disastrous one, as a staggering number of people across the nation simultaneously logged onto both Apple and AT&T’s websites, causing a system collapse.

Doors at the Jasper AT&T store on Highway 78 East in the English Plaza Shopping Center opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday instead of the usual 9 a.m. opening time.

Hours before AT&T associates began to serve the customers, they began to line up outside the doors, forming a queue that snaked to the far left side of the building.

Local Apple enthusiast Derrell Humphries arrived at the store at 2:45 a.m. He pridefully held down the doorstep as the line’s leader.

“They told me to be here early, so here I am,” Humphries laughed. “The technology convergence of these phones are just addicting.”

Radio Shack and Wal-Mart of Jasper received limited numbers of the new iPhones available for in-store purchase on a first come, first-served basis last Thursday.

Radio Shack sales associate, Justin Goldsmith said, “Before we opened the store at 10 a.m. there were already people waiting outside. At least 10 people called searching for iPhones before we opened.”

The store did not offer pre-orders, however, they did have a few people call to reserve a phone. The store sold all six phones in two hours. Most customers preferred the 16 GB phone, but did not hesitate to spend the extra $100 for the 32 GB after the 16s sold out.

Store manager Jeff Sanford explained by saying, “There is a $100 dollar difference in the 16 GB and 32 GB and only two people wanted the 32 GB, but when we sold out of the 16s the customers had no problem paying extra just as long as they had the iPhone 4G.”

Wal-Mart received three iPhone 4Gs, all 16 GB, and sold out of them immediately upon the opening of the home entertainment section of the Supercenter.

Neither stores’ management workers have been notified of when they will receive another shipment of the high-ticket phones.

Some across the nation even sold their new iPhone 4Gs on Ebay for upwards of $1200.

Apple iPhone 4G

enthusiasm vs. Americans’ voter turnout

The deafening hype surrounding the iPhone 4G’s release cannot be denied. Apple press releases indicate that on the first day pre-orders were made available, over 600,000 customers responded with credit and debit cards brandished.

An AT&T spokesman said, “iPhone 4 pre-order sales were 10 times higher than the first day of pre-ordering for the iPhone 3Gs last year.

Jasper citizens have showed that they are no different, as they camped out hours before the AT&T store opened and made calls to local electronics stores searching for the superior device, yet official numbers indicated that only about 35 percent of registered voters went out to their polling places and voted in the local primaries earlier this month.

These numbers cause one to mull over the possibilities of what could be done if the public brought the same intensity they show for new gadgets to the ballot box on election day.

Greg Reed, winner of the Republican primary for State Senator of District 5, believes that this problem can be solved by a simply reordering of citizens’ priorities.

“The citizens need to understand that voting should be a top priority,” Reed said. “We are so blessed to have the freedoms that we have. The principles and ideas of the community determine all aspects of the society we live in and people need to connect to the fact that we, the people, decide how our government works.”

Reed provided three simple steps that could immediately affect election day turnout.

“First, people have to make voting a priority. More than 60 percent of our county did not. Second, our people need to be educated on the current issues and the people running for office that are willing to do what it takes to solve those issues. The importance of voting can be promoted beginning in high school. Third, people should let their voice be heard. The best way to do that: Vote. Be involved, work for a candidate and the system will work the way it is designed to.”

Paul Kennedy, executive director of the Walker Area Community Foundation, said, “It disappoints me greatly to know that people are more interested in their toys than the political process. If people held the same interest in learning the truth behind candidates as they do learning the details of the phones they own, then there is no telling what progress could be made.”

The future of technology-based voting schemes

Statistics show that this season’s American Idol television show garnered an ominous amount of viewers voting for choice contestants. In the results show of the second to last round, viewers cast over 47 million votes in one night. Compare that to the 131 million votes total cast in the 2008 presidential election, with the total number of registered voters being 212 million. This indicates that the number of people who voted in the 2008 presidential election was less than three times the number of people who voted for singers on a primetime television show. One could imagine the bountiful number of votes that could have been garnered had McCain and Obama faced off in and Electric Slide contest while singing Bee Gees hits.

Although Kennedy doesn’t see a text-based election strategy in the near future, saying that it could lead to political candidate selection being “so easy that it becomes thoughtless,” he and others believe that the introduction of technology, if carefully monitored and secured, could lead to a more popular, efficient voting process.