In a country where politics is what builds laws and limits freedom, voting is our right as citizens to determine what our future may look like.
Elections happen across the United States. From the local level, all the way up to the national level. It is not a secret that during every election, whether is local or national, youth has the lowest voter turnout. On the other hand, older voters make up more of the citizens’ vote. Even though, the countries laws, restriction and future bills will impact the younger generation directly, many young college students still abstain from voting.
“People in my generation, Generation Z, haven’t really grown up in an America that has a lot of promise or has offered a lot to people who are supposedly the future of our country,” Jae Moyer, JCCC student and Secretary for Equality Kansas of Metro KC said.” That is not fair to us, and it’s easy to see how people would not want to get involved in a process that they haven’t felt the benefits of.”
Young people in America do not trust the system and have completely lost the faith in politics and voting. Some feel like their vote is not enough or that it’s not going to make a difference. However, their vote represents their desires and beliefs and none of this is going to be portrayed in an adequate manner if young people stay home during an election day.
“Young people are the future of our country” Moyer said. “We have vibrant, brilliant and specific ideas about what we want our country to look like going forward. If we aren’t involved, however, those ideas go to waste and aren’t properly communicated. We need to be in the room where it happens to turn our country into what we want it to be.”
Some young people say that they don’t care who is going to be elected because is not going to affect them no matter their ideals. They might not know that every candidate has a plan to enact change in society. Candidates might want to change things such as taxes, tuition or laws that protect students against discrimination. These, along with many more, are things that almost every single college student deal with on a daily basis. Getting youth involved in a topic like politics is a challenging task for anyone.
“The best way to get a message across is to keep the conversation civil,” Brooklyn Armbruster, former JCCC student said.” There’s nothing more of an immediate turn off than when political discourse goes haywire. If I see someone using rude behavior in the name of compassion you lose credibility from me. Some of my biggest mind changers have come from people who express their opinion with maturity, which ultimately leads and invites others to join their mission.”
We need to reexamine how politics and youth understand each-other. Because feeling misunderstood or left behind is no excuse not to make your voice heard. This new generation is the one that is going to live with the consequences of decisions being taken right now. Our vote makes our opinion be heard and democracy a reality.
By Mariana Figueroa Losada