I know what you’re thinking: Really? Politics again? In our current political climate, the daily news often feels unavoidable. Whether you scroll through Twitter, your Facebook timeline, or even walk into your living room (where my dad is constantly blasting CNN), political updates never seem to end. When many headlines border on misanthropic and nobody seems to agree on anything, it’s easy to cut politics out of your life. Why bother with all that negative noise? But the truth is: We need politics. Even the people who don’t pay attention to what is happening.
*Photo Courtesy of Filip Mishevski on Unsplash
Political decisions affect everyone in one way or another.
Our elected representatives make critical decisions that affect citizens on local, state, and federal levels. As a result, the government manages many (if not all) of our rights and liberties. Politicians control our access to reproductive and contraceptive resources, our rights to labor laws and healthcare, the quality of our education, the rates of our taxes—the list goes on and on. We also rely on our political system to tackle environmental issues, economic policies, social inequalities, infrastructure, and many other matters. Without our elected officials (and the citizens who supported their platform), we would not have the protections we have today. Our voting process allows us to decide who represents our values best; so when less than half of the country votes, less than half of the country decides our fate.
Your voice can help magnify the voices of others.
When you decide to vote for a politician who supports LGBTQ+ rights, women’s reproductive rights, global warming, and other key issues, you indirectly assist someone in need. Sometimes we forget that our vote (and thus the attention we pay to politics) helps others as much as it helps ourselves and the ones we love. Whether your vote contributes to legislation for trans rights, the continued funding of Planned Parenthood, or funding for clean water in Flint, Michigan, you helped. Our government is more likely to listen when many people raise their voices. Every vote contributes to felicitous representation. As stated by John F. Kennedy, “The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.”
*Photo Courtesy of Micheile Henderson on Unsplash
All the information we need is at our fingertips—it’s easy to stay in the know.
No one expects you to care about every political issue. Not everyone wants to focus on social movements or read about foreign policy. However, paying attention to politics as a whole can open your worldview, prepare you for elections, and help you to understand the policies that affect you or others. How are your tax dollars spent each year? Do you want to draw from Social Security one day? What about having a paid retirement? As citizens, we are inherently political; the vast majority of us have no excuse for being uninformed. Twitter established an Explore page for recent events, various news stations and magazines give Snapchat updates, news sources generally post on Facebook, and iPhones are equipped with Apple News as an app. When you take the time to read a few articles every day (or even a couple of days a week), you develop stances on current issues. You can then vote for a candidate who supports your stances (No more war in Yemen! No Dakota Access Pipeline! Legalization of marijuana!) and thus a future you want to see. Younger generations must live with the outcomes, so why not contribute your voice?
*Photo Courtesy of Roya Ann Miller on Unsplash
Our elected officials and their political decisions are supposed to reflect the desires of the majority of our country. Every citizen is affected by the choices of our representatives, with or without our participation. If you want to maintain your freedoms (or even gain more), voting and knowledge are your personal powers. When we wait to pay attention to politics until something happens that we do not like, the damage is often inevitable. Politics can bring people closer or create division; our connection to information and transparency allows every citizen to have a place in the political sphere. Be honest when you don’t know about something and don’t be afraid to be passionate about the issues you care about! Democracy gives power to the people—we must remember to use it.