Braced with “Old enough to fight, old enough to vote” picket signs, 18-year-olds across the nation spent the mid-twentieth century marching about the streets in pursuit of their voices finally being heard. After a decades-long battle dating back to World War II, the 1970 passage of the 26th Amendment vindicated an unprecedented movement of politically active teenagers and young adults. In the following 1972 presidential election, citizens between the ages of 18 and 20 flocked to the voting booths—excited to take on their new role in the political scene—with a staggering youth voter turnout of 55.4%.
That number, dishearteningly, has been on the decline ever since.
Since as early as our Revolutionary War’s appeal for “No taxation without representation,” our nation has ceaselessly prided itself on our political culture of representation, patriotism, liberty, and activism. Our right to vote is perhaps the most paramount avenue to embody these political values in a manner that really makes an impact on public policy. Becoming active participants in our political processes is a civic duty that we have a responsibility to fulfill—not out of mere obligation, but to have our opinions palpably vocalized in our incredible country’s political proceedings.
Notably, many people—especially millennials—have grown cynical over the nature of our government as a representative democracy, feeling as though the electoral system doesn’t actually take into account the popular vote. While there have been seldom occasions where the popular and electoral votes did not coincide, the reality is that this has only really occurred once in over a century of elections. The representative democratic system can only function sufficiently when our elected representatives can fully understand how their constituents feel—and this, of course, can be accomplished most saliently by voting. In fact, choosing not to vote is hardly a form of political protest at all—instead, it just ensures that your voice, experiences, and opinions won’t be considered in shaping public policy. Though it does seem that just two political parties exclusively control our election processes, you still don’t have to feel as though you’re throwing away your vote on a candidate you don’t support; there are third-party, independent, and write-in candidates to cast your vote for who may represent your personal political values more accurately.
To say that millennials can’t make a difference in the election blatantly disregards the power that our generation can have in our country’s political arena. With an estimated 69.2 million millennials in the United States who are eligible to vote, we comprise a whole 31% of the electorate—making it all the more disenchanting that we have the lowest voter turnout of any generational group. Within the next four years, we’ll be building our careers, buying or renting our first homes, paying taxes, and maybe even getting married—so with our entire futures ahead of us, long-term public policy affects our generation more than any other. Because the passage of new public policy can be a long, cumbersome process, those issues that we vote upon today will have the greatest effect on our post-college lives for decades to come. If we start setting forth poor precedents of political indifference now, we are essentially waiving our right to mold our own futures.
It should go without saying that our political decisions in this upcoming election need to be based upon policy above all else—but with the biased reporting of virtually all of our mass media outlets, it can seem difficult to make an informed decision. In more instances than not, our conventional broadcast media sources have lost their credibility as an objective provider of information to the people—and it’s easy to get caught up in the sensationalist hype surrounding both major-party candidates. It’s likely that many of us are even experiencing staunch pressure from our friends and peers to skew our votes one way or another. Consequently, we have been bestowed with an even greater responsibility not only to vote, but also to do the necessary research to independently understand the actions, facts, and policies surrounding our candidates’ platforms. Rather than blindly accepting the images illustrated by media sources, we must rise above these external influences and cast a vote that reflects our own personal set of political values and priorities.
When asked if America was to be a republic or a monarchy, Ben Franklin replied, “A republic—if you can keep it.” Never has a truer remark of the state of democracy been said. It is up to us, the voting public, to preserve American democracy; if we relinquish our profound right to voice our values in political elections, we also relinquish the very principles of liberty, freedom, and participation which our great nation was founded upon. It is by voting in the impending election that we are able to decide our next leaders, to influence public policy, and to sculpt our future. Whether you’re voting red, blue, or anything in between, we implore you: get out and vote.
Statistical data retrieved from Pew Research Center, as well as Rock the Vote.
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