As election day rolls around the same sentiments are heard year after year.
“Young people need to vote!”
“Use your right to vote!”
After a while it becomes background noise and pretty soon the only motivator to head to the polls is an “I voted” sticker. One cannot stress enough how important being involved in your local, state, and national government is, but if making sure your voice is heard is not reason enough to vote, here are some more.
No Taxation Without Representation
Our country’s founders fought so that all Americans would have a say in what happens in their government. After living under a tyrannical king for too long, the colonists decided that it was their duty to fight for their right to vote. Although voting rights for women and minorities did not come until much later, we still owe it to those who started our country to exercise the right they fought so hard to get. James Otis, a lawyer and political activist during the American Revolution said, “Taxation without representation is tyranny.”
The Suffragettes
Women like Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, and others worked tirelessly to get the 19th amendment passed. Some even went on hunger strikes while fighting for their right to vote. These women were institutionalized and force fed through tubes. They picketed and protested and in the end, women got the vote. Young women everywhere should vote because of the women who dedicated their lives to insuring that right. For a more in depth look at leaders in the women’s voting right movement read about the top 10 women’s activists.
It’s your future
Whether you like it or not, one of the people running will end up in office.The people who serve in office have a lot of power in determining your future. These people have the power to raise or lower taxes and set policies in place that will definitely impact you at some point. Don’t you want a say in who is making decisions?
So the next time you try and say that your vote doesn’t matter, remember all the people who fought to make sure that your vote does.