This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Ithaca chapter.
Coming from a middle-class white family, I never really had to worry about much. I always had food on the table, clothes on my back and a warm bed to sleep in every night. Thinking about who was running my country, state and county didn’t exactly concern me at the time. Politics wasn’t the most interesting subject to me, and I figured the “grownups” could just deal with the issues as they came up. Well, now I’m the grown up, and after watching the changes happening around me, I’m a little more interested in who’s making these decisions.
This year marks an important turning point for our generation. We get to vote in the presidential election! The 2016 election probably isn’t on the top of everyone’s priority list, especially with having to worry about that test next week and scrounging up enough money for groceries. However, as young Americans who are most likely planning on spending our lives in this country, caring about what goes on within our borders is pretty important.
I recently went to a “meet the candidate” party for my county back home, and came away from it with a very different outlook on politics. After meeting someone who wanted to help my local area, which is primarily made up of rural farmland, and provided new ideas for improving our economy, I gained a new appreciation for how hard some politicians are willing to work for the people.
Being informed is the most important part of being a citizen, especially when it comes to politics. There are so many corrupt people in this world who are more than happy to let us follow blindly. Our votes matter more than we realize, and it’s our job to make ourselves informed and contribute to making a decision that will benefit our country, starting with this upcoming and very controversial presidential election.