Making an educated vote and the fear that comes along with this generation's lack of interest.

As young people we are constantly being told to "go vote . But is simply voting good enough? Statistics show that very few people between the ages of 18-24 are actually voting, and I wonder, out of those few people who did vote, what are they basing their vote on? Votes need to have meaning, and without understanding or having interest in our political world, how can you be expected to make an educated vote? It's scary to think about what will become of our democratic government if this generation doesn't start taking an interest and stepping up.

Just a few weeks ago I was celebrating my cousin's 17th birthday with her and her friends. We were sitting around the table talking about all the exciting things ahead she had to look forward to: getting her full driver's license, graduating high school, being legal drinking age ¦ and that's when I piped up with "only one more year until you can vote! . Not only did they look at me like I was the ˜uncoolest' person ever, it was as if being able to vote was not even on the list of exciting things to come. I thought it was sad that people not much younger then myself, had zero interest in getting involved in our democracy. However, In all honesty, I can't say I was much different at that age. At 18, I asked my parents who I should vote for, with little interest in hearing their explanation as to why. I realized after that, that I really had no idea who I voted for and for what purpose, I voted for the sake of voting, but I really wasn't doing my part as democratic citizen. That's when I decided to get educated in our political world so that my vote could come from somewhere more than just "because mommy and daddy said so . The sad truth is, If I were to have a similar conversation with my twenty-something friends as I did with my teenage cousin and her friends, I'm not certain it w...