By Laura C. Bornstein

Poverty, crime, persecution, war, disease, inequality, violations of personal liberties…..The list of problems in the world seems endless. But the greatest tragedy of all is the apathy of young Americans. Political disinterest is rampant among the youth who are half as likely to vote as their grandparents.

I am dismayed by the learned helplessness of our generation and the perceived lack of control over the way our country is run. Many young Americans refuse to vote because they feel politicians ignore them. Perhaps politicians choose to ignore young Americans because they don’t vote. A vicious cycle is thus perpetuated.

We justify our disinterest by declaring that politicians don’t care about us, that one vote won’t make any difference, all the candidates are alike, we don’t know how to register, we don’t have time, and we hate politics.

But if all the young people who express these views actually voted, we would be able to influence change. Instead we grumble from the sidelines. My peers rarely take the time to investigate candidates on more than a superficial level. They believe they have almost nothing in common with most politicians and instead of picking “the lesser of two evils” in any given election, they don’t vote at all.

Moreover they are confident that the outcome of an election will not affect them. This idea could not be further from the truth. We have a tremendous stake in the condition of our country and we are directly affected by what goes on with our economy to our federal government’s policies on an issue such as reproductive rights.

Historically young people all around the world have been the voice of reform through activism and revolution. In the United States, however, our generation is perpetuating a legacy of political cynicism and indifference. While voter mobilization efforts, grade school civics classes, a more diverse candidate pool, a simplified registration process, campaign and electoral reform, and outreach on behalf of politicians would go a long way towards getting more young people to assume their responsibility and vote, it still comes down to the individual. When November rolls around, I hope you will join me in taking the future into our hands and exercising our right to vote.