By Sydney McCarter

“My voice doesn’t matter,” is one of the most common phrases I hear from other young people when I ask if they plan to vote. As a Political Science major, I try my best not to cringe. As a young person, I relate. 

Our generation is being handed an ever-increasing national debt, a housing crisis, a seemingly impassible political divide, and a terrible sense of uncertainty when it comes to the future. What’s worse, politicians don’t seem to really care about us. Politicians criticize us and call us lazy. They say these things as if the experience needed for entry level jobs hasn’t increased significantly, as if the cost of school hasn’t become insurmountable, as if we have no goals or ambitions for our future. We know this is not true. We know that our generation is just not thoroughly convinced that politics care about us the way we are expected to care about politics. What I want to tell you is that things could be different.  

Fact number one: politicians cater policy to those that support them in the polls. Fact number two: young people are the least likely demographic to vote in an election. In understanding these two facts, we can begin to make some connections. If politicians cater to the needs of their electoral base, and young people are not making up a significant portion of that base, then why would the needs of young people be catered to? We must understand that while this does not show compassion or understanding for the people politicians represent, it is the nature of power and holding office.  

If we want politicians to listen to us, if we want politicians to see and recognize the struggles that young people in America face and are inheriting, there is one thing that we must do: vote. By putting our votes on the line, we will make politicians care about us. It is incredibly bleak to be young and in America right now. It feels like we are being handed broken pieces and being told that we are just not good enough to put them back together. We are being told that we should just be grateful to live here and accept the hand we are given. I refuse to believe that this is the America we should live in. We must hold politicians accountable. It does not matter how loud we shout, how far we march, or how many protests we hold if we do not vote. Voting is the action that fuels the desired reaction. 

So maybe my voice doesn’t matter. Maybe your voice doesn’t matter. The collective action of our generation voting, however, will bring the difference all of us want to see in the future. To register to vote this November, go to vote.org.