With the 2016 presidential election less than a year away and primaries just around the corner, politics have become a very prominent discussion around me. From debate coverage on the news to conversations between my friends and I, and many memes and GIFs of candidates on social media, I am seeing every side of the political spectrum and forming my own opinions. For the first time, I find myself very excited by politics and for the upcoming elections that I get to take part in by voting! I honestly never thought much about any of this until I got to that age, 18, where I would be able to actually use my opinions to elect someone. Here are the five reasons why I am so excited to be able to finally vote!
Now that I can vote, I feel educated enough to make opinions. I probably would not have been able to tell you anything about foreign policy, the economy, or healthcare before I got to college. I felt that I should not vote unless I actually knew what I was voting for, so I took it upon myself to read up on each of the candidates views of all of these things, plus many more. Also, you can't go arguing with someone from a different party about let's say the economy if you have no idea what you are talking about! Become educated so that you can have thoughtful, intellectual conversations.
Also, I have strong opinions! There are so many things that I am passionate about that I want to try to change in America, and voting is my little way of trying to do that. Finding a candidate that has the same opinions as me was really interesting, but also very eye opening. Seeing how people have such polar opposite opinions to mine made me that I want to keep hold of mine that much more. There is nothing wrong in being confident about how you feel towards something, as long as you aren't being rude or disrespectful to people with opposing opinions. This is a very exciting time for me to have all of these opinions because there are so many people to discuss them with, and I can't wait to base my vote on them!
Most importantly, I sincerely care about who is going to run the country. Before voting and politics were on my radar, I honestly did not care about politics or the president's view on this and that. I think with turning 18 and realizing that voting is now something that I could do, I began to think about how I would handle things and what I would do in certain situations. The way the president runs the country will now affect me more than it would ever before. I am an adult now, in college, with loans and debt, soon to be living in the real world and from this point on, all of the different things that a candidate has policies on will affect me. It is so important to have a say in how your country is run, and in order to have a say, you have to vote!
The election is exciting, and I have a candidate that I am passionate about supporting. I definitely would not be as excited as I am about the upcoming election if I did not have a candidate that I felt so strongly about. To have someone that I feel like understands what I want and need as an American makes me eager to give them my vote! This passion keeps me watching debates and reading articles to stay up to date with the race.
Voting is my civic duty, and I take pride in exercising that responsibility. This is what I was told all through high school to try and force me to register to vote once I turned 18. I will be honest and say that anytime someone told me this, I internally rolled my eyes. I didn't even register to vote until much after my 18th birthday. The reason I registered to vote was because I realized that it was "my civic duty". Really, if there is nothing else you can contribute to society, you should vote. Help to give your nation the best leader that it can have because that is the strongest power you will really ever have. Plus, we should be thankful to have that power in the first place.
I realize now that with voting comes a huge sense of patriotism. In reality, I am helping to make America the best that it can be because I am choosing the person who will work to do that. This is where I live and it is extremely important to me how it will be run. I am so thrilled to have the right to take part in this process and I can't wait to take advantage of it!
