Dear Mr. President,

You have been quite vocal in asserting that Americans need to vote, and more importantly that each vote truly matters. But your emphasis is not so much on voting for the better leader, but rather voting for the preservation of principles that will continue to make our country greater (which may or may not coincide). At the core of all Americans is this fear that the things we most love and appreciate about our country--which can be quite different depending on the person—will cease to be cultivated by our next president, and that there is nothing that the average American citizen can do about. Once the election is decided come November, there is nothing we will be able to do to stop a predicted catastrophic chain of events. Or so they say.

I have to wonder, Mr. President, how truly and secretly worried you and your family are; however, I don’t think it’s simply about the United States selecting the better candidate. I believe your greatest fear is all around American apathy. Unless a person is a strong supporter of one candidate or another (and they’ll be sure to tell you if they are) there are a lot of people who say they simply don’t know who to vote for, so why even bother voting at all. They will flip a coin to decide “the lesser of two evils”, or tempt fate even more by electing the “popular” third party candidate Gary Johnson. The fact that people are even considering a third party candidate is very telling of the nervous energy surrounding the potential fate of our country. But even this is better than the large portion of people that have said, “I’m not voting, because it doesn’t even matter who I vote for.”

You say that it is imperative to vote. That it is our duty to remain active citizens and exercise our right in order to ensure the future we desire. It is obvious which way you would prefer to see us vote, and very understandable that you would encourage us to vote for you Party’s candidate, but it’s not your endorsement of Hillary that you stress in your speeches. You claim that every vote matters, and although the electoral college may undermine that statement, you are right to say that it matters that we all take action, such as voting.

If you get up off of the couch to take a stand for something, November 8, because our country was built on its citizens’ rights to voice their opinions, that is a good start. But it shouldn’t end there. If we’ve accepted that neither of the major candidates are going to solve all of the current issues faced by our nation, then we should do more than say that is that. If we are unhappy with something we also have the right to protest, and let us not forget that we are represented by more than one person in the whole of our state and national governments. This is not the only election that matters, and while some of us might need a reminder, we have not all forgotten.

Don’t cry for the millennials, Mr. President. We are not all so unattached and unaware of the world as some of the former generations may think. Just don’t be surprised after the elections, if we decide to make some changes. We have reached a point where enough is enough, and if we don’t do things differently we will reach the point of no return, but we won’t allow these elections mark that point.

Gratefully,
A Prepared Millenial