For over the last few years, it seems as if the Millennials of the United States, or those of us born between the 1980s and the year 2000, have been lacking in the political department, making it unclear if this generation will be willing to vote consciously in the upcoming 2016 Presidential Election. This, however, is something not to be taken lightly, since this year, the Millennials surpassed the number of Baby Boomers by just one million people. So why is our generation shying away from politics, when we are the ones that can completely change the system?
One major harm done to the Millennials is the fact that we grew up in fear and massive distrust of our government, because during a time where we should have been focusing on our country, our country was focused somewhere else. In 2010, it was reported that 47 percent of Millennials believe that politics are just not meeting the best needs and interests of the people. This was only crushed by the staggering 83 percent of Millennials who have no faith in our current Congress. These numbers immediately raise many questions about what our country is doing wrong. The fact that the good chunk of our population does not trust the government should only bring worry as to where the nation is taking us and what needs to be done when the rift between a nation and its people becomes more apparent.
Coinciding with the importance of presidential elections, many forget or even don't really care about mid-term elections, which are potentially even more crucial than the presidency, since these are the people directly representing us. The congressional election turnout was the lowest in history last year, dipping down as low as 20 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds showing up to vote. These disturbing rates should only be going up, especially since these are the leaders that will be passing laws that benefit or hurt Americans, so we must make it our duty to elect politicians who serve to protect our rights and not those of corporations.
It doesn't make sense for the most educated and technologically in-touch generation to be the ones that sit on the sidelines as others are deciding what's best for us. If the Millennials do not stand up, voice their opinion, help pass legislature, and, most importantly, vote, we will never build this country up into the amazing nation that it could be. Instead, we always revert back to old, outdated habits when we are the only ones that can move forward in progress, and that starts with who we vote for.
