I have started watching the news more and more lately. I'm not talking about the weather and sports but more of Fox News and CNN than I ever have. When I was a kid, my dad always had Fox News on. It seemed like every night before bed I was listening to Bill O'Reilly talk about something to do with 9/11 or the War on Terror. When 9/11 happened, I was was old enough to know what was happening and how terrible it was but I did not understand how much it would actually impact my generation's future.
Today, we find ourselves trying to figure out who the next president will be. Not only that but we are dealing with ISIS and terrorism. Everyday it seems like there is something new going on in the world that is extremely tragic and it makes me wonder what our future president is going to do to change it and help actually make this world a better place. The thing is, I want a president who is actually going to DO something, not just talk about it. Anyone in this country can come up with ideas of how to better the United States but I want someone who is actually going to make the move. I'm tired of feeling like this country is stagnant, just sitting while the rest of the world is trying to change. I find myself wanting to be more informed on the politics side because I have been listening to the stories of terrorism for about fifteen years of my life and I'm tired of feeling like not much has changed. I don't know if anyone else my age feels the same but here are a few reasons why we should become more educated on political issues today.
The Economy
As young adults, we pay attention to the changes that affect us immediately. Things like a change in minimum wage or a raise in taxes are what we notice the most because those are changes that affect our pay checks. Changes in unemployment don't necessarily affect us as much, but we do need to watch the rate of unemployment because that is something that affects our future. Everything that deals with the economy will affect young adults at some point in our lives so we need to be more educated on how the economy works and what causes it to rise and fall.
Terrorism
Growing up in the late 90's and early 2000's the word terrorism is nothing new. We grew up with the threats in the 90's and watched 9/11 happen. After that we had to deal with the War on Terror, which many of us at the time didn't understand. Terrorism is something that we all hear about, deal with and hate... but we don't always understand everything that is truly going on. We make posts on social media about how we hate that this or that happened without having true knowledge of what is going on behind the scenes. Terrorism affects our families, friends and everyone around us so why wouldn't we want to be up to date on what is going on in the world around us?
The Election
I can't speak for the rest of the youth but as for me I don't know much about the upcoming election. I've been trying to pay attention to the news but it seems to me that all I hear about is how Trump will be a bad president because of this, or how Hillary Clinton can't be trusted because of that. I have started just tuning out anything dealing with the election because it is all negative publicity. What happened to campaigns that inspired young adults to become great leaders and make them want to be involved rather than campaigns that tear each other apart? Young adults seem to turn away from being involved in the election because they don't like either option. We want someone who builds us up, not tears the country apart.
I'm not one to talk politics or even give my opinion but something needs to change. The hate and violence needs to stop. The younger generation needs to be more independent and educated. And we need be the change that the world needs. The future of this country is in our hands and it starts with today.
