All too often, I’ve heard people say: “My one vote isn't going to count for anything, so I’m not going to bother. Let someone else do it.”

Uhh…Helloooo?! Stop and think for a moment. Clearly, it’s not just you that’s thinking this way, or else why are American youth consistently the lowest age group showing up to the polls?

Maybe your excuse is that you don’t feel informed enough about our politics to make such a decision on a candidate. But how about the average, older American citizens who participate in voting with no political awareness, yet are so adamant about their candidate’s capability of running this country? Yes. Believe it or not, Donald Trump is for real, and believe it or not, he could win this election.

Young Americans, we sit back and complain about candidates like Trump, but come election time, too many of us put our heads down and hope to pull through in the event of nationwide crisis. Why do we keep doing this? Are we not required to learn about the politics of our country in college and in high school? Therefore, are we not at least somewhat politically informed? We make up a large percentage of the educated population, yet most of us never bother voting.

An analysis of voting trends among the youth shows that more of us are motivated to turn up at the polls in the presence of strong political upheaval. As a result of the passage of the 26^th Amendment, adjusting the minimum voting age from 21 to 18, more than 50 percent of the youth ages 18-24 took part in the 1972 election, many of them activists against the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. More recently, in the 2008 election, 66 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 30 voted in favor of Obama, greatly contributing to his victory. Obama’s charisma and ability to resonate with the youth are not the only factors that helped him win election. After witnessing our nation under the Bush administration, more of us became politically conscious, realizing the necessity to vote. But once again, the biggest problem is that this is not a trend; we are not making it a priority to vote in every election when we should be. It may be true that not every candidate is going to stand out to us the way Obama did, but come election time, we can’t stand by the notion that because a candidate doesn’t seem worth voting for we should simply not vote. In the end, someone will be taking office. Do you want that candidate to be the one you absolutely hate, or at least be the one that some of your beliefs align with?

Our vote matters more than you may think. What happens in the United States transforms the rest of the world. If the youth had overwhelmingly voted in the 2000 election, maybe Al Gore would have won, and under Al Gore, the war in Iraq most likely wouldn’t have happened. If more of us made it a point to vote, maybe the Middle East wouldn’t be in such shambles today.

When it comes to American politics, many of us don't see eye to eye with our parents or older voters, and therefore wouldn’t want to live by their rules. So why would we choose not to vote and instead let this older generation set rules for the way we should live our lives for years to come, even after these lawmakers are dead and buried?

All young Americans need to get out there and vote, and there should be no excuses. This is soon going to be our Earth, our society, our economy, and our problem. In the words of Plato, “People who refuse to vote end up being governed by inferiors who do.”