Today, Nov. 6 2012, America will be electing a leader for the next four years.  I miss the deadline for voting by six months.  I have a couple classmates who will be able to vote this election, those lucky few who had a birthday already this year, but most of us have come up short–which has made a lot of people think that this election is irrelevant to them.  That’s where they’re wrong.

The person who gets elected tomorrow will change the reality of our next four years more than basically any other person in the world.  That sounds like an overstatement, but we live in the only Superpower left.  We don’t only have America to think about because everything we do involves about 18 other countries.  The decisions that either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney makes will be drastically different, and they will give us different realities.  I, of course, have my own political leanings, but I’m not here to tell you to support Obama (that’s Dan’s job).  Still, the differences between the two involve issues that definitely will affect us as high-school-soon-to-be-in-college students.  Issues such as health care, college loans, women’s rights, and the economy all make a difference to us, even though you may not be able to vote.

So what can you do?

What I really want everyone to do is get out there and learn the issues.  Get involved in the debate.  Discover your own political ideals if you haven’t yet.  If you can vote, get out there if you can.  If not, remind your parents, your relatives, your neighbors, anyone really, to vote.  The presidential election might be all locked up in Illinois, but seats in congress and smaller positions as well are still up in the air.  Those matter, too.  Shockingly enough, phone banks are still going on today, so look out for those (you can catch me in Skokie calling registered voters in Nevada at around five tonight).

Whatever you do, don’t just stand by and forget about this election.  In four years almost everyone in this school will be able to vote, and juniors and seniors will have that power in two (for smaller, but very important elections).  Educate yourself.