Over the last two years, more and more rights have been taken from women, leading me to question what my vote in this election will give me and if it will change things. American citizens are told that voting is the key to our freedom as early as elementary school. Teachers would make us remind our parents that they need to vote. Why are we taught this even before we can legally vote?
I believe voting is the only thing keeping the extremely political American citizens from losing what little sanity they have left. Many politicians like to make us think voting for them will change things. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, it has made me think about the extent to which voting will change our society. We were not allowed to vote on whether or not to keep it; we put all our trust into the corrupt supreme court and look where it led us.
The overturn makes citizens think about what is next that they will take away as well. Is it gay marriage? The right to transition from a male to a female or vice versa? It seems like they took these issues out of our hands and instead made us vote for the next egotistical politician.
What will voting change if things keep going the way they are currently? They already took the important matters out of our hands and forced us to focus on politicians rather than important issues. That is the problem with voting. There will always be a politician that thinks they can do whatever they want because they are in office, whether they are a governor, a senate, or even the president of the United States.
Voting as of right now will probably move things in the right direction, but how long do we have to wait until something else gets taken away from us? Voting should be something we could do to feel safer in our country, but the voting system did not provide that for us for the last two years.
Voting is often pictured as a safety net when things go wrong in our country. We see it every day. When something bad happens in our lives, we blame whoever is in charge. For example, since inflation has been happening to us, many American citizens like to blame President Biden. They like to say, “He’s charging us more because he is a radical liberal!” while in reality, the cause is far more nuanced.
People who blame politicians in office often think their vote will matter in this election. But just because you voted does not mean things will change overnight. It is important not to put all our eggs in a voting ballot right away. We must expect changes to occur over time, not just because we voted. As citizens, we must see that real change happens with little acts to make a huge impact.
