Republicans have held the majority in the House, Senate and White House for six years now, and what a crappy six years they have been.
Consider the effects of the Republican reign: a depressing, endless war that has achieved nothing but the deaths of thousands of soldiers and countless innocent Iraqis. Billions of dollars spent each week on this war. A bad economy and high gas prices. Citizens of New Orleans left to die on the street by their own government. Scandal after scandal. Denied funding for stem cell research. Bigotry and hate labeled as morality, and Christian rhetoric lacing every speech.
This pervasive environment of hopelessness and self-righteous hypocrisy is surely not what most college students would choose for our world. But because of the choices made by voters before many of us could even vote, this is the situation with which students are stuck.
However, today UW-Madison students finally have the chance to start molding the world they envision. They have the chance to give their country a fresh start.
Though many students were unable to vote six or four or even two years ago, they have the opportunity now and must begin to change this downtrodden America shaped by previous voters. It is time for students to stand up and ask the previous generations, ""What kind of country did you make for us?""
The UW-Madison student body is 40,000 strong, and, if a majority votes, those votes will go a long way. They could even be the deciding factor in close races and the gay marriage amendment.
Despite the power student voters have, low voter turnout is notorious in our age group. Many students are apathetic or believe the issues do not concern them. Perhaps many of the issues do not currently affect them, but one day they will.
A vote is not just for the present, it is for the future, and down the line these students may wish they had voted. Students also have the responsibility to vote not just for their future, but for the future of the next generation.
Do students really want little brothers and sisters, or even their own children, to come into a world that is still entangled in a pointless war? A world where citizens are treated like garbage in times of emergency and disaster? Certainly not.
Moreover, students also have the responsibility to vote today because the rights of others are at stake, in the form of the gay marriage amendment. We must stand up for others who are not lucky enough to have the same rights as everyone else.
Though voting against this amendment will not change the present rights of gay couples, it will keep bigotry from invading our constitution and killing the possibility of future rights. And the future is what students, as the up and coming generation, should be most concerned with.
Today, students should take their future into their own hands and vote for candidates who oppose the current state of the country and want to expand human rights, not shrink them.
Can the Democrats do any better than the Republicans? Only time will tell. But let's use the powerful student vote to give Democrats a chance, because students need a new beginning. Things can hardly get bleaker than they are now.
