ADULTING 101 - PART 6: VOTING

Welcome back, class! 
Like any good substitute teacher, I'll start off with a video:

I really like this, because it rings true! If you get out and attend a rally or a protest, that is great, but nothing sends a louder message to an elected official than your vote.

And for the record, I already voted, from the comfort of my living room, and it is STILL not too late for you to do the same. More info on that is available at the bottom of this post.
This. This is what democracy looks like.
An extremely important election is just two weeks away and young people - historically - never turn out. Whether you are 18 or 34, most young adults today never took an actual civics lesson. Furthermore, voting has never been presented to us in school in the correct context: A battle for control.

I'm not talking about Republicans or Democrats.
I mean old people and young people. Like this video suggests, it matters. Most old people do not change with the times. They elect other old people who make uninformed decisions on new and emerging technology and circumstances, like doing away with Net Neutrality or denying climate change.

Don't like Trump? This video shows how things would have gone two years ago if only one demographic had voted:

Just over a minute in, they get to Millennials and Seniors and based on the actual results, we know which group of voters won out.

I am not trying to throw Baby Boomers under the bus here. Hip, modern, progressive old people do exist, but they are not in the majority. Many of them want and need the youth vote to affect change. To a certain extent, old people are not even fully to blame. They can unintentionally hold on to outdated information or mistake their biased "news" sources for actual truth. Part of how they vote is based on that. Young adults need to vote more because we are harder to fool. This report today shows young adults are better at discerning opinions from facts. Also culturally we are evolving, becoming more accepting of others, thinking globally, and developing bold new strategies and solutions. Sadly, it is the old way of doing things that impede this progress.

Senior citizens have controlled who represents our country for as long as I have been alive, and for the most part, those "representatives" have been old, white, cynical men. It stands to reason that if you are young, idealistic, appreciate diversity, and want people in office who reflect that, you need to vote for them yourself.  While I don't fully agree with the famous quote by Joseph de Maistre - 'Every nation gets the government they deserve' - I do believe that, in our country, if you didn't vote, you don't get to complain about our government.

If you want to register to vote, you can find info and links to do that by following the youtube link below:

https://youtu.be/g_Gbv6LYvpU

As my friend Brett says: "Get Involved".

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