A year from now when someone says to me, “it’s your fault that we’re in this situation,” I can truthfully say it’s not. I am talking about probably the most important presidential election in history and the fact that I can’t vote.
Therefore, whatever political situations arises within the next four years, I’ll have taken no part in establishing it. I am a legal United States citizen and one day have the right to vote, but unfortunately I was born on the last day of the year of 1998, and therefore I am only 17. Surrounded by college students who are of legal voting age is extremely frustrating, especially when they are voting for the wrong reason, or not at all.
In my eyes, they have the chance to impact this election while myself, and anyone else born after Nov. 8, 1998, are forced to sit on the sidelines for another four years while the world goes up in smoke. As my former co-worker stated when this election season first started, “the country is going to Hell in a bucket.” At first I didn’t believe him, but by now, I think he was right. Who am I to express my opinion though? I can play no true role in this presidential election and therefore have kept most opinions to myself while I see voters debate and argue over who is the better candidate in the lounges of my residence hall.
At the same time, not being able to vote gives me several advantages. I can sleep through political debates. I don’t have to stand in the voting lines. I can see both sides of the Democrats and Republicans because I am undeclared. I find the memes created to attack either candidate as hysterical. For instance, I saw a car that had a bumper sticker which read “stop bigotry” with a silhouette of Donald Trump and his banana yellow hair. Likewise, people against Hillary Clinton have signs which read “Hillary for prison 2016.” This is not to say that I have no idea what is going on with this election season or that I don’t care, because I do, I just can’t do anything to change current political situations or upcoming ones.
I have read enough articles and seen enough news broadcasts in order to know what is going on this election season. But why should I care? I can’t do anything, but I still want to know. I don’t watch political debates because when it comes down to it, I don’t have a voice in this election that actually carries an impact. This is all extremely frustrating as I am trapped between the two sides of the debate without being able to do something. I have to wait another four years for a presidential election so that I can give my opinion into deciding who runs this country. Until then, whatever comes from election day of 2016, it’s not my fault.