Voting gives Americans a sense of purpose. We are taught to believe that our ability to vote for a presidential candidate actually matters, as it is a decision that will affect us for the rest of our lives. People are constantly told to vote because it’s our civic duty, but what if you don’t believe in the system? Or worse, what if your voting is harmful to society?

Voting takes on a whole new purpose for 18-year-olds that have the opportunity to vote for the first time. They now have a say in our country’s politics, yet this generation isn’t always the most likely to do research, which could be disastrous. Digesting anything put right in front of them, most students believe what they read without further inquiry and tend to care more about celebrities than what is happening politically.

People new to adulthood often want to feel like they are making a difference, but fail to put the work into understanding what is occurring in the world. Our society needs to pick leaders based on actual views and beliefs, not the propaganda that the American people are constantly fed.

There are some people who research the candidates and their policies and decide not to vote. Many find voting to be irrelevant. No matter who wins no one is going to be 100 percent happy.

Our country is facing large portions of debt, and still the candidates spend millions of dollars campaigning and distributing negative information about one another. It’s not logical. The elections have become more about propaganda and marketing than the actual issues. It is extremely difficult for someone without large sums of money to run for office.

During the presidential campaign the candidates are known to flip-flop their views. They say anything that will make the crowd happy. It is an unrealistic situation. Our society needs to realize that the President is more so a figure than anything, as nothing can happen without Congress being on board. Therefore, the President truly does not have much control over the policy changes that they promise in their campaigns.

There is no easy fix for the problems and flaws in our system. It is something that we need to decide must change, and put forth effort to fix. Our society needs to realize that change does not happen in a day and that there are multiple people and lies that go into how our politics work. You cannot believe everything you hear or read.

By no means am I saying that voting is something people should not do. The voting populace needs to be educated about everything that is going on when they decide to vote. The future of not only you, but also our entire country is put in a dangerous position when people vote, just to vote. You should vote because you’re passionate about the issues and you understand what is happening in society, not because a celebrity or poster says, “just vote.” We are the future, and it is up to us to make intelligent decisions in order to apply successful changes to society.