When young people gain the right to vote, they tend to miss theidea that they have the power to change the political leadership oftheir country. Young voters need to abandon their politicallethargy and replace their absenteeism at the polls with a loudresponse.

Since the 26th Amendment gave the right to vote to 18 to20-year-olds in 1971, the voter turnout of this portion of thecountry has declined by 13 percent. In the last presidentialelection, only 42 percent of voters between the age of 18 and 24voted.

Young people don’t use their civic responsibility becauseof a political disassociation. They think they live in a worldwhere politics are unnecessary. They find themselves imprisoned ina fictitious reality where they don’t see how a politicalleader affects their lives.

But the time for these generations to wake up and burst theirbubble has come. They need to find a political affiliation andunderstand that their vote has now become substantial consideringthat potential young voters of age 18 to 29 constitute about 40.6million Americans.

This is a crucial political moment because it presents issuesthat could have a deep impact on different layers of society.Politics have affected students’ close environment: school.Tuition hikes are making education a challenging goal to achieve.With tuition increases, young people see their academic choicesdiminished.

But voters can look at a wider spectrum and see how the war inIraq is increasingly involving so many lives. If war is foughtabroad, America still feels the consequences at home. Billions ofdollars spent on the military have caused sacrifices in funding ofdomestic issues, such as education, health care and employment.

And now a possible draft is being discussed. As the percentageof recruitments in the army has decreased 10 percent in 2004, thiscountry will need more people in the military if another war waitsbehind the doors.

These issues are not fictitious. They closely affect the newgenerations in ways that are easy to forecast in the near future.If the youth vote turnout keeps decreasing, the circuit ofopportunities will become smaller and suddenly these youngAmericans will wake up and find themselves in an uncomfortablereality that doesn’t meet their needs.

Young voters need to take a stand on these issues byestablishing a political dialogue with the presidential candidatesthat can only be accomplished with one action: voting.