The men and women who sit behind the judge’s bench, who sit in the county and city administrative buildings, who sit at the Statehouse and in Congress and in the White House all seem to count on one thing — young people not voting.
And yet here we are, 20-somethings with mounds of student debt and medical debt. We have lost friends or neighbors to the school-to-prison pipeline. We have watched nervously as the abortion bans bounce between courts and we have cried at the news of the latest mass shooting.
We have checked in on our friends — are you still able to afford your insulin? Do you need help? How’s your mom — she had a trip to the ER last week, right? I heard she had to take an Uber instead of an ambulance. You moved back home because of student loans? Have you been able to find a job? Congratulations on getting in rehab, I’m really proud of you. I’m so sorry to hear about your cousin, wrong place at the wrong time, huh? They really need to get these guns out of our schools…
They really need to better fund our schools….
They really need to save more of these babies not reaching their first birthday…
They really need to get a handle on the opioid epidemic…
They really need to clean up our lake…
They really need to…
They really need…
Young people have done an extraordinary job putting the responsibility on someone else when we are the very non-voters that have allowed a Republican-controlled Statehouse, U.S. Senate and White House. We really need to show up this primary in strong numbers and demonstrate an overwhelming interest in our future, our parents’ future, our brothers’ and sisters’ future and our future children’s future. These aging government bodies often care more about their pensions than they do about the young people they represent — and we must say that enough in enough.
Please vote on Tuesday, March 17th or vote earlier at your county Board of Elections this next week. Find voter info here. Our future depends on it and no one is going to fight for it for us.