If the 2000 presidential election taught us only one thing, it is that EVERY vote counts. How will the incredibly thin margin of victory in the last election affect the turnout for this presidential election? Will the masses will go to the polls and take advantage of the incredible right we have as American citizens? I am hopeful

I have voted in every election since the day I turned 18. It was ingrained in me from the time I was a young child. It is a right and a privilege I embrace and celebrate. This year I will again go to the polls and vote, and I hope I will not be lonely.

Politics in America has become an event. We watch it as sport. The news reports on the political strategies of the campaign and not on the candidates or the issues. They are often completely overlooked while the focus is placed on polling numbers and media plans. We have become a society consumed with politics and not governing. We talk about style and charisma over substance. It has become frightening.

But the issues we are facing as a country and indeed a global society are real, and need our real attention and thought. Please take the time to vote this November; get involved in the process, get informed about the issues. And if you are, take some time to inform and involve others. Voting is a right and a privilege we can no longer afford to take for granted.

“Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not and alien power over us. Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves – and the only way they could do that is by not voting.” –Franklin D Roosevelt

Or as P.Diddy puts it: “VOTE or DIE”