Something I Think High School Teachers Must Do!

   If you are a high school teacher that interacts with ANY students that are 18 or close to 18, please, for the good of the republic, urge them to vote!

   Every election cycle I hear the same old statistics - that it is the old people that have the highest participation percentage and that teenagers are one of the lowest, if not THE lowest.

   Though I am no longer part of that demographic, and therefore not necessarily best served by increased teenage turnout, I think this is inexcusable. I recall quite clearly my excitement at registering to vote and then casting my first ballot in an election that decided our president in 1992 (and no, I did not vote for Clinton the first time around! :) )

   I have always felt it is one's obligation to exercise your right as a citizen to vote and the primaries/caucuses that we are in the midst of and of course, the upcoming election in November are especially important, in my estimation, because the viable options we have in this broken two-party system of ours represent very different things. I truly believe that Americans will choose to either look forward or stay back and retain much of the same. Democratic primary/caucus participants have a chance to make some generational decisions rather than let those who have chosen for so long (the seniors) make choices, unchallenged, about our future.

   This is not to slam the old folks, no siree. This is just to make the statement that as the old cliche goes, young people are the future and will be here in the future when the consequences of the choices made today become reality. Old people have already shaped the world - it is time for the young to make their voices heard.