Choosing a political party ought to be like choosing a major. You should try it out a little before you commit. You shouldn’t always do what your parents tell you to do politically, and you have to be true to what you believe while still considering the facts. For many Iowans, when you officially pick a political party, you register to vote for the first time — and often this occurs when you obtain your driver’s license. You can do this at 17 1/2 years old.

Many 17-year-olds are not informed on politics or even completely know how the structure of government works. At that age, you still don’t completely know who you are as an individual. And generally at 17 1/2, most Americans are still living with their parents and immediate family; they are still largely influenced by their family and high school peers, still conforming to what is expected of them by their friends and family.

When an adolescent moves out, they do one very important thing: They try to distinguish who they are. Two important aspects that define people’s identities in our society are their majors, or jobs if they decide not to further their education, and their political parties. An individual’s political affiliation may seem slightly more significant as we count down to Election Day, but we make political choices every day.

A personal identity, like a freshman’s major, is flexible, and the only way to develop it is to try it out. If you come in as a declared major, or open major, you don’t go through your entire college career as an engineer major while not taking a single engineer class. You have to experience it a little first.

A very convenient way to hear about a tiny bit of each major is the Major Fair that recently took place. This fair is one of the many ways Iowa State looks out for its students. Iowa State understands that whatever you choose to study during your approximately four years here will stick around with you for the rest of your life. Iowa State also understands that it is very unlikely that someone will decide to declare a major in a subject they know nothing about. The Major Fair is more informational than experimental, but it is still an incredibly helpful tool.

Many students come to college with an idea of what they’d like to major in. Many young adults also think they have an idea of who they are. But once you immerse yourself in the classes and have to make life decisions on your own, your perception may or may not change. The point is that you keep going. You are living your own life and making choices on your own, as opposed to relying on family or peers to define your life. How individuals push through hard decisions and tasking life experiences is ultimately a greater indicator of who they are as a person than what party they affiliate to or what major they graduate with.

No one is going to know you as well as you know yourself. Don’t trust your new best friend whom you just met three months ago. He or she may be a wonderful friend, but the person doen’t know you like you know yourself, however much or little that is at the time. Even those as close to you as your family will never know you completely, simply based on the fact that no one has gone through the same experiences as you have. That’s what makes you an individual. So trust yourself.

While choosing what is important to you and what you stand for, you need to know yourself. Political parties stand for some very personal things. For example, each party generally has a stance for life issues which are fundamentally personal decisions. Granted, you can be Republican and still be pro-choice, but that is a personal decision you consciously need to think about, and consider all the facts.

Our country is dependent on the participation of its citizens, not just politically but economically, and any other way we can innovate and progress. Any person that decides to leave the world up to the “important people” is not just giving up, but is choosing to fail. So if all this seems like too much work just to vote, think of all the people your vote affects and all the lives not voting affects just the same.