Iowa State, you are a disappointment. No, I’m not talking about our mediocre football team. I am talking about you, the student base, who once again flippantly disregarded your right to vote.

Locally, I am disappointed for the seemingly wasted efforts of people I know who busted their tails to get out the vote. New Voters Project selflessly gave countless hours standing around in crappy weather to sign up new voters. GSB and my friends in the Political Science Club at Iowa State also made significant efforts to cultivate interest in the political process, giving their own time and effort to support American values and the voting process. The ISU Democrats and ISU College Republicans also worked hard this year to get out the vote.

If the numbers are to be believed, we apparently wasted our time, and I can’t describe how disappointing that is.

I know, working and going to school, as most students do, can place a real strain on our time. I know, it takes some effort and – gasp – thought to make an informed voting choice on Election Day. I know, it is more fun to drink or play video games than go to your local polling station and vote. I know, it takes a few more minutes to register to vote.

One more thing I know – those excuses are lame. I couldn’t help but cringe, looking at Monday’s paper, seeing the stupid excuses why people weren’t going to vote. Why don’t we get it?

Americans, particularly young ones, have no idea what it is like to suffer, especially for their beliefs. There are people, in Afghanistan and Iraq for example, who knew they might be shot or blown up if they went out and tried to vote. They did anyway. There are millions more who would love nothing more than the opportunity to voice their opinion in the public square, and will never be afforded that opportunity.

Yet we sit here, fat, stupid and lazy, inclined to crap on that opportunity afforded to us.

It’s a sad fact in America today: Young people consistently get trampled on and underrepresented in the government. If money needs to get cut from Social Security or higher education, which one gets cut? Education, every time. If a politician tried to cut money to the elderly, the elderly would be out in masses to make sure that politician never got elected.

The result, predictably, is whenever a cut needs to be made, it will probably come out of our pockets. Why should they worry? It’s not like we are going to do anything about it.

John Kerry learned this fact in 2004. He put a lot of stock in young voters turning out to support him, and those who did show up overwhelmingly supported him. Too bad for Kerry that 18-25 turnout was miserably low, so it was time and effort wasted on his part.

I figure I am preaching to the choir right now. The people who actually need to read this never will. The people who should hear this won’t, because politics is, like, boring. But like, Britney Spears, she’s way interesting.

People throughout history have died to protect the values of democracy. People die to protect human rights, and people experience unimaginable hardships when those rights do not exist.

If you don’t think human rights and representation are important, I invite you to cancel your beer bash in Mexico this spring and take a trip to Sudan instead. Maybe then you might get an idea of how good you have it in the United States.

I can empathize with those who feel disillusioned with our system of government. I can certainly relate to those who don’t consider either political party to be particularly appealing. This is no reason not to participate – remember, that participation goes far beyond voting every two years. If you don’t like the system, change it – it is your right and duty to do so.

To those 10 percent or so who actually voted, thank you. To the people who worked so hard to increase turnout, you have a lot to be proud of, and your efforts are to be commended. To the writers on both sides of the aisle at this paper who take time out of their weeks to attempt to educate people and promote political ideas, thank you as well. Clearly, we have a long way to go and a lot of work to do.

Without voters we have no voice. Young people with strong opinions get ignored because our vote only counts once and our interests continue to be underrepresented. So please, remove your heads from your collective rears, and support your nation and your rights.

– Nathan Chiaravalloti is a senior in political science from Davenport.