Time has come once again for us to convince you to get out and vote in the GSB election. While many may turn away in disgust, refusing to read on the assumption that this is going to be one big guilt trip, I urge you to continue any way if for no other reason than this is going to be a good read.

Even if you aren’t convinced to vote at the end of this column, it will still have been worth the price of admission just to find out what darkness lurks in the hearts of men: murder, sexual deviancy, bizarre, satanic rituals, alien abduction, CIA coverups, the secret “X-Files” finale and more.

Last year, only 6 percent of Iowa State students turned out at the polls. Needless to say, that was an abysmal shame.

Many people cannot see a reason for voting, and can you blame them?

It always seems like a done deal, and you have never heard of most of the candidates before they decided to run unless you watch campus politics closely.

It is often difficult to see the importance of your individual actions against the often overwhelming tide of public apathy. After all, you are but one person with a single vote. If no one else votes, does your vote matter? If everyone else votes, can you change anything?

The answer, as hard as it may be to fathom, is yes.

Things change. This is an immutable law of nature. Mutations occur, life evolves and individuals and species adapt or die out at alarming rates. We are swept away by the overpowering forces around us. How can we overcome the inevitable? With will and determination.

Right now you might be saying to yourself, “Who cares who wins the GSB election?” You operate under the assumption that nothing is going to change, and maybe that is true to the casual observer.

Maybe GSB doesn’t do much besides pass out huge sums of money to student groups, and barring any major paradigm shifts, they aren’t likely to exclude anything you are involved with.

Maybe they can argue until they are blue in the face about hats and tuition increases. It is entirely possible that they can promise to argue against tuition increases all they want and that promise will remain an empty one because the Board of Regents is going to do whatever they want to do in spite of our objections.

Student government CAN be powerful if the right people are elected to office. If the right activist is sitting in the president’s seat, they can speak on our behalf. They can organize student opinion and take it to the Regents and demand to be heard.

Maybe right now it doesn’t work that way, but it could.

Power isn’t just handed out. You don’t just take what you are given and leave it at that. You aren’t restricted to what others allow you to do.

How do you think power-holders get power to begin with? They seize it.

We are powerless right now. And the reason we are powerless is simply because we don’t vote. We won’t change anything because we won’t flex our political muscle. We can complain about our various issues all we want, but so long as we don’t vote, NOTHING will change. Why should it?

Think about it pragmatically. Let’s say I am your GSB senator and you want me to work on an issue dear to you and others of my constituency. Let’s say you want me to spearhead an initiative to build a $125,000 scarecrow with heat and vending machines out at University Village to keep the crow dung off your car. Why should I?

Should I do it because I represent you? Maybe I should, theoretically. Maybe I am one of those unusual human beings operating under a strong moral code and I will do my damnedest even though, practically speaking, there are no negative consequences. What happens if I ignore you? If you aren’t voting either way, you’ve got nothing on me.

When you don’t vote, you’ve got no clout. Right now, you don’t feel like you have any power so you don’t vote. But that kind of thinking is backwards.

The best way to be empowered is to vote. Here’s how it works.

You are a members of a constituency. You represent a certain socio-economic group. You represent a certain ethnic group or interest group on campus.

Your individual vote is like a grain of sand. It isn’t even an annoyance. But combine it with the votes of other interested people like you and it becomes a shoeful to be dealt with.

Get enough people to vote and you could bury someone up to their neck, build castles and fly in the face of those who oppose you.

But the first step is voting. Exercise your muscle. Don’t just give away your power. People have fought for centuries for the right to vote.

In the past, you had to be a wealthy landowner before you could vote. We all know how long it’s taken women and minorities to get the vote. Why give it away just because you don’t think it matters?

For a people who like to claim they invented and live in the greatest democracy ever known, Americans do like to take democracy for granted.

Around the world, people will risk their lives to vote because it is that important to them. All we have to do make our way across campus.

So vote this week just to feel more justified in complaining next year and when enough of us are voting, maybe we won’t have any reason to complain.

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Greg Jerrett is a graduate student in English from Council Bluffs. He is opinion editor of the Daily.