Most of us are pretty proud to be adults. We have reached the age where we are beyond answering to parental dictates.

By legal accounts, we are all old enough to buy cigarettes. And many of us can legally gamble and consume alcoholic beverages.

Whether or not you think these rights are virtues is your business. However, there is one right many college students overlook.

It isn’t a right we talk about frequently. And many people look past it, thinking there are more important things in life.

It is your right to vote.

That’s right. When you reached the ripe old age of 18, by federal law you were granted the right to vote.

That means you can have a say in who runs our government.

But because a majority of college students and other young people don’t take advantage of this right, it has become a privilege for those who are registered to vote.

Most of you probably did not vote in yesterday’s mayoral or city council races.

You may have excuses. Maybe you are registered at home.

If you are, let’s hope you voted via absentee ballot for elections there. If not, maybe you should consider registering in Ames, where the city government does directly affect you.

Maybe you didn’t have enough information about the candidates to make an educated decision.

The mayoral candidates weren’t strangers. Larry Curtis has been mayor of Ames for years and teaches classes in Iowa State’s College of Business. Ted Tedesco has served on the city council and is a well-known businessman in Ames.

Maybe you aren’t registered at all. You could care less about those nameless faces that make decisions concerning your taxes, the local job market availability, landlord-tenant regulations, alcohol fines and much more.

None of the above excuses are sound. Each of them has a flaw.

What is that flaw? College students aren’t voting.

Get with the program, people! During the Vietnam War, all Americans 18 years and older received the right to vote. The argument was: if you are old enough to be drafted, you should be old enough to vote.

Other controversies about voting have been fought in our nation. As most of the ISU community knows, women were granted the right to vote in 1920. People of all races were granted this right by the 15th Amendment in 1870.

Although this amendment legally granted suffrage, many states still tried to hinder the speaking voice of all the races. They required literacy tests and claimed that if your grandfather was a slave, you were ineligible to vote.

People today should appreciate the rights for which others fought so boldly. Don’t be apathetic.

With interest in politics wavering and the voter turnout falling more rapidly, we should be extremely concerned about the future of our nation.

How is the democratic government we so faithfully stand by and believe in to continue if the people silence themselves?

We’ve all heard the phrase, “We are the future.”

We are.

How are government officials supposed to be elected democratically when only a narrow majority of eligible voters cast their ballots at the polls?

Politics may not be your thing, but it should be.

You may be disgusted by politics and rebel against exercising your right to vote.

That discontent with the government is the exact reason why you should vote. If you say nothing, how will people measure your unhappiness about what is happening in the Congress, in the White House, in our state governments and in our city halls?

If you don’t vote, don’t complain.

Be informed. It’s not that hard. Read the newspaper. Watch the news. Talk to friends to get a different perspective on issues. Represent your interests. Vote.