Voting

Today in class I was given a voter’s registration form by one of my classmates and it made me think about how important voting really is to me. I am nineteen but I have never voted nor registered. I was going to vote last year while living in Wisconsin (it was a vote to legalize gay marriage, an issue I am strongly for) however I met with some problems and wasn't able to vote. Today I consider myself a person who is not terribly interested in politics, although many people tell me I should be. I rarely read the political news, I don’t even know everyone whose running for election, and I constantly find myself unable to stay focused or interested when hearing about current events. I know its “wrong”, but I simply don’t care. This is mostly due to the fact that I haven’t watched or read the news regularly in a very long time. The way I feel about getting back into the news is like beginning to watch a long running dramatic series mid season; I don’t know any of the characters or the details of their relationships with others, I don’t know what their goals are, their fears, or the general plot line. How am I supposed to pick my favorite character if I'm so unfamiliar with the show? I suppose its never too late but I'm just not sure that I care enough to get back into it. Although the idea of not voting and ending up with another Bush (a vote which I couldn’t take part in but I wish I could have) does fill me with a great deal of anger and guilt.