A lot of students on campus really could care less about the upcoming elections, which by the way are happening today. Personally, I’ve heard way too many people say, “I don’t really care about that stuff” or “I don’t keep up with the news.”

However, the fact is that the youth vote makes up a significant part of the November elections, and it’s up to students to be well-informed about the state of the United States and to care about it. The bad economy won’t go away without a big commitment, not from the government, but from the citizens of the United States, and it’s up to us to pay attention.

The election that everyone’s talking about this year mostly has to do with our senators. David Vitter, a Republican, is up for re-election, and it looks like his biggest competition will be Democrat Charles Melancon.

Melancon has supported Obama throughout Obama’s time in office, and Vitter’s integrity is in question because of his involvement with prostitution. In a recent debate, Vitter was quoted as saying he had committed a “very serious sin” and said, “obviously I have stumbled in my marriage.”

However, even with this scandal, Vitter is still ahead in the polls. This is because Louisiana is extremely dissatisfied with the bailout of banks, the government taking over small businesses and a debt that has risen to such staggering amounts that economists predict a meltdown of the U.S. dollar and possibly a second Great Depression.

Louisiana is dissatisfied with the major changes in healthcare and our near-complete dependency on China to provide us with cheap labor. Spreading the wealth does not fare well with us, especially when the welfare system seems to encourage people to not get a job, stay single and keep having children. There have been a large amount of people who have been reported repeatedly turning down jobs because they paid less than the welfare system! Obviously, some changes need to be made. So the big question is who will bring about these changes?

Personally, I’m not fond of either candidates, but I have to make a choice because it’s important. People take it for granted that we have the right and the duty as a U.S. citizen to vote all the time. The turnout for these midterm elections especially can be extremely bad. However, at such a critical time, my drive to vote has never been more ardent.

I personally don’t want to see my future decided by government, I’m not looking to see the value of gold drop to all time lows, and I want to see the unemployment rate drop below 10 percent.

I’ll be voting for Vitter. He’s the candidate I think will try to stop the direction this country is going in and try to stop the continuous bailouts of our economy that haven’t gone to the right places and have done very little for small businesses and encouraging the United States to start its own manufacturing once more.

And what about other positions that need to be filled, such as lieutenant governor? Who’s going to help Bobby Jindal with the massive oil spill that has recently become a soup of dissolved tar, chemicals, and dead sea creatures? Who is going to effectively take over for Jindal when he’s away, and make decisions on cleanup? Who is going to assist the researchers who are beginning to suspect mutations in ocean life because of the oil? Do you know?

The choice is between Jay Dardenne, a Republican, and Caroline Fayard, a Democrat. Time’s running out, so do a little research.

The outlook on voting is far too lax with college students. Yes, you all have busy lives, but a bad change in government could make them  a lot harder.

We live in the greatest country in the world, and our freedoms are absolutely priceless, paid for by the blood of Americans in the past as well as Americans today.

If you don’t care about the future until it’s changed for the worse, until you’re absolutely desperate and the future is unavoidable, it may be too late for you to have a voice.