“I will build a great wall, and no one builds walls better than me.”
“If a bank is too big to fail, it is too big to exist.”
“Too many women, in too many countries speak the same language, of silence.”

Many of us have heard these lines, and many of us know they were said by Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton, but do we truly understand what they are saying?

Several students today have a severe lack of involvement and education in politics and many do not understand its importance.

According to Civicyouth.org, a website that has compiled voting statistics, only 19.9 percent of adults ages 18-29 voted in the 2014 election, the lowest turnout rate ever recorded. These statistics are not only frightening, but saddening. We live in a country where we are lucky to decide our governing body. Being someone who is involved in politics, I feel that it is my civic duty as a citizen to vote, but that just isn’t the mindset of many of today’s generation. We are the next generation of our nation, and we are becoming a generation that does not even vote for our own leaders.

Another issue I have seen is that some of those involved in politics do not quite understand the view they support. A poll taken in 2005 on Gallup.com shows 71 percent of students ages 13-17 have the same view on politics as their parents, which is no surprise. It makes sense based on the way we were raised that we would have similar views, but there is an issue with this. I have found that many of these voices aren’t actually those of the student, but one that reflects the parents.

This is difficult to avoid. Parents, for many of us, are our only source of political knowledge. Although many of us may find our personal views may align with our parents, I strongly encourage everyone to pay attention to politics and develop a view of their own. You can begin to develop your own view by listening to debates, watching the news, and for myself liking the Facebook page of Politico magazine.

Lastly I feel many of us are simply not fully educated. We may understand literally what the candidates say, yet there is much more to each one of their civic policy and views to be understood.

Everyone should have at least a basic understanding of politics outside of our social studies classes in school. I strongly believe everyone, for the last few months of this presidential race, should try to pay attention, educate yourself, vote if you are able, and find out if there is candidate whom you agree with.