The United States of America, land of the free and home of the brave. We hail ourselves as the greatest democracy on earth, and our political system is from time to time referred to as "The Great Experiment." So has our political system proven to be a success after so many years of sovereignty as the freest nation on earth? Well the simple fact is, as a democracy of the people, we rely on the people to vote, but the past decade demonstrates the undeniable truth of that failure.

The 2000 presidential election was one of the closest in terms of popular and Electoral College votes, but with such controversy over the results surely over seventy-five percent of the voting population voted, right? Well according to the November voting census, the sad fact is only sixty percent of citizens in the United States bothered to go to the polls and have their voice heard.

Who are the people that are bothering to vote? Not surprisingly, the types of people voters elect are those who vote: typically white, well-educated, old, and financially comfortable. Sixty-two percent of White non-Hispanics voted, fifty-six percent of African-Americans voted, and every other racial group had a voter turnout below fifty percent. Seventy-five percent of people who had incomes of $75,000 or more a year voted, but as income lessened, voting also did, with thirtyfive percent turnout of those making less than $5000.

A similar effect occurs with education level. Out of those with an advanced degree, eightytwo percent voted. Only forty percent of those with less than a ninth grade education voted. Women, kudos to them, were found to have a higher voting percentage than men by just over two percent.

So what is the reason for 76 million people not voting? The most common response: Too busy with work or school. Although Wisconsin, which had a seventy percent voter turn-out, keeps its polls open until 8pm, some states such as Alabama only require their polls to be open until 6pm.

Sadly, only thirty-six percent of eligible voters from our age group of 18-24 voted, barely giving us more voters than people over seventy-five, whom we out-populate by seventyfive percent. So why are college-age people less likely to vote, even though the media represents us as super activist political junkies? The simple fact is not many young adults know what forms to fill out, where to go, and figure, heck, it doesn't matter to me.

Instead of a Mach3 Turbo courtesy of Gillette, maybe on their eighteenth birthday the youth of America should get a pamphlet on voting and a registration form from their local government, or even better, their Representative.

And lest I forget, not many people know a damn thing about the candidates or their platform. They just look at Democrat or Republican and vote based on what they have heard from the media on how people typically vote in similar circumstances, based on race, age, and income.

The only way we can make the government take us seriously is to get out there and vote. Write your congressman. Write to the opposing party's leaders if you don't like something the president is doing. But do something.

For more information on voting in Wisconsin, visit:
http://www.wisconsin.gov/state/core/faq_wisconsin_voting_elections.html