Imagine living in a place where your rights and liberties are severely limited. You are forced to dress or act a certain way and you aren’t allowed to stand up for what you believe in because a ruler or the government has taken that away from you.

For people all across the globe living under dictatorships or communist regimes, this is a very sad reality. However, I know that most of you reading this right now live in the United States, and if you are an American citizen, you have inalienable rights and liberties that allow you to live freely (for the most part).

The Revolutionary War, which began in 1775, started because the colonists who lived overseas in America did not like that King George III was implementing mandatory unsupported policies for them to follow. These taxes and restrictions led American colonists to seek from England and create a new nation founded on the premise that power in the hands of the few leads to tyranny. On July 4^th, 1776, the Continental Congress, established by the American colonists, adopted the Declaration of Independence, and seven years later the colonists won the war, and the United States was born.

I’m not writing this to give you all a lesson about American history, but I think it is important to note that when all odds were against the colonists they still pushed through and ended up winning the war. It is absolutely fascinating to me that a small collection of colonies was able to beat the world hegemonic power at the time all because the common value that the colonists shared was to be independent of the crown.

If you ask me, I believe it is important to vote every election. Voting not only helps you exercise your right as an American citizen, but it celebrates the idea of power held by the people, which is what the colonists so desperately fought for.

Our country has had many blunders: slavery, pervasive racism and sexism, driving the Native American’s out of their homes, and depriving women or people of color the right to vote for many years. Furthermore, there are people outside of the United States who are currently living in conditions far worse than I could ever imagine. These things make my heart heavy and tend to be the driving force in the reason why I exercise my rights, especially my right to vote.

Having an opinion is more important than most people think. Having an opinion helped the colonists gain freedom from the British. Having an opinion helped the United States overcome slavery. Having an opinion helped the United States create a Constitution and a Bill of Rights that even allows for us to express our opinions.

Having an opinion may not right the wrongs that have happened in the past, but it most certainly can help create progress and work toward a better future. You are alive because you care enough to keep going. Now, don’t you think it’s important to keep our country going?

In terms of the Presidential election, even if you don’t side with Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, it is more beneficial to pick someone who you think would be better suited to run our country, than to just not use your voice and (quite possibly) allow for the wrong candidate to lead our country.

Having and expressing your opinion is an inalienable right that was brutally fought for, and is now yours at no cost. There are people who live in the United States who are disenfranchised through the justice system or by their socioeconomic status, or those who are not legal citizens, but so desperately seek asylum in the shelter of American freedom, who would do anything to be able to vote. Please do not waste your voice, especially when America needs it the most.