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Choosing the future of America

Every four years, citizens have the right to pitch a coin in the well of the U.S.’s future, with no assurance that their decision will impact them in the future. But that’s not relevant — every vote counts. Regardless of how Texas ends up leaning, and it’ll lean to the right, these are decisions that voters will have to live with for the rest of their lives.

There’ll be no way to sleep it off and no pill to fix it. It’s a morning after that’ll affect at least the next few decades. If people are lucky, it’s a decision to look back on with some semblance of sentimentality. If they’re not, they definitely won’t.

People will be voting for civil rights, women’s rights and how much smog the U.S. puts in the sky.

People will be voting on the livelihoods of the upper and lower class —a lot of whom are living in this state.

Citizens will be voting on which of their neighbors will see their families again and which of them won’t. They’ll be voting on their sisters’, mothers’ and their neighbors’ right to choose. They’ll be voting on the numbers in the financial aid office and the numbers in the gas station up the road.

The country that people vote for tomorrow will be the country they bring their kids into. It’ll be a country that goes to war or the country that doesn’t. It’ll be the country that ships jobs across the Atlantic Ocean or the one favors local business. It’ll be the country that rejects, accepts or that doesn’t do anything at all because the support isn’t there.

The country belongs to the voters. That’s a pretty scary thing, but it’s just as beautiful. It isn’t something to take lightly, and regardless of how people choose, they should realize they’re not just choosing for themselves.

Bryan Washington is a creative writing and sociology senior and may be reached at [email protected].

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