by Caitlin Garing

This November, the presidential election is taking place, an election that will determine the future for my generation. When reading Newsweek or the Anchorage Daily News, sometimes I come upon references about the youth vote and how important it is. Well here's the deal to all of you, I want to vote but I can't, simply because I'm five and half months too young.

That's right, I'm 17 years old. I've done my research; I know what's happened during Bush's presidency and I know what his opponent's offering. I'm not impressed by either. However, if given the choice of poisons, I'd rather place my vote with Kerry. In the past four years, my generation has been put between a rock and a hard place by Bush.

Right now we are involved in a war that has no end in sight. The Iraq war, began as a preemptive attack against a regime that held weapons of mass destruction and allegedly had plans to use them against the USA. Well, here's a news flash, there were no WMD. Unfortunately, we can't just pick up our bags and leave because if we do, we'll leave a power vacuum behind us. And 1,100 GI have died, according to People's Weekly World. Not only was this war waged under false pretences, but it,s also costing men and women their lives.

As for Civil Rights, let's not forget the fact that Bush tried to get a Constitutional Amendment passed that would ban gay marriage. Excuse me, but if Brittany Spears is allowed to marry a guy and then divorce him not even a day later, but a couple that have spent years together aren't allowed to have their devotion to each other recognized, something isn't right. One of the wonderful things about this country is that church and state are separated; let's keep it that way. As for marriage being religious, it's not; technically it's a legal matter. That's right, it's a legal matter some people give religious meaning to, not the other way around. If it were only a matter of religion, a lot of people would find their marriages might be in trouble. For instance, my mother is Christian, as I am, and my dad is atheist. Oops.

Now I know Kerry and Edwards also agree that marriage is between one man and one woman, but they are at least are willing to give benefits to homosexual couples. And as long as there's nothing in the Constitution forbidding it, there's still hope for change.

As for the economy, my generation is facing a huge deficit that we get to help pay off. Oh well, guess I won't get to retire. How large is the deficit? Roughly a half a trillion dollars. The Iraq war alone cost 119 billion dollars so far. Kerry says he has a plan to cut the deficit in half. He hopes to give tax cuts to the middle and lower class while taxing the upper class. Also he says he'll make D.C keep to a budget. Will it work? I don't know, but I do know Bush's plan hasn't worked so far and at the rate the economy is going under, I don't want to give him another chance.

There you go, you've heard my two cents worth. But I can't personally do much about it because I'm only seventeen, and not allowed to vote. So instead, I encourage every one of you who can vote to go out and take charge of your future and make a difference. I don't care whom you vote for, just as long as you vote. Because despite what you might think, one vote does make a world of a difference.