VOTE!

Tomorrow, in the U.S., we're having very important midterm elections. I strongly encourage all of you Americans to vote. Even though it's "only" a midterm election, it's very important for the future of the country.

Some people say, "Why bother to vote? Elections almost never hinge on a single vote." And that's true. But there's a "people like you" theory. That means that if you don't vote, odds are the people like you also will not vote, because they have the same information and are making the same decisions. If you vote, the odds are people like you will also vote. What this means in practice is that groups of people who think voting is important actually vote in large numbers and have an impact. Other groups don't bother and thus their interests are largely ignored. 

We especially see this with younger people vs. older people. Overall, most young people don't understand the importance of voting, so they generally get the short end of the stick with government policies. As people get older, they increasingly understand the importance of voting, and vote in greater and greater percentages. For instance, in this election (like previous elections), it's estimated about 75 percent of the voters will be above 50 years old. If younger people would vote as much as older people do, we would like in a totally different country, a much more progressive country.

So please, vote! It's such a small thing that takes short amount of time to do, but it really is the most important way you can help steer the country's future.