In the country that our history books tell us has one of the greatest democracies in the world, the voting polls ironically ring hollow with the empty spaces that voters should be filling. Apathy is endemic, and one of the worst evils that plague a democratic society. This is especially a problem when it comes to college students.

We do not yet have the responsibilities of our parents; most of us do not have families, mortgages, white-collar jobs, etc. We have time and energy that we can dedicate towards improving our government. There are municipal elections, activist organizations, awareness groups – where is our time going? It is conceivably spent in puerile activities like Facebook, television, or even complaining about laws.  So many students don’t even know the names of the candidates running for the positions that ultimately make policy decisions that can determine our futures.

Later, we are the quickest to complain about the increasing dictatorial powers of the federal government, under any administration. Little do we, as students and citizens, know that we are the true cause for this apparent unbalance.

Saint Louis University has this same dire problem of voter apathy in its own unique microcosm. Compared to many state schools, such as the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, SLU has a tiny number of politically active organizations (College Democrats, College Republicans and Political Round Table are the only three under SLU’s Political Action Student Organization Cabinet). UNL has eight, and that is the average for state schools. With the organizations we do have, few students attend politically charged events, and/or remain ignorant about activist goings-on on campus. Although The University News and other groups on campus tried educating students about how and where to vote and how to get involved, a large number of students still did not vote on Nov. 2 for the elections.

Without caring, we do not take action. Without action, democracy cannot preserve our rights in the self-governing way we like to envision that we do.

With each vote lost to that black hole of “don’t care’s,” we move one step closer to a society run by the very few who do in fact care. This, if we might say, is called an oligarchy. Cheers, folks.