The final countdown is here, and it is time for eligible citizens to make their voices heard through the vote on Tuesday.

It’s time to take hold of where you stand on your own values and ideals, and vote with the candidates who you feel will best represent you in your goals.

During these last few days, both sides have been bombarding the public with a bunch of jibber-jabber that serves to demean the alternate candidate and does little to build-up the real issues.

It is crucial that voters have a firm handle on where they stand on issues by now so they are less likely to be swayed by any of the baseless rhetoric that is projected only to skew reality and confuse the public.

If you need a last-minute rundown on where candidates stand on issues, such Web sites as Project Vote Smart at www.vote-smart.org provide a simple breakdown on candidates’ positions on subjects running from abortion and crime to defense spending and tax cuts.

This vote has the potential to change the direction this country is headed in.

How people vote on Tuesday will affect the War in Iraq, health care, civil liberties and our futures as American citizens as a whole.

It is vital to remember that voting is not a right, it is a privilege.

It is a privilege to live in a country where everyone has an equal opportunity to express opinions or beliefs on how the system should work and who should participate in the system in order to best reflect our own feelings.

It is a shame to think that so many of our citizens abuse this honor by refusing to take advantage of our right to vote and remaining silent.

In the end, we will have no one to blame but ourselves if we fail to be the change we want to see in our world.

So, as of now, we all have just a few days in order to cement our views before casting our final votes at the polls.

Decide whether you want to vote with those who support the president in his stance on the Iraqi war.

Choose whether you want to vote with those who oppose abortion rights.

Settle on whether you want to vote with those who are in favor of increasing the minimum wage.

The list goes on and making your decision should not be something you do based on simply watching a couple hours of television campaign ads or CNN.

The time for making excuses and sitting on the couch has already passed us by.

It is now time to use our voices as our weapons against the war of indifference.

The time has come to make a difference, so let’s not let America down.