Despite having spent the semester griping about specific candidates, I’m here now to put all that aside and ask everyone to do one thing.

Vote.

Well, actually, I’m going to ask two things of you.

Care and vote.

I don’t care who you vote for or why. Just do it.

But don’t do it because everyone around you is telling you to.

Don’t do it because your parents begged you to.

Don’t do it because all of the cool kids are, and you think you should, too.

Don’t do it because you hate your roommates and voting opposite of them would make them mad.

Do it because you want to.

Do it because you sat down at your computer and read about the candidates or turned on the news and saw clips about them and decided which one best fit your idea of how things should be.

Do it because you are an informed citizen making a choice about how you think the world should be run.

I’m not saying that everyone over the age of 18 needs to get out to the voting booth because it’s their moral duty to their country to fill out a ballot, even if they don’t know who the people are.

I’m saying that everyone over the age of 18 should find out who all of these people are and vote accordingly.

I’m saying that it is our duty to our country to hold public officials accountable for the things they do while in office and the only way to do that is to educate ourselves about the candidates and fill out a ballot.

I lost track of the number of people I have heard make the “they’re all the same and they’re all worthless” argument in the last year.

Does that mean everyone should just sit back and let whoever wants to run the country? Because that doesn’t sound like a bright idea.

Despite either presidential candidates’ promise of change, none of it will happen if they are allowed to run rampant around Washington.

I also have gotten sick of the old “my vote doesn’t count” idea.

Anyone planning on casting a ballot in Missouri should understand that their state will be a battleground on Tuesday.

And for those voting in Kansas, I know history says McCain will win the state, but that can change. If all of the McCain supporters in Kansas decided not to vote because of this, the state could turn blue.

So before Tuesday check out the candidates in your district, and on Tuesday add voting to your to-do list.

You may be disappointed with the outcome, but at least you can say you tried.