It’s the end of the summer, the start of the new semester and time to make some changes. You may want to work harder, get better grades, eat better or exercise more. I am sure this sounds familiar. Well, while you’re at it, you should try to make some positive changes that are outside the realm of normal college life. This fall, midterm elections are going to be held that are going to decide the balance of power in Congress. This upcoming election is going to be one of the most important elections in recent memory. The outcome of the midterm could change the makeup of Congress and, in turn, change the entire direction of the country. Now, it is more important than ever to be informed and not be part of the ignorant masses.

I know that you may have heard about being aware a million times from countless people in your life, but it is extremely important. Thomas Jefferson, one of our founding fathers, said, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” What he meant by this quote is that it is impossible for a nation to remain free while at the same time having its citizens live in ignorance. One of the greatest challenges that face democratic nations is an uninformed and ignorant electorate. Not only does our ignorance affect the Untied States, but it will undoubtedly affect the rest of the world. The United States is the most powerful countries in the world. We have a duty to stay informed. The people that we elect have more effect on world events than do the representatives of any other country in the world. What we do reverberates throughout history; I don’t think we want our ignorance to be what we contributed to the world.

I’m not asking you to go out read every book on political theory, read every newspaper or listen to every news broadcast. Rather, I’m asking you to do a few simple things. Firstly, stay informed on the basics of what’s going on in the world. Have an understanding about the major players, the interaction between the major players and the history of these major players. Secondly, don’t take things said by the newscasters and politicians at face value. Always think critically and logically about things. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, there are people chained to chairs forced to see silhouettes that are projected onto the cave wall by the people in charge of a certain civilization. These people live in ignorance and without question believe what these people are projecting on the wall to be the truth but in actuality they know nothing. Don’t be that person, sitting in their chair, chained to his ignorance.

This is a gradual, lifelong process. Don’t expect to instantly know everything there is to know about the world, but rather just take a few minutes out of your busy day to stay abreast of the news and think about what is going on with our politicians critically and logically.