Your Voice is more important than ever.

It’s true, even though it often doesn’t seem that way your voice, my voice all our voices still have a great deal of untapped power. I often wonder what happened to make the current twenty and thirty somethings so apathetic to the political process. I could of course venture a guess or two, but nothing I come up with seems to encompass the general malaise that seems to have permanently affected the x, y and z generations. Despite what you think, and what I think on my more pessimistic days, we still have a voice in the political process. First we have to vote… on everything. Imagine what the political landscape would look like if 100% of those folks 18-30 voted. Can you imagine such a thing? Everything could change. So get registered.

For Missourians, use this website: http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/s_default.asp?id=voter.

Otherwise check out : http://www.rockthevote.com/home.html.

Get your friends to vote. Get your coworkers to vote. Get your siblings to vote. I know everyone this time of year is talking about voting and such but seriously stop and imagine doubling the amount of voters under 30. Can we be that generation? Could we rival the 1960’s in terms young adult political activity?

Another way to get our voices heard is talk to our representatives. In fact, let’s flood their inboxes, mail boxes, and voicemail with our voices. Especially on issues that matter. Like the new The Department of Health and Human Services regulations 45 CFR Part 88 which will allow institutions as well as individuals to refuse to provide women access to contraceptive services and information, and redefines abortion to include common methods of contraception such as Birth control pills and IUD's. These new regulations conflict with requirements of the Title X family planning program which ensures that women have access to a broad range of contraceptive options and that pregnant women receive non-directive counseling upon request. You can read the whole document here: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2008pres/08/20080821reg.pdf .

How dare the federal government decide what’s best for all of us without hearing our voices. You can contact your representatives and senators using the following sites: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml and http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=MO .

I for one think it’s time that our apathetic generations get off our butts, stop simply complaining about the state of our country and do something. Clearly, the only option is raise our voices, to make our society acknowledge our ability to make good choices and to never be afraid to proclaim Our Faith Aloud.