The 2014 Midterm elections were supposed to decide the fate of our nation as both parties vied for control of a divided Congress in a number of

hotly-contested races.

As the future hung in the balance, the American populace, fed up and weary of a historically unproductive Congress, sent a clear message to our politicians: most of us couldn’t really care less who is elected. At least that’s what our actions indicated.

According to the nonpartisan United States Election Project, only 36.4 percent of eligible voters took part in the most recent elections, the lowest percentage since 1942, when presumably many people were instead occupied with the largest conflict in modern history. That percentage is staggeringly low, as almost two-thirds of voters are apathetic enough to let their government be run by people they didn’t choose.

As much as this country seemingly tries to convert every other nation to become a democracy, its own citizens don’t even exercise the most fundamental cornerstone the entire system is built upon. I highly doubt the Founding Fathers would have risked so much to have people take democracy for granted.

People love to complain about the leaders and point to all the flaws in government, yet do nothing to be part of the solution. Even more pathetic is the lame excuse many people use for not voting: that  their votes won’t matter. When under 40 percent of people vote, a vote can carry a lot more weight than originally thought.

This is especially confusing when states are trying to pass legislation that could dramatically change the lives of thousands of people. One such example comes from my home state of Illinois, which voted on a nonbinding question of whether or not to raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour. For someone working minimum wage, the raise would mean an extra $3,640 a year in wages before taxes, which could be the difference from living paycheck to paycheck to being able to save some money for emergencies.

This voter apathy extends to our own university, where well under half of all students voted in the recent CSU elections. While many might say they don’t really care who runs CSU, this campus has shown quite the readiness to go up in arms in controversy over some of the actions of CSU. The ideas and platform of a candidate don’t seem to matter a whole lot during the election, as people seem to only care when something controversial happens.

Clearly there is no easy solution to voter turnout, as politicians spend millions upon millions of dollars in campaign money trying to win votes, desperately trying to get people to go to their local ballot boxes. Even important races and propositions can’t seem to overcome the strengthening cynicism in our political system and incite people to vote.

I truly fear the day when Americans essentially give up hope in our government. Apathetic attitudes toward voting prevent the checks we need for our politicians because they show that we don’t care if the officials are accountable for their actions and opens the door for all sorts of special interests. Politicians would be forced to serve with the best interests in mind for everyone if everyone would vote, but they don’t.

While our government is far from perfect, if we believe in it so strongly that we are willing to establish it in other countries, we should also believe in it strongly enough that a vast majority of citizens would actively participate. Reform doesn’t happen in a day, but I certainly hope it happens in two years.