It’s summer, and while the weather has been less than stellar, vacation has begun here at WSU. It’s time to let loose, hang out and maybe take a class or two. But it’s also time to drive around with the windows down, cat-calling young women with R-rated outbursts and blasting The Misfits. Summer is a time to let your cares go; forget about class, grades, girlfriends and current events. Well, maybe forgetting about the last one is not such a good idea.

For many of our fellow students, it can be easy to go home and dissolve into a comfortable life with free food, laundry and old friends to keep you company on your three-month holiday. Easy to lose all interest in anything going on in the world beyond back-yard barbecues and beach volleyball. But with the impending presidential election fast approaching, it’s important to keep your head wrapped around just what the hell is going on in the world.

This year’s presidential election is one of the most important in years. Our country has been hijacked by white-collar puppets, corporate thugs and religious fundamentalists. All of whom are more than willing to sell each and every last one of us out to make a quick buck, or hold onto their fading, outdated vision of the “American dream”. All the while, we sit consumed by “American Idol,” “Grand Theft Auto” and Busch Light. Almost as if we are all too happy to betray the very reason we choose to go to WSU. Which is to become part of a more informed, mobilized citizenry.

The upcoming election will dictate where we are headed for not only the next four years, but years beyond. With a stale and unpopular war continuing to rage in Iraq, the economy headed for recession and our national debt quickly piling up to the stratosphere, our generation can ill afford to sit back and watch it all fall apart. Our parents and grandparents were willing to take control and run our country into the ground just to be able to afford to live their remaining years in a comfortable, yet superficial, manner. And now it’s up to us to take it all back, and deal with this inherited disaster. As students, most of us are not yet in any position to take on the world. But a logical step in the right direction is to make informed decisions while voting this fall. This means paying attention.

John McCain already has an easy road to becoming the Republican nominee for president, and the luxury of sitting back and watching while Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama destroy each other in a desperate struggle to earn the Democratic nomination. This is a process we have all seen before, and it not only exposes the sometimes tainted pasts of the candidates, but also exposes their true character. Making it important to remain attentive to what is going on over the summer months. Whoever you plan to vote for in November is not the most important point. What is important is that you make an informed choice. Or make some choice at all. Keep this in mind while enjoying vacation and getting some much needed sun on those pasty legs. Pay attention because we would not want to end up with another “George W.” fiasco, would we?