Every presidential campaign is touted as the most important of our lifetime. Although this claim is often discarded as hyperbolic and false, it hit me yesterday that it is absolutely the truth.

If you look at each election as a battle between two candidates with two different visions, some are definitely more important than others, which, by default, means not every single election is the most important of our lifetime. 

However, if you assess an election by looking at the process itself, each one becomes more important and more consequential as we move further and further away from the very first presidential election. You see, the more time that separates us from the beginning of our quest for a more perfect union, the more pressure is put on the foundation of our democracy.

This was a startling realization for me to have on Election Day because I am a shameless political junkie. This means that, typically, elections are more of a sport to me. Aside from considering the issues and what ramifications each candidate’s views may have for the country, I really thrive off of the poll analysis, political theater and incessant speculation surrounding a campaign. 

In modern times, that can mean a roughly two-year-long season for the sport of presidential politics. So with that, one would think that Tuesday, for me, was all about the speculation, guessing games and blind predictions that come on Election Day. 

To be perfectly honest, I started the day with the mind-set of a junkie by waking up at an earlier-than-normal time to catch the morning talk show analysis of the final day of campaigning. While watching, I scrolled through my usual news sources to see what Nate Silver of The New York Times among many of his fellow junkies were projecting. 

Once I satisfied my speculative fix, I showered and headed over to my polling place to cast my first-ever federal election ballot — my first ballot cast was during the 2010 mid-term elections, but that, being a midterm, did not have the same excitement and intensity surrounding it. 

After checking in and receiving my ballot, I excitedly scurried into the cloaked booth. Once inside, the magnitude of what I was about to do hit me. Gone were the poll numbers, talking heads and daily campaign happenings. The minute I stepped into the booth I was no longer a crazed political junkie. Instead, I was a proud citizen of the United States of America doing the only thing more American than eating a slice of apple pie.

In that moment, the names of the candidates (although important) did not matter as much as the fact that there was, well, a choice.

The simple yet powerful concept of “choice” is what our Founding Fathers sought to establish in the early days of the country. Since then, the United States has seen an endless string of challenges, triumphs and uncertainty, but through it all, one thing is certain — the power has remained in the hands of the people. Nations have risen and fallen, and they have struggled to match the prosperity and liberty that we have in the United States. 

As a country, we do not fully grasp how lucky we are to be afforded such freedoms. Instead, we have become a divided nation that puts partisan politics above shared interests and the common good. The voices pointing out our differences have managed to become much louder than those calling for compromise and the effects are being felt both in Washington, D.C., and across the country.

Well, at least that is what the talking heads and political junkies want you to think. 

While the nature of presidential elections may seem divisive, the process itself is one way in which we are all united. There are no Democrat or Republican-specific polling places, lines or booths. Instead, these common areas facilitate the one thing we all share — choice.

And, as cheesy and cliche as it may sound, we, as Americans, were all winners yesterday. The opportunity to have our voices heard within the sacred walls of a polling booth may be a right in this country, but it is a privilege for the world at large.

So no matter whether your candidate was victorious, you must realize the magnitude of your vote both in the context of this election and in the larger journey toward that perfect union.

John is a junior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected].