With age comes responsibility. Since our early life, this idea has been rammed down our throats, but have we really taken charge of this responsibility? The answer can only be yes if we’ve taken the opportunity to understand the sometimes-dreaded politics. In Freedom–and most likely in much of the United States–some teenagers are ignorant of American government and politics. The argument is sometimes made that since we’re too young to vote, we don’t need to concern ourselves with such matters. This is a very untrue statement. Even the high school’s youngest students need to have a firm understanding of what’s happening in the political world, because decisions made by our government have a tremendous impact on our everyday life. Tom Corbett’s previous budget cuts toward education have affected all Freedom students. From classes to sports and even faculty, Freedom’s financial situation is a sad one. It’s likely that Freedom will find itself short-staffed after this year. According to the administration’s Budget Transmittal Letter, the Freedom school district was forced to cut $754,245 in the 2011-2012 school year. On this same document is a list showing how these cuts were made. Unfortunately, many of these cuts, if repeated next year, would be devastating. Some include a 10 percent supply cut across all departments, a $70,000 cut coming from all sports teams and a district-wide retirement of five teachers and two principals. With the possibility of further cuts in Freedom’s future, voters should definitely consider Corbett’s usefulness. As American citizens, it’s our responsibility to understand the bills our current leaders are debating so that we can make an informed decision. If we remain ignorant to the changes our leaders make, we have no hope of stopping bad ideas. For example, students that don’t follow politics might think I’m joking when I say Newt Gingrich wants to establish lunar colonies by the end of his second term. This is an idea that borders on insanity. Making informed decisions now will improve our chances of making such decisions later. This is an important step in the improvement of our country. Currently, most Americans are unhappy with their leaders. This is evident in the ever-declining Congressional approval ratings, which the Huffington Post reported to be down to 9%. If you don’t like how something’s being done, do something to fix it! It’s pointless to keep complaining without any intention of taking action. Before we can change the system, we need to change ourselves. It seems like everyone has an opinion on political issues, but most of those opinions aren’t based on facts. Worse yet, some are based on flat-out lies. For example, approval for President Obama is low. I don’t personally make a habit of defending or criticizing Obama because I don’t know much about his career. I’ve noticed, however, that some people blatantly despise the man because they think he’s a Muslim or that he isn’t an American when he’s proven these things numerous times. According to an Internet poll taken by the Pew Research Center in 2010, 18% of Americans believed that Obama was a Muslim. America can’t exist without leaders, and it can’t improve without the right leaders. It isn’t just our duty to understand what’s going on, it’s the only way we have a chance of remaining a functional country.