Voting is your ticket to whine. If people do not vote for the candidate who shares their values or if they don't speak out against legislation they find unacceptable - or in the very least learn about the issues at hand until after they have been affected - they have no business complaining.

A recent poll of 800 college students by the Leon and Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy has found that 43 percent of students think politics has little or no relevance in their lives. Only 19 percent said that politics are significant.

Have a problem with Canada's trash coming to Michigan? Do you not like the way the War in Iraq has gone? Got an issue with affirmative action?

There is something you - yes you - can do about it. Vote. It may seem tiny and insignificant, but if the 2000 presidential election taught us anything it's this: Every vote counts.

Perhaps the problem with college students is that they fail to realize how much is encompassed by politics.

Instead of just complaining, get involved. Local politics such as the noise ordinances of the East Lansing City Council will affect people directly, and can sometimes be as important to your community as the presidential election.

For those who are digging deep in their pockets to pay the university bills, college tuition is also a political issue. University fees go up if the state budget cannot aid public universities as the economy weakens. Bills are passed that deal with this issue.

The state representatives will be deciding, indirectly, how much people have to pay for school. Make sure the legislature includes someone who represents college students' concerns.

If we don't speak, the politicians will never pay attention to us. It's as simple as that. The government labors over issues such as Medicare because the politicians are pandering to the people who bother to get off the recliner and out to the polls.

So get a voice, make a vote and then you are more than welcome to whine.