Today will be the first of the presidential debates, and will serve to persuade those voters who have yet to select a candidate. Now is when the issues come to the forefront. Between snarky ad hominem comments, the candidates will solidify and elaborate on their policy and stance regarding the issues of this election.

Ask any American, and they can rattle off a list of problems; the economy, health-care, gender equality, gay marriage, and more. But ask them what the most important issue is, and very few people say “the war in Afghanistan.”

Each week, we can see the death toll grow higher and higher. Each week, more men and women on both sides die in a war that has lasted way too long and has never had a clear goal in the first place.

Where are the protests? Where are the marches in Washington? Where is the new John Kerry, willing to speak for the last man in an endless war? Where are the American people willing to proclaim a message of peace and non-imperialism?

Maybe it’s because there is no food rationing, no bomb shelters, no draft, and no other major inconveniences. In fact, there isn’t even a danger of the war coming to the US.

Maybe the feds learned their lesson from Vietnam. Maybe they know to wage their concerted mass-murders without drawing public ire. Maybe they learned how to get two politicians to both support it.

Romney has stated that he supports the war, and would go as far as to expand its scope.

Obama has had four years to bring us to peace, and while he did end the war in Iraq, we are now involved in both Yemen and Libya. This is not exactly an improvement. Despite what he might have said, his actions have proved he is just as bad as Romney.

The American people should be outraged at this. Lives are being lost, which is more important than anything else. The American people can wait four more years to fix the economy, to gain marriage equality, and to combat governmental spying. Our soldiers cannot wait. They’ll be dead by the time the next election rolls around. And that is unforgivable.

So as the candidates debate the issues, I challenge you to debate amongst each other. Ask yourself this: “Why should I support a candidate who supports an unnecessary war?” And then, if the answer is unsatisfactory, join together, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian and moderate, to make the war in Afghanistan this election’s most important issue.

Dakota Madden-Fong is a self-proclaimed Libertarian, and his views do not necessarily reflect that of the Emerald Staff or of SHC.