All Civic Duty is Local
Submitted by Generation Whatever on January 6, 2007 - 7:52am.
Generation Whatever
"All Civic Duty is Local"
By the Generation Whatever Team
It is well known that young people (18-24 years old) vote at substantially lower numbers than older generations. After every election, people often scoff that young people are just less involved and less interested in the world. But this is not the case. Young people are interested and they are involved in their community.
Every two years, the Harvard Institute of Politics surveys the attitudes of young people toward politics and public service. What they find over and over is a wide gap between public service activities and political campaign engagement. In each survey, over half of 18-24 year old Americans are volunteering in community or public service organizations. Yet they are consistently three times less likely to be involved in a government, political, or issue organization. They are even less likely to be directly involved in a candidate or political issue campaign.
One reason for the relative lack of political engagement is the lack of trust in the federal government to solve problems. In fact, young people are more likely to view community service organizations as a more effective way to combat problems facing both the country and local community. Even more striking is the fact that less than one in three young people trust the federal government (29%) to do the right thing all or most of the time. This lack of trust has led to increased cynicism and skepticism of elected officials and the media.
The good news is that young people have been voting in higher numbers over the last two election cycles, ending a decade long decrease in midterm turnout. Furthermore, young people are following the news closely, nearly two in three. Democrats and progressives can take heart in the fact that there is a consistent increase in the percentage of young people who consider themselves Democrats and “liberal”.
In the next several years it will be important to solidify the electoral support of these young people and to engage them more fully in the political process. If a young person is asked by a friend to engage in a political cause, they are likely to do so. For this to happen, Democrats need to earn their trust. Additionally, Democrats must show that government—and political engagement—can be an effective way to deal with national and community problems. But this generation will not be fooled by happy rhetoric and cheap platitudes.
Generation Whatever team members jmora, Reg NYC, and gmartinez
Speaking as a 23 year old who is very involved. Sometimes the BEST way to get active is to run for office yourself. Aside from Wes, I have a hard time talking up or working for another candidate.
I don't like having to talk about what candidate X believes in if I myself might not share all those convictions. You end up putting yourself in a situation where you have to find someone that you agree nearly 100% with, aside from our General there just aren't many candidates that can fit that bill. Especialy for the younger voters.
However, getting out and talking about your own core beliefs and ideas is a lot more engaging. You aren't serving as a mouthpiece for someone else, you are the candidate.
I would encourage every young person who cares about their community and the world around them to run for office at least once. Even if you lose, the things you learn about the process, and yourself are things you will carry with you the rest of your life.
Ron Esquerra
Alger County Democratic Party
Upper Peninsula Veterans Coordinator-
www.michigan4clark.com
I'd love to see more young people running for office as well. Depending on the office and location, though, the cost of a campaign can be prohibitive. Even something like city council is difficult if you can't dish out $10,000.
I think they College Dems and Young Dems need to be more proactive in supporting their own. For many local races, having an "army" of volunteers could make up for lack of money.
Well, I have to say that I'm glad I got into college in 1965 instead of 2005. My choir met at "0 hour," an hour before regular school, and during basketball season (basically October 31 through early March), I was at school 'til 5:00 or 5:30. Then there was church youth choir practice on Wednesday nights. I didn't have time for community service and studying at the same time.
Some form of community service and volunteering is de rigueur to get into any private school at all these days. I don't know how I would have done it.
My question: How do the university admissions people treat political volunteering as a major part of applicants' portfolio? Would it help or hurt?
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
BE THE CHANGE you wish to see in the world.
If not us, WHO? If not now, WHEN?
But I think it goes even beyond university admission. Do companies look favorably or unfavorably to political volunteering. With Google it makes it possible to see if a job candidate supports causes that are not favored by the hiring manager. I find that a little disturbing. Already, I feel as if my political involvement is a liability for some possible careers. I think that is unfortunate.
but I was kind of stunned by that one graph showing community service so much more prevalent than political work in general... I was thinking it might reflect that practical kind of effort --where you can actually see results, the scope and scale being so much narrower than if you throw yourself into "politics" on a larger scale. In community service it's less abstract-- your efforts can be measured more readily.
Or maybe it's the smaller tribal community coming back around after being dispersed electronically so wide for so long?
Whatever the reason, it's a welcome and encouraging trend to see.
Thanks Generation Whatever for this post!
I think the general lack of trust in politicians makes people less inclined to join a campaign. One frequent comment is that "they are all the same".
A large majority of 18-24 year olds believe that politics is relevant and important. But the politicians and the lack of substantive initiatives (over the last 6 years of GOP control) have left this age group deeply cynical of all politicians. This is an age group who views politicians through the Jon Stewert lens: they'll say anything but not necessarily do it. They are not easily won over by speeches. They see Iraq getting worse and nothing being done about Katrina victims (or Darfur, or global poverty, ...) despite hundreds of speeches. Talk is cheap.
my daughter was in HS the counselor arranged for students to have plenty of opportunities to work in community service; it was essential to have that as part of school record and edu record to go further in anything; many of the kids were pressed for time they worked or were doing things for their families otherwise - the career college counselor was adamant to find something for each every student he knew it was essential to be competitive it was a deal breaker and that was the bottom line
a certain number of community service hours each semester was required for both of my daughters to graduate from hs (parochial.)
Not too difficult. E.g., my younger daughter was permitted to use unpaid hours as a camp counselor as part of her community service allotment.
The polls from these surveys don't address HS levels of volunteerism. The post-high school surveys are more indicative of the level of engagement by young people. As mentioned, most HSs require community service for graduation and so requires more personal initiative.
I think they are interested in both, community service (which gets drilled into them in high school here) and political involvement. There just needs to be continued activities by the party to keep people engaged. Young people as well as older people are attracted to the social aspects as well as "the mission."