As a young college student, I know that my place in this democracy is to understand the system and the issues, and to vote competently. For our country to function properly, those my age must be active participants in the process, but I can’t help identifying with my peers who simply do not care or feel that the government is irrelevant to their lives. Many view the government as a static entity, under the thumbs of the elite and too large to change. To my media-drowned generation, the bureaucratic process of voting and contacting officials feels stale, as well as ineffective. That is, how can we expect to feel that our town’s mayor, much less a senator in Washington, will pay heed to the cares of any one of us when even neighbors hardly shoot the breeze any more (now we’re just strangers). The world inhabited by our youth careens toward apathy at the same rate it becomes more complex – filled with gadgets, media, consumerism and other diversions – and less relevant to the “real” world, with its demands for civic engagement and political education, but without pomp and flash. What we need to make youth understand the relevance of politics to their lives is either to lead them from their distractions, or to somehow make politics relevant to them. My confidence rests with the former.
As a young college student, I know that my place in this democracy is to understand the system and the issues, and to vote competently. For our country to function properly, those my age must be active participants in the process, but I can’t help identifying with my peers who simply do not care or feel that the government is irrelevant to their lives. Many view the government as a static entity, under the thumbs of the elite and too large to change. To my media-drowned generation, the bureaucratic process of voting and contacting officials feels stale, as well as ineffective. That is, how can we expect to feel that our town’s mayor, much less a senator in Washington, will pay heed to the cares of any one of us when even neighbors hardly shoot the breeze any more (now we’re just strangers). The world inhabited by our youth careens toward apathy at the same rate it becomes more complex – filled with gadgets, media, consumerism and other diversions – and less relevant to the “real” world, with its demands for civic engagement and political education, but without pomp and flash. What we need to make youth understand the relevance of politics to their lives is either to lead them from their distractions, or to somehow make politics relevant to them. My confidence rests with the former.