Arriving at political adulthood in this day and age is a challenging and interesting experience. Most of us are too young to remember Watergate, but almost all of us remember how interesting CNN was during certain parts of former President Bill Clinton’s tenure. A large portion of my political memory is marked by scandal and controversy, and it wasn’t really until 2008 that things changed. The previous presidential election – my first venture into “big boy and girl ballots” – was an exciting experience.
Regardless of my involvement in Kids Voting USA, and casting my mail-in ballot in 2008, I still feel inadequately prepared for serious political involvement. College has taught me more about drinking beer and watching YouTube videos than politics. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the guys in my class could tell me the top three college football teams ranked in the AP Top 25. However, I would be very surprised if most of them could tell me something about the current political climate. Where is this shortage of knowledge coming from?
Certainly we could search out statistics in an attempt to acquire insight into where the deficiency is coming from in our young-adult involvement in politics. However, we probably don’t need either of these to tell us who is responsible for the lack of political involvement.
I see two main problems. The first is the average college student’s magpie-reminiscent attraction to the flashy. Our ability to dissolve hours of our time into sitting in front of a computer screen is unrivaled by any other creature. How many times do you think I logged onto ESPN’s website while writing this?
The second problem is a little harder to nail down. In 2008, those of us who voted for Barack Obama were promised “change.” I’m not sure how I could have expected drastic changes in the political landscape, but the expectant seed was planted. Now, three years later, all I can see from Capitol Hill is bickering and arguing.
One side proposes their ideal solutions to the problems facing our nation today, and the other shoots them down. This battle goes back and forth, but what actually gets done? Politicians push policies, and everyday people bear the true burden of our failing economy. Democrats and Republicans each feel as though they have the right solution to unemployment, budget cuts and the nation’s rising debt, but see things so differently that they work together as effectively as two 3-year-old children fighting over a toy much too large for either of them.
I know our political system will never be a seamless machine of cohesive thought, and that politicians will stay set in their ways. I can’t expect to have a serious impact on the way politicians think and act in Washington, D.C. I can, however, have a serious impact on my own involvement. I can make a conscious effort to stay informed, and cast the most educated vote that I possibly can. That’s the only way we can hope to better our generation’s political involvement.
Still, I have to admit, this unproductive nature of politics is uninteresting. After a while, watching a YouTube video of two children fighting stops being funny, but a video about a guy on a buffalo? I’ll watch that any day of the week.