We see it often, particularly during Bernie Sanders’ speeches: people speaking about the youth getting involved in the political process. This dramatic election has brought many new people of all ages into the booth for the first time.
For the first time, I hear people my age (18 years old) discussing national politics and foreign affairs. Granted, these aren’t scholarly arguments, but at least there is a growing interest in our national political affairs. Many millennials went into the booths for the first time. Yet, our political involvement seems to stop there. In my area, there will be several local, state and federal elections on May 24, however, I’ve yet to hear a single person even mention the upcoming elections, much less give an opinion on them. This illustrates the precise problem that faces our nation, people seem to only care about the presidential election. Understanding national affairs is wonderful and very important, yet new neighborhood development, school placement and local business all depend on the local and state governments. Often, these levels of government are ignored. That doesn’t necessarily mean that our voices are being silenced within our communities, it means that no one cares to have a voice, outside of whatever Trump comments are trending on social media.
This problem isn’t completely the fault of the voter, local elections aren’t televised, and neither are any city council meetings, despite our ability to attend and participate in such events. We have the opportunity to make suggestions and participate in decisions on local ordinances yet our interests seem to lie in other places. Our culture places Friday nights and football games ahead of new laws and changes within our community. In a way that makes sense, watching people hit each other is much more entertaining than sitting in a stuffy government building.
People enjoy complaining about their government, yet make no attempt to change that outside of voting every four years. In order to take steps forward as a nation, people must make an effort to inform themselves and participate in their local government. It’s impossible to want to change your community if you don’t even know who your mayor is. Not only that, but the politicians themselves seem to assume that the turnout will remain small, and they will remain in office. I have had great trouble seeing any of my local candidates speak or debate, as they seem to make no effort to do so. I emailed a certain Senate campaign (not to be named) in an effort to see the candidate speak roughly two months ago, and I’ve yet to even get a response from them.
America rose to greatness when people took pride in being part of their community, now students do so only for college applications, and many others just don’t. “Making America Great Again” has very little to do with electing a sleazy politician. America will become great again once individuals and communities make change and progress together. I can only hope that one day people will realize that the "political process" doesn’t only include complaining and voting every four years, it is taking pride and driving progress inside their communities, and a great start to that is informed voting whenever possible.
