My government teacher has been my government teacher (on different levels) for three years now, and just about every day she lets us know that our age group -- high school and college students -- is one of the least likely age groups to vote. It's on the news all the time, too... how 18-24 year olds have a tragically low voting turn-out, and how we're never going to get anything we want because the old fogies outnumber us and vote the way they want to in order to get what they want.
But I never really believed it until a few days ago. I think my problem is the people in my classes are the people who are in my government teacher's classes, and she's instilled in us the sense that our vote really does count. All day I'm surrounded by people who can't wait until November so they can have their say.
A few days ago, however, I ran into a group of people who didn't enjoy government the first year they were required to take it or simply didn't believe that their one vote counted for much of anything. I looked at them, horrified, and made a move to convert them. I told them that if everyone thought the way they did there wouldn't be elections at all because no one would vote in them, and if we were able to get our age group truly motivated we could do all sorts of things to benefit ourselves because the politicians would start paying more attention to us. They didn't believe me, or just didn't care.
Is this what America has come to? Will the politically apathetic youth become a politically apathetic future? Honestly, I wouldn't mind if a candidate I greatly dislike won as long as I knew my peers were voting.
...that an interest in politics is something people grow into, once they have to pay taxes and are otherwise effected by the choices made in Washington D.C
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. "
too bad everyone doesn't understand that. i think our youth are very politically apathetic. as a member of that 18-24 age bracket myself, i've been investigating all the presidential candidates to find out whose stances i agree on, who i disagree with. I've tried having discussions about it with my friends and none of them care at all, yet they still plan on voting, which scares me. blind support of political leaders based on images...oh goodness...