September 27, 2004

View from the floor of Democratic National Convention, photo by 8-18 Media.

Eighteen to 24-year-olds have the lowest voting turnout of any age group, but at the Democratic National Convention this summer, politically active young people were out in full force. From young delegates to anarchists, youth at both ends of the political spectrum were taking action.

Young Insiders
At 18, Maura Spiegelman of Londonderry, N.H. was one of the youngest delegates at the convention.

"In the First Congressional District for New Hampshire there were 60 people running," Spiegelman said of the process of becoming a delegate. "We all gave 30-second speeches about why we wanted to be a delegate. I said that people always talk about wanting to get young people involved in the process and that this was their chance by electing me to the national convention. I received the most number of votes of any of the delegates in the first district."

Spiegelman feels strongly about a variety of youth issues.

"The future of our country is important. We need to be respected abroad again. The economy of our country. Health care is very important. (Former Democratic presidential candidate) Howard Dean got me worried about health care when I'm out of college and I'm no longer insured under my parents' plan. Paying for higher education is very important."

Spiegelman says that youth issues aren't getting the attention they deserve. Part of it is because of the media, she says, and part is because of kids themselves.

"Generally, children don't watch the news," Spiegelman said. "They're not the main consumer. They (the media) focus on issues they think adults care about. But in reality, children should be focused on all these issues. Social Security, what you're going to do when you're retired. You may not think you need to worry about it now, but it's going to be bankrupt in seventeen years at the rate we're gong. So it does affect us."

Seventeen-year-old Jason Rae of Rice Lake, Wis. attended the convention as a Democratic National Committee member elect. The former Senate page ran a campaign to become a member of the DNC.

"I ran at our state convention in June to be one of four members of the national committee," said Rae. "I did mass mailings to all convention delegates. I called people across the state and asked them to support me. I had posters made with my friends that said, 'A Rae of hope for the future.' I tried talking with as many people at the state convention as I could to get their support and backing. I handed out stickers and worked the crowd and did a true grassroots campaign."

A crucial youth issue according to Rae is the cost of education.

"One of the most important issues is college tuition costs and the price of education," he said. "I've talked to a lot of students in my part of the state of Wisconsin who aren't going on to college because they can't afford it."

He says politicians need to focus more on young people.

"I think the candidates feel that reaching out to the children isn't going to help their campaign, so they ignore it. Instead they're trying to focus on those who are going to get out and vote for them. The reason I ran for my position on the Democratic National Committee was to work to have the Democratic Party actively get the newest, youngest voters interested. And I believe one of the key ways to do that is to focus on children's issues and the issues of young adults."

Rae predicts that more 18 to 24-year-olds would vote if politicians and the media would reach out to them.

"If the candidates and the media would focus on issues that matter to them they'd feel that the candidate cared more about them," he said.

Young Outsiders
In contrast to the young Democrats, many youth in the convention area were politically involved, but not with either of the two major parties. For instance, nearby in Boston Common at an event called the "Really, Really Democratic Bazaar," a group called Pirates Against Bush protested against the two-party system.

Sixteen-year-old Pirates Against Bush member Eric Ginsburg of suburban Boston explained the activist group's goals.

"The reason the group was founded was because we see that there's a lot of apathy among kids—but not just for voting—with activism. Most people seem too involved in themselves to care about anything that's going on in the world. A lot of the reasons that we get is 'politics is boring' and it doesn't affect them. So we're trying to make things fun by being pirates, and at the same time (getting young people) to realize what (politics means) to their lives and how it affects them personally."

The "pirates" dress up in traditional attire such as plumed hats and eye patches in recognition of pirates' role in history of thumbing their noses at authority.

Although Pirates Against Bush would like to see George Bush out of office they don't support John Kerry or the Democratic Party either. Ginsburg says Kerry could improve.

"I don't think he's holding up to his beliefs," Ginsburg said of the Democratic presidential nominee. "If the streets were empty and no one was calling on him saying, 'Look, you need to take a better stance on this issue or that issue,' then he won't. He'll do whatever he wants and whatever the party tells him to do and we're going to end up with someone who's very similar to Bush. So I feel like the more people in the street saying, 'Look, we care about this,' the more pressure is on him to take a solid stance on this issue."

Seventeen-year-old "pirate" Laura Duncan of suburban Boston sees Kerry as the lesser of two evils.

"Yes, if I had to choose between Bush and Kerry I would choose Kerry in a split second. But I think that choice needs to be protested—the simple fact that we need to decide between the lesser of two evils," Duncan said. "People can't even realize that there might be a system of living their life out there in which the people who rule this country and decide how you live your life are not considered evil. Then maybe we could actually start to get local people interested in national politics."

Duncan says that politics is too often portrayed as boring and defined too narrowly.

"Many people talk about politics in a classic, history, textbook, boring, 'politics is for old people' kind of way. I've always tried to explain to people that it doesn't need to be like that. Politics does not mean deciding who becomes our president or what lever to pull when you vote. It's how you structure your life. Every action you make affects something, whether it's driving an SUV or choosing to recycle. That stuff is politics, too."

Shared Views
Although the youth involved with the Democratic Party and the youth involved in Pirates Against Bush have very different beliefs, they do have one thing in common. They all feel that it's important for more youth to become politically involved.

Rae has had many political pursuits including being elected as the Wisconsin State Student Council vice president.

"One of the things our State Student Council organization does is Freedom's Answer, which registers people 18 years old to vote. I'm chairman of the county Democratic Party in Rice Lake, Wis., chairman of the high school party, and I'm very active in trying to get 18-year-olds voting. It's their constitutional right and I want to see it exercised."

For those who are too young to vote, Duncan suggests activism is a great way to get involved.

"I'm a big fan of protests," she said. "But in the end I feel it's more productive to be pro-something than to be anti-something else. It's a really nice feeling to help in your community and get active on the local level beside just yelling what you don't like. Community organizing is more important than protesting."

Editors Note: This story was written by Fiona Smith, 15, of 8-18 Media. Interviews were conducted by Smith and youth journalists from Y-Press and Children’s PressLine.

Resources

• See more stories by the young journalists at 8-18 Media [1] in Marquette, Michigan.
• Read 8-18 Media's coverage of the RNC [2]