The Youth

“So are you Dr. Schwertner’s son?” It was a question that I was asked a lot while interning for Dr. Charles Schwertner’s campaign for Texas State Representative.  It was an open seat, because the current Rep was retiring, leaving four candidates vying for their party’s nomination to fill the unchallenged seat..

To understand why I was asked this question, you have to understand the district.  Although Georgetown is home to Southwestern University, the first university in Texas (by Governor’s decree) and the greatest university in Texas (by my decree) , the area in and around Southwestern is in another house district. This is important because on a daily basis at our campaign “meet and greets” and other events, I met with and interacted with retired residents who lived in Sun City (a retirement community home to about forty percent of the electorate). While energized by things like the Tea Parties and enraged by the increases in spending they see in Washington D.C., they’re still surprised to see a nineteen year old college sophomore interested in politics – local and state politics, no less.

The reason I share this story is because I’m sure I’m not the only young person involved in politics who has experienced something similar to this. I’m not trying to call out any candidates, campaigns, or group of voters who may or may not be surprised to see the youth involved in politics, but to shed some light on a changing tide in politics. As cliché as it sounds, Barack Obama’s successful 2008 Presidential Campaign has forever changed how young people will be involved in politics. Every candidate from the courthouse, to the state house, to the White House will be trying to find a way to engage with young people and get them involved with their campaign on every level. Young people: those eighteen year olds who have just registered to vote when they renewed their driver’s license, college students who see activism on every level, and young professionals who have just entered the work force, are now a voting bloc that every campaign wants to have in their corner, because we could one day sway an election.

I guess the point that I’m trying to make is that people, from candidates to voters, shouldn’t be surprised to see a college student who wants to spend his afternoons working for and helping out a candidate who he believes in, a high school student who spends her Saturday mornings block walking for a candidate, or a young professional who spends their evenings phone banking. Young people have done the first and maybe hardest part: we have gotten on the radars of candidates and their campaigns. Now we need to take the next step and get on the radar of the voters. We have an election in November, so go out there and help the candidate you want to see in office. From the local school board on up, I’m sure that there’s a campaign that would be happy to see you, even if they’re surprised. They will take notice of the youth being involved.

Yesterday we were the volunteers, today we are the activists and campaign staff, but tomorrow we are the candidates.