Why Young People Should be Involved in Politics: Vol. 2

The Focus – October 19th, 2007 by Sarah

Since my previous blog on why young people should be involved in politics, I have taken part in a number of interesting events which have helped me further formulate my opinion on this subject.

Firstly, I have taken up residence in a household with two avid student politicians. This has taught me a number of valuable lessons, the most important one being that young politically-minded people are often just the same as older politically-minded people: a little bit psychotic, more than slightly obsessive, and highly gifted manipulators. To anyone who has every expressed concern that the young people of today take everything for granted and care about very little, you clearly haven’t spent any time with this particular breed of young person. Never have I met anyone who greets the idea of getting up at 6am to hand out leaflets on climate change at train stations in conservative right-wing areas with such enthusiasm.

Secondly, I have been lucky enough to be involved in not one, but two student elections. What a nasty, nasty business they are! Handing out how-to-votes at one of those things is to truly put your life at risk, and for so little! Never voice that opinion to a student politician, unless you have a strong desire to be hung, drawn and quartered.

In case my tone, which I realise is dripping in sarcasm and bemusement, has misled you, I actually think these student pollies are fairly admirable. When you get past all the, ahem, politics, these kids are fighting so hard for really great things, like the legalisation of gay marriage, the right for everyone to have access to a great education and fair working conditions. But for every leftie there’s a rightie, and it’s these kids I have trouble identifying with. How young people from my generation can support AWAs, disagree with women’s rights to choose in matters of contraception and pregnancy and be in favour of unreasonable, discriminatory immigration laws is completely beyond me. What worries me is that the young people who are in favour of the views I support might be different from the righties in values, but not in practice, and that is what has truly stood out to me since my last blog on kids and politics. Everyone plays dirty, irrespective of what they are fighting for.

So, to summarise, student politicians, like the grown-up versions, can be awesome. They can be inspiring and truly passionate. Rather than accusing them of complacency, it seems to me that some of these kids could be guilty of caring too much, and often losing sight of what’s really important.

So how’s that for a new perspective on the subject? More to come.

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