Opportunities for Youth in Politics
Have you ever been in a room and you’ve single handedly dropped the median age by 20 years? As someone who was homeschooled from 6th-12th grade and who never really left the house unless they were forced, it was something I had never experienced before. Going from no friends your age to an entire political party, who all happen to be twice my age was a completely life changing factor.
When you socially start from scratch, navigating the political world (even only a county sized one) was something I viewed as a complex puzzle, unchartered waters. I mention this because it is an objective reality and an important aspect when navigating a political party where the average age is 45+, in a state where the other party dominates in elections, that can only be described as…. unique.
As a young Democrat who started out at 17 there are many things to learn and the best way I thought to do that was to just listen and watch. What you can see can vary, opposing factions, loyal members, or even disgruntled members. But more importantly is if you look at the bigger picture you will see a party that is worth fighting for. You see members whose hope is stretched, yet they still show up, you see members who inspire you, and you see people who put aside their differences for a bigger purpose, but more importantly they WANT YOUNG PEOPLE INVOLVED!
Which brings me to why I am writing this column. Now if you made it this far you’re probably thinking “good God he sure keeps yapping…me, me, me” and I do that for a reason. The only way that I can accurately explain anything (if I at least want to do a good job) is to go off of my own experiences because history is important. I strongly believe that history can help you navigate and to understand the world you are in. What I have experienced in this party is an absolute hunger for youth involvement. They want to know the politics of the youth, they want to know what issues we face, and they want to know what will get us involved. Most importantly they want to teach us so that one day we can take the reins, they want us to become the best leaders we can be.
With the support and guidance of the leaders of our county party I was able to form the first county Young Democrats group in Jefferson County and so far the only one in the state. The Jefferson County Young Dems is a very new group, but the sky is the limit to what we can achieve. Our accomplishments are only limited by our ambition. This is an opportunity to get your foot in the door, to understand local politics, or how political parties actually function but your involvement can actually make a difference. This is an opportunity for the voices of the youth to be heard and taken seriously. We are still writing our history, hopefully it is one of success and accomplishment, but more importantly it’s one that gives the youth of our county a purpose, a reason to stay, or something just to fight for.
