18 In ’08 Gets My Vote

On October 1, I had the chance to visit Rutgers to find a screening of 18 at’08, a documentary made by David Burstein, a Haverford College freshman. The documentary’s goal: to get out the youth (18 to 24 year-old) vote and inform politicians how to make it happen.

Burstein and buddies interviewed over 60 chosen and former office-holders: Congressmen, Senators, Governors, mayors, state legislations and Presidential candidates, in addition to activists, campus leaders, journalists and political advisers — but mercifully, just 1 celebrity — Richard Dreyfuss. In case Burstein, et al. needed to incorporate a celebrity, Dreyfuss was still an outstanding alternative; at Mr. Holland’s Opus, he played with a music instructor cherished by over two generations of high school pupils.
18 at’08 isn’t a”Rock the Vote” appeal to childhood. It features the words of several current students and graduates of diverse political persuasions; making it increasingly real-life to school audiences than celebrity allure. 18 at ’08 does a Superb job of describing the challenges to youth unemployment, that comprised:

• The best way to vote is under-appreciated and taken for granted. Passed by Congress, the 18-year-old vote has been signed into law by President Nixon in 1971. It was, strangely enough, a response to young people’s complaints which if they had been old enough to be drafted into the army service, they had been old enough to vote.
• Politics provides little in the way of instant gratification; you must get involved or hold public office for quite a while until you may attain tangible achievements.
• Current high school students, college students and recent college graduates are having dramatic changes in their own lives, like an alteration in colleges or move out of college to work, therefore that they lack the opportunity to become involved or become informed about political matters.
• Hassles from the absentee ballot procedure. College students and military personnel stationed far from home aren’t given clear advice or direction about the best way best to enroll to vote, or even finish their ballot.
• Candidates speak down to young voters, or seem disinterested in”mainstream” problems like terrorism, foreign affairs and economical healthcare; younger Republicans are equally as curious about those problems as their parents are.
• Young folks don’t feel that politicians tend to be”interested” in them voters, or as a voting bloc; a few believe both big parties ignore themso consequently, a charm to enroll by a single party or another way nothing.

Most astonishing, this brief (15-20 minute) documentary was directed and made by a 16-year old; his friends felt strongly enough in the right to vote to contact and gather all these interviews until they had been old enough to vote. Burstein took a year off between high school and college to finish the job; it is a significant sacrifice to postpone private life programs for private obligations.

The hosts at Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute of Politics had accumulated a few helpful facts about the youth vote in the 2004 Presidential Election to match Burstein’s demonstration. Most intriguing was that 87 percent of pupils, enrolled Republicans, successfully cast a ballot on Election Day, although 13% attempted to vote but were not able to or didn’t try to vote in any way.

On a positive note, 63 percent of students said they voted because they thought that it was their responsibility as citizens. I am hoping this number increases; based on Young Voter Strategies, a non-partisan project in the George Washington University, possible Voters, ages 18-38 will end up one third of their U.S. electorate from 2015. It appears contradictory to get a production known to withstand authority (positively and negatively) and struggle conference to make the choice concerning’who governs’ for their elders.

I really don’t know whether that was one of Burstein’s goals, but 18 in’08 made me recognize that a career in politics grows as quickly as some other paths. Elected officials and campaigns have been chock full of activists, supervisors, researchers and opinion leaders under 30, particularly in leadership positions.

Young elected leaders have a background of progress into higher office. In accordance with my Rutgers’ hosts, most of those 19 men who served as President of the USA throughout the twentieth century, 12 held their first elective office in age 35 or younger. The exact same goes for 57 of the 100 women and men from the U.S. Senate in 2003 and 215 of the 435 members of the U.S. House and 25 of the 50 governors holding office this season.

Taking these amounts to center, politics is a young man’s game. Making it more surprising that applicants possess such a challenging time bringing more excitement from young folks; they’ve team greater than capable of designing the proper message.

View 18 at’08; you will notice this is a struggle for political leaders of all persuasions; applicants have more control over an apathetic electorate compared to an active person, but all the office holders that looked at 18 at’08 chosen an electorate that had been engaged and active. Party and ideology did not matter. Everybody felt exactly the same.

If you are a parent, arrange a CD of this movie at the 18 at’08 site (the url is 18in08 dot com). See it with your youthful Republicans. You will not have to convince them to enroll to vote. They will get it done on their own accord.