My First Vote

All the races are represented here, the majority African-American or Latino. I am the only white student in the room. Recently in homeroom we had been discussing our government (homeroom is now worth half a government credit). As long as I can remember, many of our discussions in this class involved politics in one way or another. There was the Diallo shooting, the IMF/WTO, Monica Lewinsky, the painfully obvious innocence of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Giuliani's determination to shut down the "Sensation" exhibit and so on.

Today we are discussing the importance of voting. The teacher asks who in the class will vote in the upcoming election, or when they turn 18. To my surprise fewer than a third of the class raise their hands (me included). Or maybe I am not really surprised. I have been aware that young people (18-24) are notorious for their extremely low voting turnout. But I am unsettled. Since the beginning of the class in September I have thought that this group of teenagers (14-18) had been the most opinionated ones I had ever been among. So my hand immediately shoots up when the teacher asks if anyone wants to speak, and I give my usual speech about how tragic it is that young people don't vote because it really does make a difference, and if all of us voted, politicians would have to change their positions to draw votes from us, and blah blah blah. Maybe about four kids really listened to me and thought, "Hm." I am depressed.

Then the next speaker, a 15-year-old black girl who is incredibly stubborn, says, "Politics don't have anything to do with what I want to do. I want to be a cop." I and the other two politically minded kids in the class say, "Oh my God! It has everything to do with it!" I see that my teacher has a look of horror on his face. I am sure he's asking himself, "Can she really be that ignorant?"

What's worse than hearing my generation scream their dissatisfaction with the government is hearing minority kids say that the government does nothing for them. "Well, do something about it!" I say. "Go cast your vote, and then you have the right to complain." All I get after that is a shrug, and by then I have to struggle to keep my idealism intact.

A very intelligent man once told me, "Teenagers are idealists." It does not appear so. How can people so young be so jaded? Why do we give up so early? I have just begun my political life. I've been going nuts trying to find articles, news briefs and statements that actually pertain to the upcoming elections in which, for the first time, I will vote. I am in every sense a teenage idealist. Yes, I do think I can make a difference and I believe that my vote will count. But it's hard to find the right information. All I hear in the media is that Bush used drugs in college, Gore is a weak candidate, Lazio is a "Newt Gingrich conservative," Hillary is a "carpetbagger." No wonder teenagers are scared of politics. What does Bush's past drug use have to do with his ability to run the country? Why is Gore a weak candidate? What connects Lazio to Newt Gingrich (assuming a young person even knows who Gingrich is, or was)? And what the hell is a carpetbagger? You can find some answers on the Web. But what kid is going to choose voluntary research over comedy-central.com?

I really believe that it is the sole responsibility of parents to educate their kids about politics. If my parents weren't crazed Democrats I might not be voting this November. What if my mother had never expressed her attraction to Bill Clinton when I was 10? And if my father hadn't made jokes about Dan Quayle? If my sister didn't think Bill Clinton was really cool for saying "Chill out" to Jerry Brown in a debate in '92? These things sucked me in and made me ask questions; luckily for me, my parents had the answers. Kids certainly won't listen in school. We should all know that by now.

Many teenagers don't even know what the vice president does. A boy in my class thought that the VP picks up Chelsea when Bill can't, takes messages for the Prez and subs when he can't make it to a spelling bee.

Al's speech at the Democratic convention almost drove me to tears. I guess that's the first sign of becoming a concerned voter. On the popular WB show Sister, Sister there was a rerun in which one of the twins created a great disturbance as she was casting her first vote ever. She screamed things like, "I'm making the world a better place," "I have the power!" and "Yahoo!" When my long-awaited first vote comes this November, I assure you, neighbors, I'll try to be a little more quiet.