The Participation of American and British Youth in Political Life of Their Countries

In the Republican and Democratic parties of the USA, much of a candidate's volunteer base is made up of students "who have the time and also the energy to do neighborhood walks and knock on doors and make phone calls," said Jordan Sekulow, who was 22 when he served as national youth director for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign. [4]

Working for a presidential campaign requires lots o

f time and energy, something America's young people have in abundance.

Campaign workers learn new skills on the job. Josh Alcorn, a regional field director for Democratic candidate Joe Biden's campaign said he learned much about time management and organizing. "People are going to caucus for a candidate because they like the organizer. Being able to sell them on yourself before you sell them on a candidate is crucial," he said. [4]

Working on a campaign is also an opportunity to build strong friendships and meet new people across the country, Alcorn said. He said he built a network of relationships that "are going to last a lifetime."

More than half of the respondents said they would join a candidate’s online group, such as a Facebook group. Candidates have been focusing much of their efforts online, but as Harvard University junior Marina Fisher said, students also like the more traditional methods of promoting a candidate with lawn signs, bumper stickers and rallies. “These seem like the oldest ways of engagement we can think of,” Fisher said.

“It is clear that while new media are emerging, the old ones are here to stay,” she said. [3]

By the way I’ve found quite a fascinating fact – some of the young people complain of lack of agitation information! This is true especially for under-18th.

“We start voting at 18. And before that, do we not need to build a political opinion on party views and on leaders? And whilst this is happening, do we not need motivation to go out and physically vote for who runs our country? And what are the leaders of Britain doing to engage this potentially captive audience? Nothing to me, that's for sure…”

“I turned 18 this summer (i.e., I am now legal to vote in elections) and did I receive any information on voting or party propaganda? Not one little leaflet. Instead, I have to rely on the ever-unbiased news and material posted through my door, addressed to my Tory councillor father—so any information I DO read is Conservative based. Are the politicians reaching out to the kids? Well, I would say they are getting better. Some consciously and some are naturals at reaching out.”

“Sometimes politicians shouldn't try and be "in with the kids" — wouldn't this just ridicule their reputation amongst serious MP's and cabinet members? Perhaps there is a point where young people can be included (without being patronised) and politicians can be taken seriously amongst their peers. Getting a balance is difficult.” (Jessica, 18, UK) [3]

Some of those “complaining” young people even suggested to start voting at 16.

“We're not taught about politics and it’s only when we turn 18 that the politicians and society become interested in us, but is this right?”

“Most people argue that we shouldn’t be able to vote until we are 18 because we aren’t mature enough to make an uninfluenced decision until then. However, if we were taught about it and were involved in it we would have enough intelligence to make our own decision. After all, who’s to say that at 18 we can make a completely independent decision? We don’t suddenly turn 18 and understand politics, do we?”

“At 16 I can smoke, leave home, start work, join the armed forces, pay tax and get married with my parent’s permission. At 17 I will be able to learn to drive but it’s not until I’m 18 that I can vote for who I want to be the Prime Minister. Is this fair?” (Kate Sutton,17) [2]

Of course it’s not only the politicians’ fault that the youth don’t participate properly in politics (due to the lack of information, propaganda, absence of proper political studies at schools and colleges and whatever else). There are other factors which influence greatly on a person – a family and media.

The word politician envisages an old, tired and worn-out individual but, in general, we hardly think of youngsters as politicians. Many of us regard politics as "quicksand" where if one gets in, will never be able to come out. Due to this wrong notion, politics is definitely not one among the diverse career options chosen by the youngsters. Many of us portray youth as `cool, young and happening' but we fail to realise the potential and capacity of the young blood in reforming our age-old politics. That’s why all the political information given by different kinds of media is generally aimed at the adults.

“At the age of 39 I don't blame young people for being apathetic about politics. The only way to have any influence is to be selected as a member of a focus group which exist only to provide politicians with key words for their slogans. On the BBC's Newsnight during the Tories' last conference, people struggled to tell apart soundbites from Ian Duncan Smith and Tony Blair. I would be surprised if young people were NOT apathetic.” (Martin Berridge, UK) [1]

As such, a prudent reason for the youth not entering politics is the misrepresentation of the youth as `cool, young and happening' and entering into politics or even discussing it is considered as a waste of time. A very less number actually possess a voter identification card and even lesser number actually go to vote, all of which results in a degraded majority and a wrong party on power. And then, with a frown on their face, the same youngsters moan," Our country will never change". [5]

If we observe from the societal point of view, the reason for lack of interest in politics among the youngsters can be their parents and elders. They feel that politics is not their cup of tea and that they would rather want their sons and daughters to have a secure life. In other words, they want their children to choose a career that has more security and more potential, i.e. a good job with good money. Due to this, many ebullient youngsters who have the real potential to change the political scenario of the country sit in their air-conditioned offices, doing a more "secure" job and deriding and despising the politics of the country. Of course they disparage the politicians too.

Conclusion

Having analysed quite a lot of articles, comments of people of different ages and social status, statistical data I have come to the conclusion that the problem of youths’ participation in political life of a country is very ambiguous. One the one hand the percentage of non-voters in the USA and Great Britain is still high. I’ve singled out several major reasons for young people’s lack of interest. They are:

1) considering politics boring and waste of time;

2) lack of knowledge about the political system of the country’;

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