Breeze Perspectives: American catch-22
Self-inflicted collegiate disenfranchisement
By Josh Linden, contributing writer
Posted on November 2, 2006

Violence in Iraq is reaching record levels. Corruption and sex scandals are spreading like wildfire in Washington. Illegal immigration is out of control. And to top it off, a crazy psychopath in North Korea now has a new shiny toy to play with.

Say hello to election 2006, with controversies aplenty.

But hold on a second, is anyone else getting a crazy feeling of déjà vu? These same issues donned the front page of major newspapers a year ago as well. Immigration, terrorism, corruption — they all seem to be permanently engrained into the American news cycle. Policy-makers are showing plenty of bark, but not much bite. This Congress has been notorious for its lack of action and its members have averaged only 100 days of actual work a year — the lowest figure ever. Given this unchanging and endlessly static atmosphere, why should we care about the election? In light of recent history, it seems unlikely to make the slightest difference.

Maybe I should be more specific — why should college kids care? Immigration reform won’t help kids pay for college. Debates over moral and cultural issues haven’t helped young people find decent jobs. Congress has been consistently negligent when it comes to issues that directly affect the 18-to-24 year-old age group, such as education and health care. Subsequently, voting rates among college-age kids have been the lowest of any demographic in America. For the last two presidential elections, the 18-to-24 average voting rate is 23 percent less than that of the rest of the age demographics. The situation is even worse during midterm elections, where our age group’s voting rate hasn’t topped 20 percent since 1994.

Politicians take those figures and use our apathy as an excuse to ignore us. It’s truly unbelievable, and politicians perpetuate this by creating a catch-22-type situation that excuses them from any responsibility to our age group. They won’t pay attention to us unless we start being more politically active, and we won’t start being more politically active until they pay attention to us and deal with issues that relate to our daily lives.

Two summers ago, I worked on Tim Kaine’s governor campaign, spending countless days talking to voters and listening to their concerns. This experience enlightened me to a political reality very quickly, as it became painfully obvious that we were only supposed to talk about a select group of three or four issues. None of them related to people our age, and we weren’t allowed to deviate from the list at all. The incredibly rigid, bureaucratic political structure had pre-determined which issues were going to be important to people based upon set factors. Voting rates was one of them, and they concluded that it’s a waste of time and money to focus on an issue if the political benefits (read: votes) are minimal.

Despite this pessimistic outlook, it remains incredibly important for our age group to vote and have a voice. Just last year, Congress cut $12 billion in student aid money, even while tuition rates rose nationwide. Thirteen million young adults currently live without health care in the United States. The quality of jobs for those in the 18-to-24 age group is steadily declining. These issues, while not the sexy, hot-button topics on the front page, are undeniably more relevant to our daily lives.

Someone has to bite the bullet to escape from this cyclical catch-22, and we might as well step up to the plate and force politicians to recognize us. If you can’t stand politics, vote anyway. If choosing a candidate feels like picking your poison, vote anyway. Demand attention, demand respect. Everyone has something that they care about, something that strikes a nerve. But if you don’t vote, your voice disappears and the people in power will continue to cast our age group aside while the problems you care about continue.

Josh Linden is a junior international affairs major.