I am a junior in high school in a heavily dem, heavily minority area outside DC. I can't vote. I volunteered at fundraisers, campaigned in Philadelphia a couple times and spent the weekend before the election in Ohio. After spending so much time on this site over the summer and pre-election this fall, I thought it was what everyone was supposed to do.
I was surprised to find that no one on these trips was my age. Everyone else seemed equally surprised to see me there. Even the Young Democrats Debate watching-party was at a bar.
Most teens I know don't see the link between politics and themselves. Grades matter. Test scores matter. College applications matter. Who cares about global warming really? Abortion rights, gay marriage, balancing the budget are things that feel so distant. Most of us can't even vote, so why does it even matter what we think? But it should matter, because the laws that pass now affect my generation most of all. The restrictions on roe v. wade affect us. Environmental destruction is going to be our mess to clean up.
Few people at my high school have, unsuprisisngly, different political views than their parents. At our mock-election this fall, the girl in front me said she was voting for Steny Hoyer, our rep, because, as she told her friend, "my daddy is a democrat". I'm no different. My parents raised me to be a proud liberal (I was always taught to remember which side was left or right by "left is liberal, right is wrong").
This summer I started volunteering and attending Democrat meetings and meet-ups, but I've stopped since. I've stopped because no one there is my age, in fact at most things, I would be younger than everybody by 20 or 25 years. Obviously issues that are important to us are going to vary. I got tired of adults making a big deal about how unusual and impressive it was that I was out canvassing at such a young age. And although I do enjoy hanging out with people who are different than me, it was lonely.
How do you engage teenagers in poliics? Is it even possible? Or important yet? Young Dems are good, but are still mostly aimed towards college students. High school clubs are notoriously unorganized and don't accomplish much- and would mostly only attract those students already interested or involved. If I try talking to my friends about it I mostly get "Why do you care so much?" One thing i've found is that the school often supresses political or controversial activity that doesn't fit within school guidelines. Last year when the war started, all the schools in the DC area were going to hold a walkout to protest. Students would peacefully protest outside for about 25 minutes. WHen the buzz about it was rising and more and more kids were talking about doing it, the school said instead, we could walk around the cafeteria a couple times during our lunch period and threatened suspension if it was violated. It kind of crushed the peaceful protest spirit- would it have been so difficult to let us sit outside for awhile and express ourselves? At my neighbor's private school, they walked out at 12:30, met up with other schools, and marched through DC. Ir wasn't traditional learning, but isn't that kind of education just as important?
Now I'm not positive about the best way to do this. I just feel like if the Young Dems or other group could have less formality, more humor, and be high on energy, it would be more effective at bringing in new teens or at least keeping those who are intersted involved and active.