Nov 7, 2012 5 min read

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I am so very blessed to spend time with young people. Their voices inspire me, and their commitment to one another and to our future encourages me. When I wrote the column on respect and civility in politics on Oct. 18, I reacted to an amazing evening at the program “Regaining Civility.” Mary Jo Harwood, director of the Dialogue and Resolution Center at the Center for Victims, spearheaded this excellent event, and keynote speaker Dr. James H. Mullen, president of Allegheny College, delivered an inspiring speech focusing on his concerns about young adults and their apathy regarding politics. I wondered if the young people I know and love were as apathetic as he described. Happily, I discovered they are not. Many of our teens feel strongly about the political process. The new 18-year-olds in our program are registered and voted.

As I wrote this column, Americans were voting. Today’s column has nothing to do with taking sides, but rather seeks to empower young people by providing them a forum for their views on our political process.

More than 25 young people comprise our Ask Mary Jo Advisory Board. Some were interested in taking on this sensitive topic. I selected three of the most articulate voices. I also decided not to publish those who wished to remain anonymous. If you read their thoughts below, you may begin to understand why I know our future is in good hands. Critical thinking skills are alive and well.

I have no desire to retire. I hope to continue teaching as long as God gives me breath (provided I know who I am when I wake in the morning!). Still, when I think of these teens and the many young people I’ve known in the last 35 years, I know that someday I can step aside with confidence, secure in the knowledge that young people will continue to reach out as peer educators and teach one another.

Jordan Smith: I am a 17-year-old senior at Washington High School. By no means would I consider myself politically aware, especially compared to a few of my friends, but I have at least a basic knowledge of what goes on.

n I love the idea of the democracy we are told of throughout our learning. The idea of the people choosing people to represent them is a good one and ends up being among the fairest systems in the world.

n Part of the reason I lose faith in our political process is the advertisement. Only two of our nation’s political parties are widely known. There are several “third parties” that go without an accurate voice.

n In advertising during election season, ads seem geared towards defaming the other candidate rather than promoting a cause or themselves. Because of the negative nature of the ads, it turns off many people.

n I worry that the majority of voters choose based simply on their family’s traditional party and similar poor reasons.

n Voters in general need to be educated.

n Numerous well-meaning acts have been swatted down by an uncooperative party in Congress, causing stagnation in our development as a country.

n Politicians should be in touch with the people they represent.

Amanda Campbell: First and foremost, elections are seemingly increasingly fraught with negativity. Rather than promoting themselves, politicians more often abase their opponent(s) which, in my opinion, benefits no one and is terribly sad. As for the election process itself, it would, again in my opinion, be lovely to see a direct democracy where every vote was counted equally, but with our huge demographics, that is almost undeniably chimerical. To make every vote count a little more though, it would be nice to stop the voter oppression signs. Every denizen of this country deserves to feel like their opinion matters, and voter ID laws often act contrary, especially to the minority communities which, as most are cognizant of, are crucial to some parties and whose voices are sadly silenced quite easily in this way.

Moreover, in this democracy, I am thankful for the rights that we have. However, as equal and valuable humans, we have more prerogatives that need legalized.

Tammy Okorn: Yesterday in my world civilization class we were talking about how the president is elected. Since I’ve stayed pretty much out of politics until recently, I actually didn’t know that it’s not really the majority that may win, but because of the electoral college, if the majority of a state wants a candidate to win, that candidate wins the state. Personally, I don’t think this is fair, and it’s an outdated policy. We only keep it around because no one wants to go through the process of getting it changed. But I think it really should be changed for future elections.