The Republican and Democratic National Conventions are coming, and this year young people are expected to show up and be a force to be reckoned with.
As both conventions and the general election approach, one question still remains with young people: Are we really making a difference in this election, or was it all just hype?
Well, the state of Mississippi is a good example of how much young people are getting involved with politics this year. Take the number of young delegates from the state for instance. In 2004, only three of the state’s forty-one delegates, about seven percent, were under the age of 35. In 2008, 11 of the state’s 48 delegates are under the age of 35. That means from 2004 to 2008, the number of young delegates increased 16 percent.
But it’s not just the young delegates that will be representing our generation. Young people from all over the nation will be at the conventions.
Nickolaus Luckett, a sophomore at the University of Mississippi, will be traveling to the RNC convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul on Sept. 1. He describes himself as a “moderate,” and chose to attend the RNC to get more involved with the political scene.
“I am super amped about going to the convention,” he said. “This is my first convention; my first time at a political event of this magnitude, and it sort of scares me a little. My biggest hope for this experience is that I will gain more insight into the GOP.”
Luckett became interested in politics from a very young age, he said. His mother works with low income families, and his father has run for public offices in the past. From his experience, policy is the best way to make positive change, and youth should be involved in the policy making process, he said.
“I think young people can get involved with politics in every way possible,” he said. “Our generation hopefully will be the beginning of a major trend of young political involvement; that will positively change policy.”
Brent Caldwell, also a student at Ole Miss, is attending the DNC in Denver, which begins Aug. 25. Caldwell says he too has always had an interest in politics, but it grew when he began seeing how it actually affects people around him.
“Politics play a far larger role in people's lives than most realize I think,” he said. “To paraphrase a famous quote on knowledge, a passion for politics is similar to a fire. It takes some outside stimulus to get it started but then it propagates itself.”
Caldwell has already arrived in Denver, and is getting to see preparations for the convention first hand.
“The feeling varies depending on who you are,” he said. “Students and others like me are excited. Restaurant workers are apprehensive about how swamped their going to be shortly. Some locals are annoyed with the whole thing from what I read in the paper. People working at the convention are nervous and probably won't relax until it all goes off smoothly.”
Caldwell and Luckett are only two of the hundreds of young voters that will be at the conventions, and with the rising number of young delegates, I think it’s safe to say, “Yes, young people really do matter in this election.”
To learn more about young delegates and youth involved in politics, go to www.youthvoterpac.org, or www.eatingpolitics.org.