The Short Report

A National Primary

2008-03-12T11:21:00.000-07:00

After witnessing firsthand the media circus that was the New Hampshire primary, I no longer have any doubt in my mind of two things: the absolute need for a single, national primary, and that my generation is the furthest thing from apathetic.
I also no longer have any doubt that a seven-hour drive can drive a person to clinical insanity.
After returning home and regaining my mind, I watched the news coverage of all I had witnessed firsthand and saw, perhaps, the most horrifying aspect of politics: spin!
Left and right, (pun intended) the news networks were declaring winners of debates and "frontrunners" of elections without any substance backing it up. During one Republican forum in particular, just prior to the New Hampshire primary, Fox News had a group of 30 “undecided voters” watch the debate and then decide for whom they would vote. Any guesses on the vote tally? 28 Romney to 2 McCain. At least pretend to be fair or balanced!
So as primary after primary passed by, I noticed that the media spun every vote and debate into winners and losers, no matter how close the numbers or vague the differences on issues. Why? Because conflict is exciting! And if that conflict occurs between more than two opposing parties, the general public gets confused, and confusion means lower ratings. Remember John Edwards?
To put it simply, the earlier a state has its primary, the more power its voters have in the primary season. Iowa and New Hampshire, specifically, have a history of destroying political campaigns in one fell swoop. And in recent years, the other 48 are vying for the maximum amount of influence.
The later your primary, the less your vote counts. For example, in moving the California primary to an earlier date in the political season, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger cited his reason being that it would make the race more “fair” because Californians were now more influential in choosing the candidates.
That idea sounds about as popular as "Jingle All the Way," Arnold.
I am proud to live in Pennsylvania, a state that has the pride to avoid the political games of pushing primary dates around in an attempt to gain unfair influence. But in doing so, our primary will be nothing more than an approval vote of nominees who will already have been decided. What a joke! And then when my generation becomes sick of these political games being played in Washington, our politicians act surprised, and even upset, to hear such a thing!
We want change, and I am not talking about the pretty, one-line sound clip that has lost all meaning during the last few weeks on the presidential caravan. My generation wants a national primary where every vote is counted at once, and every vote is as influential as every other vote.
Radical idea, huh?
Not at all. An election with candidates that zigzag across the country, rely on donations from low class families to stay in five-star hotels, and depend on media popularity and sound clips to become the next leader of the free world sounds like the radical thought to us.
My generation is not apathetic at all. We are just tired of the current situation and administration. We are tired of being lied to. We are looking for a candidate that, for a change, we can trust.

The College Tuition Crisis

2008-02-26T12:33:00.000-08:00

A little more than a year ago, I was subjected to the horror of applying to college.
At the time, I had no fear. With a 3.9 GPA, a 1360 SAT and a laundry list of extracurricular activities that would make you question the number of hours in a day, I had no reason to worry about my departure to college. I was trained for this. My high school spent hours on end detailing the processes of college applications, the tricks of the trade, all the secrets we weren’t supposed to know.
Talk about a stressful time of life! In explaining all these secrets, which I now know were total fabrications of half-truths, my counselors still never forgot to remind us all how our success in life depended purely on this and this alone!
Again, lies.
Once the decisions finally came, I was content with the results. Despite some decisions that simply must have been rather lengthy typos, I was humbled to be accepted to NYU, Carnegie Mellon, Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh.
Excited to attend a prestigious university, I bragged and began wearing college T-shirts habitually. NYU topped the list personally.
Once the financial aid packages arrived, I was horrified because I knew there was no way my family could afford either NYU or Carnegie Mellon. Even the state schools were a stretch.
Sadly, this is nothing less than commonplace for almost all families in our country.
Now as $50,000 price tags become the yearly standard on many private universities, the stress on the American family and our younger generation is impossible to handle. Countless students of my graduating high school class are knowingly attending college while developing amounts of debt most people take lifetimes to accumulate… and think nothing of it.
My generation is under the impression that the only chance of success in life is with a college degree and, to an extent, we are right. So as tuitions for colleges continue to skyrocket, and our economy continues to plummet, our government will have to save the day, right?
If you think the presidential candidates, or any of our legislators, recognize this as a sizeable issue facing our nation, you may be right. But if you think they are going to do a thing about it, you are sadly mistaken. Both Sens. Clinton and Obama offer similar proposals to solve the tuition crisis: tax credits that make the first $3,500 or $4,000, respectively, of your college tuition virtually free.
Considering a simple, four-year college education (which guarantees relatively little in the realm of high paying careers) costs anywhere between $50,000 and $200,000, I speak on behalf of my generation and the families financing their education in saying this is unacceptable. Sen. McCain and Gov. Huckabee do not have any formal stance or proposal on the tuition crisis.
It is my opinion that the purpose of politics is to preserve and better our nation’s future generations, so how about we stop legislating morals and start solving problems that face our nation?
You may be wondering where I ended up in my college debacle. I am lucky enough to have a father who works at a local community college, so I chose to go there for my first two years free of charge. Most of my peers are not nearly as lucky.
As for where I will finish my bachelor’s degree, the leading school I am looking into is in Montreal, Canada, because it is significantly cheaper than prestigious schools in this country.
America needs to act quickly on the tuition crisis, or else my generation and generations to come are going to be forced to outsource their education.

The Youth Vote

2008-02-26T12:27:00.000-08:00

I cannot tell you how many times I have been told that my interest in politics is a waste of time. From parents to peers to professors, they all said the same thing: the government is what it is, and there is no way to change it, especially at your age!
As a politically motivated middle-school student, (and let me tell you, it was a rare breed) I could not figure out what to do for the ever-telling school Career Day. It was my understanding that my entire professional future relied on this day.
Naturally, I approached my parents with my dilemma. Both artists, they gave me wise advice: “Whatever you do, if you want to make money, don’t be an artist.”
Even at my young age, that was common sense. Knowing I enjoyed politics, with the deadline approaching, I contacted my local congressman via his online suggestion box with a plea to visit him for Career Day. To my surprise, his office responded and they said I was permitted to follow Congressman Greenwood all day.
I couldn’t believe it!
For some reason, my middle school friends were not as ecstatic as I was.
I remember two things from that day with Congressman Greenwood: his inability to stop calling me Alfred and his informing me of the Congressional Page Program.
Needless to say, I focused more heavily on the latter. Never letting that dream out of my head, I became a Congressional Page in my junior year and still, for some reason, my then high school friends remained unenthusiastic about my political life. As I left high school and entered college, I began to accept that my passion for politics was never going to ever be accepted by my peers, but by no means will that slow me down.
I started writing this column because day after day, I read newspapers without ever seeing the views of my generation represented, and without strikingly important questions ever being asked, let alone answered. Considering the entire purpose of politics is to preserve our nation and its integrity for generations to come, I see it as more than appropriate to hear what the youth have to say.
I recently braved the cold to travel up to New Hampshire to witness the "first in the nation" primary. From rallies to the debates and forums to the streets, I was perplexed at the lack of substance of the political circus going on around me. There were, however, more than enough clowns.
At more than one campaign event I witnessed frantic campaign aides removing empty chairs so that the room would appear more crowded to the cameras.
On more than one street corner, I failed to achieve coherent definitions of health care from scores of supporters representing every side of the aisle.
When I ventured to see a “public debate" I couldn’t help but notice that the audiences were bused in by the respective campaigns, and I could not turn left (or right, to be politically fair) without police questioning where I was going, what I was doing, and why someone my age would be interested in politics.
I do not know about you, but I think our elections ought to be open for discussion, and our candidates ought to be open for questioning! I would like to see a debate during which candidates are allowed to actually speak to each other. I would like to see an election out of the hands of the media!
As an increasingly significant presidential election approaches, I want to see the candidates being asked real questions, and giving real answers. But in the end, that is entirely up to you.