Youth After November

On Last week’s episode of “The View” Whoopi Goldberg asked Senator John McCain a question that in my opinion was groundbreaking for those of us hoping the debate about youth will extend beyond the superficial question of whether or not they will vote in November.  

Whoopi observed that “We know now that technology has taken youth and involved them in the electorate in a way that has never happened before. We know that overseas, in countries where kids are nothing but repressed, technology has taken them and allowed them to change how things are being done in their countries.”  I liked this observation because it showed a deep understanding that the power of youth is more than just pulling the lever at the ballot box.

Noting this important phenomenon, Whoopi asked the Senator, “How are you going to engage young people who may or may not be disappointed by the outcome of this race? How are you going to engage them in this, the 21st or 22nd century? How are you going to engage them because you’ve sort of been vocal about it and it’s taken you a little while to get up to speed with it.”

Senator McCain answered, “First that I do is talk to my own kids, as you know from 17 -23, and older ones as well and go to venues that young people are on.  Whether it be on the internet, whether it be on this show, whether it be on Saturday Night Live. Go on programs that I know that young people will be involved. And also, have a website that they’re interested in.  Look, how many young people today get all of their information off of the internet?  And have something that’s in there. Our daughter, Meghan, who you were kind enough to have on, she has a blog that sometimes has more hits than our website does so we’re still workin’ on our website.  But we’ve got to understand where they get their information and knowledge and go in those areas.  And also, we’ve got to make sure that they know that their future is what this campaign is all about and putting America first is the first priority.”

Now, I look at this exchange as a big deal because as we have all seen, America is not the only place where youth are using technology to make an impact.  I am bothered by the media’s obsession with whether youth will vote in November or not, whether they will impact the outcome of the election or not; this is an interesting debate, but it is narrow.  The real debate is what will be the involvement of America’s youth after January?  How will America’s youth learn to be Ambassadors for their country and diplomats from their college dorm room.  Every American has the potential to be a brand maker for this great country.  Even more remarkable is the fact that they have the tools with their laptops, cell phones, and Internet.  What they don’t have is the ideas and the mechanisms to inspire them to do this.

I thought the exchange between Whoopi Goldberg and John McCain was the first instance where the right questions were being asked about youth.  Now the next step is, how do we keep these questions flowing? How do we challenge ourselves and our candidates to think beyond November?  Blogs are a great place to start generating ideas, so I encourage people to raise questions about what youth can do to improve America’s image in the world by raising these issues on their blogs, their facebook pages, through YouTube videos, or even through chatter with your friends!

Whoopi: So we can marry them to the rest of the world.