Students give boost of optimism
Most Americans spend the fall of election years growing ever sicker of the political mudslinging and vitriol of modern politics.
The end of the campaign harkens the need for a bath. And hope for a reset that maybe, going forward, we find a better way. Right about now, we could all use a spark of optimism about our politics.
I see a glimpse of that hope visiting the Arizona State Capitol, as I do every December, to watch a couple hundred high schoolers introduce and debate bills on the actual floor of the state House and Senate.
I watch them grow their advocacy skills, learn the intricacies of legislative policymaking and perhaps most important, learn that those who have a different point of view aren’t evil.
Doing so makes me feel good about the future and is exactly the antidote I need at the end of the campaign season. Thank goodness the annual YMCA Youth and Government session is right around the corner.
On Dec. 2-4, the Arizona program will celebrate its 75th year. Over the years it has prepared thousands of young Arizonans in both state and local policymaking. At the annual state legislative session, students get elected as governor and other statewide offices, to the Senate and House, publish a newspaper and even lobby.
The bills they pass and which the youth governor signs aren’t just symbolic.
Bethany Lewis is a program alum who learned that as a homeschooler she was not eligible for an in-state student aid program called the Regents Scholarship.
As a youth legislator she introduced a bill to correct the issue. This bill was later considered and passed by the real Legislature and signed into law.
Alumni have also gone onto distinguished careers and community leadership. Sari Horwitz is a four-time Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for the Washington Post. Mo Elleithee is the executive director of Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service.
Lisa Atkins is the commissioner of the state Land Department. And countless others have gone onto serve as congressional and city hall staff. I was youth governor — and ran for Arizona governor 40 years later!
My own experience was illustrative. Gov. Jack Williams allowed me to use his ceremonial office as my own and invited me to review with him the bills we passed. State Senate President Bill Jacquin had me do so with the Legislature at large. I was hooked on a career in public service.
The YMCA does many wonderful things in our community, from sports leagues and swimming lessons to wellness classes and lifelong living skills. But the youth and government program is among its most valuable as it incubates future leaders and engaged citizens.
That’s the idea. The program’s theme is apt: “Democracy must be learned by each generation.” And former New York Gov. Al Smith was correct in saying that “the ills of democracy are cured by more democracy.”
I’ll be in the rafters again in December lifting my heart, rediscovering hope, and cheering on the students and the democracy they will be called upon to save.