In case you haven’t figured it out, I’m a little interested in politics. I enjoy political theory and find U.S. Senate debates fascinating. When choosing a college last spring, I actually considered whether I would be in a swing state in the 2016 presidential race or if the 2014 midterms would be close. Obviously, it didn’t factor in too much since I chose the most liberal state in the nation (although you guys did elect Scott Brown somehow — let’s not forget about that).
You would think being surrounded by all these fine left-leaning people would make me really anxious to get involved on campus and around the city, but I didn’t. I mean, come on, it’s not like there was a huge mayoral race that’s been shaping up for months that would surely accept my unpaid slave labor! Oh, wait … all my brand new college friends and I haven’t gotten involved in local politics, and this is a problem that needs to end now.
This is not a BU problem. Heck, it’s not even a youth problem. As a nation, we seem to summarily dismiss the importance of local politics. Now before you run to the comment section to post your angry rant about how I’m making a superficial generalization and that none of this applies to you, I would like to concede that I’m making a superficial generalization that does not apply to some people. In fact, if you’re reading this column, it probably doesn’t apply to you. However, there are plenty of people to whom this does apply, and we need to change that.
Perhaps you’re wondering why? Everyone’s voice should matter in politics, and one of the best ways to ensure that is to work for a campaign at some point. Yes, your candidate might lose, but as least you were willing to get up, shut off the “Friends” rerun and actually do something. That’s already more productive than my entire Halloweekend.
Building off that last point, we also live in a society built around a democracy, and the ideal democracy is one where everyone votes and shares their opinions. Now, I’m not ready to listen to 300 million people spew hot air about politics. Imagine trying to fit all those citizens into the Capitol building.
To top all of this off, the reason college students should get involved is because politicians already write us off as uninterested, especially at the local level. They simply assume that anyone under the age of 25 will not show up to the polls. Because of this, they don’t spend nearly as much time catering to students as they do to, say, anyone over 65.
Additionally, they won’t legislate or govern to change things that will appeal to younger voters. This makes our government system inherently undemocratic because us crazy whippersnappers aren’t being represented as much as the cranky old guy who’s been voting since Franklin Delano Roosevelt was alive. It’s partially our own fault, but the politicians definitely perpetuate the issue.
I wish I had a good reason for not getting involved in the political scene here. As a city where everyone is a college student, Boston seems like such an excellent place to get my feet wet. Also, fun fact, guys: You can register to vote here in Boston even though this isn’t your permanent residence! You may have missed out on this election, but there will be plenty more where that came from. It makes sense to vote here. We live at BU for at least eight months of the year. The political atmosphere affects us.
We need to change how we view local politics. They affect us more than you could imagine. One reason the Tea Party movement in 2010 was so successful was because it was a grassroots movement. It started at the local level and, as it gained more support, it found a position on both the state and national stages.
Everything starts locally. Sure, it’s not as sexy as universal healthcare laws or massive tax cuts, but local governments take care of water, electricity and even filling potholes. It impacts our everyday lives, and yet we pay little to no attention to it because usually it doesn’t make the big newspapers. It’s not the leading story on the evening news. We have to decide to find out what is going on in local politics, rather than being spoon-fed by people like yours truly.
Push your friends to get involved. Write letters to your city councilors. Read up on the political scene in Boston. Care. Politics may be the most boring topic in the world to you, but you should still know what’s going on. Democracy operates on the idea of an informed citizen, so go be one.
Sara Ryan is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences studying political science and math. She can be reached at sryan15@bu.edu.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
