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Young independents, republicans, and dems up close
August 27, 2012
Evan Kenney, 18, Wakefield, MA
by Hrishi Deshpande, 17, Y-Press
Evan Kenney has been engaging in political debates with his teachers since age 12. Earlier this year, despite having no previous political experience, he campaigned to be a member of the Massachusetts delegation to the Republican National Convention, running as a Ron Paul supporter. Much to his surprise, he was elected, beating out such established politicians as former Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker.
However, the delegate allocation committee stripped Kenney and 16 other Ron Paul supporters of their elected positions, although they signed affidavits pledging their support to the presumptive nominee, Mitt Romney. The allocation committee argued that the Romney campaign ordered the change, while the Romney camp pointed the finger at the allocation committee.
After testifying before the RNC credentials committee in Tampa, Kenney was awarded his delegate seat five days before the convention. Four other former Paul supporters were reinstated as delegates or alternate delegates.
What issue do you think is the most pressing for our country today and why?
I have two. I want to see an audit of the Federal Reserve because there is no transparency right now in our monetary policy. Our debt is just like over $15 trillion? It’s unsustainable. An equally important issue is bringing the troops home. I’m a common-sense Republican. I just want to see my troops home, defending our country, not defending Pakistan’s borders or Iraq’s borders. I don’t even know what they’re doing over there, but it’s not defending our freedom right now. According to researchers, the youth voter turnout increased in 2004 and 2008. However, a lot of polls predict that fewer youth are expected to turn out for this year’s election.
Why do you think that is?
Well there are no candidates that really excite the youth right now. I mean, Ron Paul was the candidate that excited the youth this cycle, and Barack Obama, you know, last cycle was the one who did excite the youth. It was really cool to see this young, charismatic guy, who was talking about change from the Bush era, which is fine, I want change from the Bush era. But we’ve seen four years of Barack Obama and we know that he’s not doing anything different than George Bush did, except it’s more extreme.
What do you plan to do as we get closer to the November election?
I am totally open to the idea of voting for Mitt Romney. I just need to see him embrace the right things. I need to see him embrace grassroots activism. their 12 points to make Congress work, and it’s basically what it says: If Congress does not pass a budget, then there’s no pay, then the Congressmen don’t get paid. Do you know we have not passed a successfully balanced budget in 40 years? It’s all because the conservatives won’t like compromise on defense spending and the liberals won’t compromise on Social Security.
Sean Harrington, 19, Arlington, MA
by Max Gabovich, 19, Y-Press
Sean Harrington has an impressive political resume, having served in the Young Republicans and Teenage Republicans, and in multiple local, state, and national campaigns and organizations. Most recently, he was ele
cted chairman of the Arlington Republican Town Committee, making him the youngest committee chair in the state of Massachusetts.
Sean says that he was inspired to get politically involved after reading a biography of Calvin Coolidge, the former president and Massachusetts governor, who became involved in politics becausehe felt it was hiscivic duty. “He basically was a man you wouldn’t expect to be in politics. He was very quiet, very to himself,” he said.
What do the Teenage Republicans do?
Teenage Republicans, in my opinion, help connect young conservatives with each other. They give them good tools to campaign, to organize, to know what it’s like to be in campaigns and to be members of Republican county committees or city committees and town committees, depending on where you are and the systems that you have in your state. They get you in contact with your state parties, which is really helpful. You get to meet a lot of interesting people. A lot of really amazing congressmen, senators, governors and political activists have been Teenage Republicans before and that’s where they got their start. So it’s a great opportunity for any conservative-minded teen, or Republican teen, to become active.
What do you consider your biggest success as a Republican?
My biggest personal success was getting the Pledge of Allegiance in every classroom in Arlington High School. It was a really amazing accomplishment because for over 30 years we didn’t have the Pledge of Allegiance at my high school, and there are students at elementary schools who didn’t even know the words to the Pledge of Allegiance, which was really troubling to me. I thought that was terrible.
What advice would you give to other kids who want to get involved in politics?
I think the most important thing is, just be informed. Don’t take everything I say for granted. Don’t take what Obama says for granted. Don’t take what Romney says for granted. Don’t allow yourselves to do that. Look into what they’re saying. Research the topics that they’re talking about. Research the budgets. The best way to be an activist is to be informed.
Samina Hydery, 18, Albany, NY
by Hannah Zimet, 17, Y-Press
Samina Hydery has been a political enthusiast from a young age. In July 2011, she was elected National Chair of the High School Caucus, Young Democrats of America, which has 150,000 members from California to Puerto Rico.
Her responsibilities include recruiting and finding political opportunities for the membership.
“You don’t really see young people going after politics as their main extracurricular activity, but we’re trying to change that,” she said.
She will attend the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in the fall for a dual-degree in economics and political science.
What do you consider your biggest success?
I think our annual high school leadership program in July is one of our biggest accomplishments because it brings together about 40 exceptional, politically active high school students from across the country. So high school students are trained to be better political activists, not to mention that it is lots of fun. This year the program is more hands-on and students take away a wealth of knowledge that has to do with how to campaign. Also in the past we’ve had house briefings as part of the program. We’ve had roundtables between young Americans ( our academy students) and young Lebanese visitors. And we’ve even heard from minority leader Nancy Pelosi, so that’s probably the coolest thing.
Would you describe the issue that you think is most pressing for our country?
One thing is that we need to make sure that college is affordable so we need things like breaks on interest, loan forgiveness and loan refinancing opportunities. And I think that once young people are out of college, we’re always having trouble finding employment, so the second thing is increases in employment. And so this could be done by just making pledges to hire young people and making programs to help find employment.
Which presidential candidate would you most like to talk to and what would you want to discuss?
It’s a little hard because I am working for President Obama. However, I think it’d definitely be really interesting to talk to Mitt Romney and see where he stands on some issues because from his campaign, it seems he’s really not for young Americans. I think it’d be interesting to question his stances right now into that. Maybe he would even get the a-ha moment.
Huey Rey Fischer, 20 Rockport, Texas
by Greta Herbertz, 14, Y-Press
Huey Fischer hadn’t been involved in politics until he joined University Democrats at the University of Texas at Austin. He has not missed a meeting since, even being promoted to president. “I’ve gotten a lot of opportunities through my activism in the club, and it’s always been beneficial to students,” he said.
Besides his role with University Democrats, Huey has become involved in other political endeavors, including serving on Texas’s State Democratic Executive Committee as a representative from the Hispanic Caucus. The SDEC regulates the Democratic Party’s activities in Texas.
As for the national election, Huey believes that Obama will win. “I think we’re starting to see a lot of the baggage that Mitt Romney has, and that’s definitely coming out and playing a part in this election. I don’t think youth are going to get that enthused about Romney’s agenda.”
What issue do you think is most pressing for our country right now and why?
I mean right now the economy is more pressing for everybody in general. We really need to be on the road to recovery, and I think we are on the road to recovery with President Obama. That’s honestly the most pressing issue to students as a whole because right now the job market’s tough for after we graduate. And unemployment numbers are the highest for under 30 year olds. So I definitely think we need to see more progress along that front.
What would you say to young people who don’t think politics affect them?
I would ask them to look at their electric bill, you know, their utility bill. I would ask them to look at their financial aid. I mean, it affects so many different parts of our life that people just need to ask the question, “Well, why is this the way it is and why is that the way it is?” And usually, usually the answers lead to some politician and some vote.
Were you involved with the 2008 campaigns? And if you were, what has changed between these elections?
I wasn’t too involved. I was living in D.C. the fall of 2008. I was a page for Senator [Kay Bailey] Hutchison and we couldn’t really get involved in campaigns at that point. I do remember watching it and I do remember definitely supporting President Obama and the entire Democratic ticket. I believe what’s changed is that the stakes are not as high. We’ve made progress under the new president. We’ve passed so many reforms, so many new pieces of legislation over the past four years, and if we end up losing this election, we’ll start seeing the repeals of Obamacare, cutbacks on things like the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and things of that sort. I definitely don’t want to see the pendulum swing just yet. That’s definitely in the back of my mind.
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To get a youth perspective on the 2012 Presidential Elections, WKCD has teamed up with the youth-led news bureau, Y-Press, based in Indianapolis. Originally part of the Children’s Express, Y-Press has nurtured young journalists for more than 20 years. Their stories and articles—on local, national, and global topics—appear every other week in the Indianapolis Star. The Y-Press web site is updated regularly and encourages external submissions and comments about youth-written stories and reviews.
Here, Y-Press reporters will be posting: stories about the campaign, the candidates, and youth perspectives on the political process profiles and interviews with young political activists results from surveys they’ve created to gather information from youth nationwide about the candidates and the issues most important to young people reports from the floor at both of this summer’s national conventions. Check back often to keep up with this special “youth beat” on Election 2012.
