COLUMN: Youth vote has power to pressure politicians
The message is simple: Politicians understand they can afford to sacrifice the support of the youth with limited political consequences to their offices.
Last year the Thresher was saturated with letters from the Rice community bewailing student apathy and complaining about the political ignorance that is permitted to perpetuate at one of the country's leading universities.
However, few substantial improvements in the Rice community contribute to the national epidemic of political indifference from the generation known as X. With no lobbyists advocating Generation X, save campus political organizations such as Rice Young Democrats, the youth is an unrepresented faction.
Now, even such campus groups are in jeopardy with the proposed "campus gag rule": On Aug. 3, 1995, U.S. Congressmen E. Istook (R-Okla.) and G. Solomon (R-N.Y.) proposed an amendment to an education appropriations bill (H.R. 2127) that would prohibit all campus lobbying organizations by cutting off federal funds to institutions such as Rice that support such organizations.
This bill was voted down in the House but still threatens in the Senate.
Still, Congress conceived that ignoring student opinion could go unchallenged, signifying the legislature's disrespect for our power.
It is time to let our elected officials know that we will not stand for being overlooked as a force. We must prove we can harness the power we possess through responsible active voting!
The premise of a representative government resides on the power of the elected official to make decisions that will benefit the constituency that put him or her into office. In order to expect that these officials will make decisions that support the youth, the youth must play a role in the election process.
Politicians respond to the voters. However, according to the Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections, less than two out of every five 18-20-year-olds voted in 1992 compared with a 70 percent voter turnout in the over-45 age bracket. Average turnout drops to one quarter for midterm elections.
Realizing that the youth vote is negligible with respect to politicians maintaining their offices, they feel no obligation or pressures to appease student concerns. When conflicts of interest arise (as they often do in politics), the student is the most easily forgotten.
The bigger the voice you have in government, the more likely it will be heard. Big businesses, such as tobacco and oil, can control government by making vital contributions to election campaigns.
The representatives must reciprocate with measures that often neglect the interest of the youth. Tobacco ads aimed at children have been protected. It is the duty of the youth to defend the environment because we plan to live on this earth longer, but off-shore oil drilling and other terrors to the environment have been able to exist through the strong backing of the businesses behind them. Students, on the other hand, are being abandoned.
Last week the Thresher ran a letter from President Clinton in which he expressed his and the Democratic Party's concerns that the congressional majority is making drastic cuts in student aid. He cites that 360,000 low-income students will be denied Pell grants.
Furthermore, with the initiation of a tax on interest-free loans, the average increase in undergraduate education will be $3,100 and $9,400 for graduate students. Congress would pull the plug on Americorps, a youth initiative to serve the community in return for years of education. (For toll-free information on student aid cuts, call the hotline at 1-800-574-4AID).
In addition, Congress will save money and "invest in the future" by cutting out Goals 2000 and rejecting 180,000 more students from the Head Start program, legislation aimed against the working families. Last week the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, chaired by N. Kassebaum (R-Kan.), voted to cut $10.1 billion from student aid. Congress is voting on the cuts at the time of this printing.
It would be a real shame if the same students that complained last year that they had no time in their Rice schedule for worrying about matters of government now find that they have lost their financial aid or even their scholarships.
We need someone to challenge the Istook amendment; someone who will stand against the cuts on student aid and Americorps, stand up for the environment, for the teenage mother trying to go to school; we need people who will lead the fight for the interests of Generation X.
Because elected officials base decisions on the responses they will get, we must prove to them that we merit their support. The first step is to register to vote.
The deadline to register in Texas for the next election is Oct. 8.
If you are going to vote absentee ballot, the deadlines for applications are approaching. Responsible voting involves taking the time to learn what the candidates stand for and how their ideals correspond with your ideals.
Finally, make sure that if you vote, your representative knows it. Make sure you call and write to your representative every time there is an issue that you feel strongly about. Every call is carefully documented in a file with your name. Politicians know who is making a difference.
To increase your sphere of influence, work on a campaign or get involved on campus.
And if you do plan to get involved on campus, do it immediately because without your power, the "campus gag rule" might silence all our power.
The Rice Young Democrats meet at 6 p.m. in the Hanszen College commons on alternate Wednesdays. The next meeting will be October 11.
This item appeared in the Opinion section of the October 6, 1995 issue.
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