A Starting Point
Just before I turned 18, both of my parents decided it was time to give me ‘The Talk.’ Mom spent a good hour and a half trying to convince me that I needed to register Democrat, telling me all of the great values of her party. Dad did similarly, although he’s a moderate Republican to Mother’s thorough Democratic nature. Let’s just say that three hours of Partisanship 101 didn’t really help me decide. After all, exactly how much does your average 17-year-old care about income tax or water rights?
I told my grandmother that I was thinking about registering Independent, and she told me the one thing that decided the whole matter: in the state of Colorado, only Republicans hold primaries. It took a little bit more of an explanation of basic politics but I very quickly figured out that if I wanted more of a choice of who to vote for in elections, I wanted to vote in a primary — any primary.
The moral of this little story isn’t whether I voted Republican or Democratic, though. It’s that my required Civics class didn’t teach me one thing about how to vote, or why I should vote. I got my political education from people who wanted me to join their political party and vote their way. As fond as I am of Mom and Dad, our political values are worlds apart. I’m a big believer of non-partisan political education, and I’m here to dish a little up.
Tags: introduction, registerRelated Stories
POSTED IN: The US Political Process
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