What follows below is a guest post by a 17-year-old high school student who has been actively canvassing and doing precinct walking in his neighborhood. More young people should be taking up this example. I thought his story should be shared.
Guest Post by Jacob Revers--
Its not only because I recently started a political club at my school that I volunteered to canvass, but because I really wanted to see who, in this country of 100% media saturation, could truly be what strategists call "an undecided". Honestly, I really did not believe there were any. I think there are people who claim to be undecided because it gives them a little extra attention and might even land them a plum spot on a televised focus group; but I'm calling baloney on anyone who in the last year really tries to say they are actually undecided. Some said they were "waiting for the debates" but then the only arguments they made were absolutely partisan, and nothing related to what they might have gleaned had they actually paid attention to the content of the debates.
So I walked, and rang doorbells and knocked and listened, and handed out brochures and delivered lawn signs and listened and walked some more. And I found the undecideds! They're all on my facebook page. Sorry friends, but our generation is pathetic. We are the undecideds because we haven't decided whether or not we are going to engage in society. Trust me. While a few post funny clips of Romney rapping or Chris Rock telling "white folk" that Obama is the white mom-jeans-wearing president for them. If I post anything mildly thought-provoking I get zip. If I post anything that is more generic I get bombarded with ignorant rants that just show us to be completely checked out. I know we are considered the couch potato generation but I really thought that was undeserved. Now I think its actually worse. And with all the talk about how adults have spent our future savings...how does this not cause a revolt? I'll tell you why, because we are the undecideds. Uninformed, uninterested and perfectly content.
While banging on doors in nearby towns whose streets became a dizzying maze I walked, with retired teachers, retired lawyers, retired pharmacists and even a retired mayor. The point is, no one of working or largely taxpaying age. And behind those doors, many kids answered; kids whose eyes glazed over when I tried to talk to them and whose parents it seems, were perfectly informed, civic-minded individuals. So to the candidates of 2016 and beyond: I've got your undecideds. And I wish you luck with that.
Written by:
Jacob Revers, High School Junior, Deer Island, Florida
You can follow Jacob on Facebook and on Twitter.