Fighting off generation apathy

A little bit of everything today my people. I got back in from DC yesterday afternoon, bleary eyed as hell after 4 days of arguing, debating, and staying up too late. No, it wasn't a flashback to York Hall. Nope, I was engaging in the political process. Every year, representatives of the programs I work for come from every state, and many islands, to DC. We meet for three days, combing leadership training with political analysis (by actual experts, not me.) On the fourth day, we go to the hill and meet with our legislators, bringing alumni from programs, as well as key issues affecting us. It's an exhausting yet rewarding experience, that in my case gives me some much needed faith in the political process, while still souring me on parts of the process. I talk enough about the politics of things that bother me though, so today is going to be in the vein of John's Notpocalypse.

The visits
In Maine, we are lucky when it comes to the programs that I work for. All of our members of Congress are big supporters of our programs, especially Senator Collins, who has been a big voice in maintaining our status after the budget cuts of the past few years. This year, she is co-sponsoring a letter once again, this time asking for an increase to help make up for the flat funding of the last years. During our visit she was on the floor, defending a bill. Her staff brought us down to the little room adjascent to the Senate Hearing room (this is the room you see in C-Span as you channel surf), and she took the time to come in and talk to us for a bit. Say what you want about any legislator, but it's amazing how fast they have to shift gears. Within 15 minutes, Senator Collins was having detailed conversations about rights for Firefighters, education issues for low-income students, and immigration rights. (Coherently no less.) Needless to say, I can't ever write a three paragraph blog entry coherently.

One other thing that was impressive about the visits was how relatively easy they were to schedule. In Maine anyways. Some other states tell of getting the run around, or having never met with their legislators. For us, it was simply a matter of calling up the office and asking nicely. When they weren't as familiar with us, they asked for more information first. That seems fair. The whole time we were in the offices, there was a constant stream of people. Some were basically lobbyists, like us, but others were families visiting from Maine or aides from other offices. Without fail, everyone was dealt with at the least politely.

The Aides
One of the most impressive things about visiting the offices of any legislator, is the aides. Generally, they range in age from 20 - 25. There are usually an aid or two that are a bit older, like the Chief of Staffs and that sort. Still, the average age has to be under 25. They work crazy hours, and get paid next to nothing. (Especially when you take into account that they live in DC, one of if not the most expensive cities in the US.)

And you know what? They all seem to love their jobs. Sure, it looks good on a law school application to have worked in a Senators office. But that alone couldn't explain it. Most of these people excelled in college, and could most likely get any job or into most schools. Many, I'm sure, are interested in eventually running for an office themselves. In talking to one of the aides, it was very interesting. She was talking about how she liked working on the education issues, because it was exciting. Exciting to work on important issues.

Could it be that it's not our whole generation that's suffering from apathy? Watching the aides in the offices, and the other young people that were out, like myself, lobbying for education issues, while on vacation time, I felt, for just a moment like there might be some hope for our future. Not a ton of hope maybe, but even the slightest glimmer of hope is an improvement for me.