Why campaign?

As a young person involved in politics, I receive many mixed reactions from people as I explain what I do and why I do it. Usually the expected response is “oh, wow! That’s great you’re so involved!” but it’s not uncommon to meet suspicion, questioning and sometimes ridicule as well. Of course you know, young people are so wrapped up in fun, games and frivolous things, that when someone under the age of 20 expresses an interest in big words such as government and legislature the first thing any sane adult does is wonder “what is wrong with that kid?

So what is it that makes teens campaign? Why are we seeing a growing number of young people working at a grassroots level for candidates? Obviously since teens care only about partying, it must be that the parents are forcing (i.e. pushing, telling, abusing) their kids to do slave labor for someone they couldn’t care less about.

Well, maybe if we’re talking about teens from public schools; they truly would feel as if campaigning for someone in the government or legislature would be abuse. However, it’s not teens attending public schools that are in question here (partly to fault because they simply have no time or freedom to volunteer). The explosion of young people we see going door to door, making phone calls and waving signs are largely homeschoolers.

As a homeschool graduate, I see these as the key reasons why teens like myself campaign:

We have the time

Homeschoolers have the flexibility and freedom to help a candidate when public schoolers may not

We have the energy

We’re young. We get restless. Having contests to see which team can get their literature drops done first; dancing and yelling at intersections with signs, making phone calls; it challenges us and gives us something to do where we can actually see our efforts directly impacting our culture.

We make friends

Simply the fact that we’re a group of peers with the same likes and dislikes, doing the same thing, makes an activity fun. The memories made on a campaign were not so great because of the work but more because of the people. I have never worked on a campaign where a teen was not there voluntarily and had a blast making new friends (and eating the great meals served!).

We care

Parents think their kids don’t care about culture, world issues, or politics. In our government schools, this is often the case. However, homeschoolers are taught up front by their parents that what happens in our legislature directly affects us, and that we have a duty to be involved and apply a biblical worldview to every area of our lives. We care, and this is what scares the secularists in our nation.

Our parents care

When we see our parents discussing the election, voting, and being involved, it’s not unnatural for us to pay attention to the same issues. Children follow in their parent’s footsteps and have many of the same priorities, and that’s where many parents fail in our nation today.

As of this summer my sister and I have been recruiting young people to campaign for Beau McCoy, a conservative homeschool graduate running for Legislature in Omaha’s District 39. Having been impressed with his honesty and conservatism on the issues, we have devoted more time to his campaign than any other we’ve worked on so far, working in part as coordinators with the newly created Political Action Committee of Omaha.

Recently the liberal site “New Nebraska Network” posted an article on Beau McCoy questioning the many young people working on his campaign, again asking the inevitable question; why ever do young people campaign?

“One of the great peculiarities of this race is the involvement of the home schooling movement on McCoy's behalf. McCoy is actually a product of home schooling, and they're evidently looking to get him elected so he might champion their cause in the legislature.”

As if it’s not bad enough that McCoy is a “product” of homeschooling, now he even has homeschool teens helping on his campaign! I think it is fair to say that we are electing him to “champion” our cause in the Legislature; if that means protecting our constitutional right to homeschool without restriction or harassment. (See my post “Declaration of War")

“This development becomes a little bit disturbing, though, in light of this PACs suspect efforts to recruit home schooled children as free labor for the McCoy campaign. When young people get involved of their own volition, as a step in developing their own political consciousness, that's a definite benefit to our democracy. But, where this involvement might cross the line into their school curriculum - dictated by parents pursuing their own political purposes - one starts to get a sense of why so many have such serious doubts about the quality and integrity of home school education.”

Of course when the Political Action Committee would consider asking teens to participate it is interpreted as an evil intention to force children to campaign against their will. This is a completely false and unfounded assumption. My sister and I as young adults ourselves have spearheaded a large part of the effort to bring specifically young people into Beau McCoy’s campaign, and not once have I met or worked with a teen on the campaign who was “forced” or unwilling to volunteer. This is an idea for teens, by teens. We work together, and it’s ultimately friends and peers, not parents, who get the fun-seeking, party-going kids out on the campaign trail.

The article on New Nebraska (which, remarkably, has everything to say about what Republicans do wrong, and little to say about what Democrats do right) ends with this quote;

“Regardless, even with a whole army of home schooled children "volunteering" for McCoy, this is still going to be a very close race. If the primary attacks on Moats are any indication, it's also going to get rather ugly from here on out.”

While each energetic and excited teen does an amazing part in campaigning, I am confident because it is not the army that wins a battle, but the God who goes before them. If the Lord is pleased with our efforts, and with the intents of our hearts, He will cause Beau McCoy to win on November 4^th, teens or no teens.

Just be sure to honk for McCoy when you see all us of slave laborers dancing on the street corners.