CITIZENSHIP

Alexis de Tocqueville called it the “great American experiment” but citizens always put our “great American democracy” at the top of the list when boasting about our nation. Yet, too often citizens forget that universal adult suffrage was not initially the case and ignore their most basic civic duty. Citizens should never take their right to vote for granted and should always vote and encourage others to vote – especially young citizens.

Originally (and shamefully) the landless, African-Americans and women were denied the right to vote. Yet when they gained this right, these groups voted in ever-increasing percentages. It was not until 1972 that universal suffrage was extended to all adult American citizens when the voting age was lowered to eighteen. It was a long and arduous process.

Jennings Randolph is regarded as the “father” of the 26th Amendment, (which lowered the voting age), and first made this proposal as a member of the U.S. House in 1942. Mr. Randolph argued, “I believe that our young people possess a great social conscience, are perplexed by the injustices which exist in the world and are anxious to rectify those ills.” As the “GI Generation” marched off to fight and die in WWII, 25% of the Army, 37% of the Navy and 50% of the Marines were too young to vote.

In 1972, the issues were similar to those debated thirty years earlier. The “GI Generation” looked to the youth for intelligence, courage, candor, enthusiasm like they were looked to decades earlier. This hope was enunciated by U.S. Sen. Michael Mansfield, "If it is to be a better nation and a better world…the youth of today will make it so.” And young men too young to vote were being drafted to fight in the Viet Nam War. The “GI Generation” would not allow their children to suffer the injustice they experienced and, as a result, the 26th Amendment was ratified in record time, 3 months and 7 days.

In 1972, a record percentage (about 50%) of young adults voted. But unlike other newly-enfranchised groups, youth voting has not increased but declined. In 2000, about 25% of this group voted. Election officials and academics are concerned about this decline – a “Great Democracy” must have participation by definition. And, Municipal Clerks study how this trend can be reversed.

Great efforts have been made by celebrity rockers, rappers and wrestlers with mixed results. Most famously, Rock the Vote has been largely ineffective since its founding 14 years ago. Recently, at a Hip-Hop Summit event celebrity rappers confessed that they were not even registered to vote. Conversely, WWE fans smacked down their votes and elected a Minnesota Governor. Celebrity efforts often fail because youth can see through all the phonies.

What works is an inter-generational commitment. Seniors teaching our youth the responsibilities of citizenship, youth engaged in public service with older citizens. At the turn of the century, nearly 80% of American citizens voted. One jurisdiction that still achieves this rate attributes their success to parents taking their kids to the polls.

We need our youth to be engaged in our great American Democracy. The youth of today are the children of the Baby Boomers. They have their parent’s sense of social conscience but they are less likely to smoke, drink booze, get pregnant or do drugs. And, they are more inclined to do volunteer community service than they are to vote. We need them; we need their hope, their energy, their ability to see through phonies, we need to teach them.

Nearly one hundred years ago, President Wilson encouraged citizenship to be taught from one generation to the next. The “Civics” classes of decades ago are almost nonexistent. Consequently, the greatness of our American democracy depends on the willingness and ability of Boomers to teach, engage and challenge their children to accept voting as the first duty of citizenship and not as a societal choice.