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Thursday, December 02, 2010

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Slmsegal

a few of the speakers' remarks that got attention:

Pat Schroeder: It costs $4 million to run for U.S. Congress - and that has to be raised that every 2 years! Big money is creating a systemic shift in democracy - lobbyists rule.

Terri Fine: We need to redefine political activism. U30 do have the skills - they are just using them in new social media formats, not necessarily defined as "political."

Laura Berk:
In the Nov 2010 election, students received no daily posts or online reminders. For many busy U24s, the elections/voting day snuck up on them unaware.

Where do students get their news? Not from daily TV or newspapers - but from Facebook, Twitter, apps for iPhone or Ipad.

All speakers agreed that the number/percentage of women in elected office/politics is still not where it should be. Catching up could take years.

Slmsegal

Thanks, Terri Fine, for these notes about your comments:

- on voter engagement/awareness:
In 2008, 8 million Floridians voted for president, but only 7 million Floridians voted on Amendment 2 - a Florida Constitutional amendment ("marriage amendment").

This information was cited in USA Today soon after the election and is likely available on the Florida Department of State Division of Elections site.

- on civic participation:
The scholarship, based on work by scholar Russell Dalton (a key scholar in the field), argues that:

Older citizens look at citizenship, and thus interact with the political system, based on a sense of duty: voting, paying taxes, serving on jury, etc. These activities are government determined - the government determines when/where elections take place as well as the rules (i.e. primary or caucus? early voting? registration requirements?)

Younger citizens look at citizenship through the lens that Dalton calls "engaged citizenship" and determine for themselves what and how they will engage with their government and society. These activities are more likely to include working for causes through volunteerism (i.e.
alternative spring break), raising awareness about the powerless (i.e.
Food not Bombs, activism around the crisis in Darfur, etc.) and
extensive interaction through technology/Internet.

The text from which Fine gathered this information is called The Good
Citizen, by Russell Dalton.

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