Youth sound off on politics, past, present and future
By Erin Bozek-Jarvis, 15 and Ben Harris, 14

A year ago the U.S. Presidential election showed America, and the world, the power and impact young people could have. Young people not only voted in record numbers, but also seemed more aware and active than years before.
Many people who participated in the election were under eighteen and unable to vote. Despite their age, these youth formed opinions and views equivalent to many citizens much older and experienced. Recently, three fifteen-year-old high school sophomores, Aryana Seiple-Welch, Katie Liubakka and Jed Johnson, all of Marquette, discussed the election, current issues, and what affects the political choices of today might have on their personal future and their political outlook for 2012.

8-18 Media: What were your thoughts on the outcome of the 2008 elections, specifically the presidential election and what it means for your future?

Seiple-Welch: I was really happy with the outcome because I was in support of Barack Obama. Even outside of the presidential election, with the Democratic majority and in some of the local and state elections, I was quite pleased…more so than in past years.

Liubakka: I was not a happy camper. My thoughts on the future of America is that with Obama it’s going down the tubes.

Johnson: At first I was sad, but then I realized that Obama might be a good thing for this country since he provides hope for a lot of different people.

8-18 Media: The biggest domestic issue currently is health care. Many critics of the proposed bills are citing that it will cost too much for “the children,” or us in other words, in the future. As “the Children,” what do you think about health insurance reform and what affects it would have on your futures, if passed.

Seiple-Welch: I think if they are worried about there being too much of a tax on us...that it’s going to cripple us financially because the taxes are going to be too high to provide health care, first, we’re already going to have huge, horrendous taxes because of massive amounts of debt our country went into because of the Iraq War, which was put in by the Bush Administration, and second, we already pay for a health care system, we pay for Medicare and Medicaid. Many of the people paying for it aren’t even eligible for it so they are paying for a system they are not eligible for. It’s a system that runs really inefficiently to the point where I believe it really does need to be fixed so that even if we don’t end up with coverage for everyone, there is a more efficient use of the money for the people who do get the coverage.

Liubakka: I believe that the health care reform is not something that I want in the United States. When you look at the border cities, like around Canada, they have nationalized health care and yet you find their citizens in our hospitals. Why can’t they go to their hospitals if their health care is so fantastic? So I don't understand that. Also, I don't understand why I should be paying for other people's insurance if I have insurance myself.

Johnson: I think that if Obama succeeds with his health care reform that it would be the worse thing for this country because I believe if health care were nationalized people would not take responsibility for their own health and be smoking more and drinking more and causing more problems for their own health since they do not have to pay for it. People that can't afford health insurance need to take the initiative to stay healthy. I'm perfectly satisfied with my health insurance right now and I think the doctors across this country would greatly suffer if health care were to be reformed.

8-18 Media: What are your thoughts on the United States foreign policies and our standing in the world now that we've been under the Obama Administration for abouit a year?

Seiple-Welch: You hear people say that we're falling in the standings, but I don't choose to view it that way because I don't think that it's that we're falling. We're not the top anymore but I think instead of the fall of America, I think a lot of other countries are improving and we shouldn't expect to always be, like, dominant and be able to step into a situation and be like, no, this is how you're going to run your country. Listen to what we tell you to do. I think there is a point where we are standing there and trying to protect basic human rights and we take it too far and it's not our business. I think Obama being elected improved how other countries view us because we're no longer 200 years of same old white men. To actually show that this country that is supposedly so accepting and based on democracy for all actually is showing diversity in their leaders. I think he is received much better by so much of the world that it puts us in a much better position to function with other countries and to not be just such a stereotype.

Liubakka: On Aryana's thing about being diverse, yes, I think that is good, but I was never shown proper documentation that Obama was a United States citizen and I think that the Republicans should have pushed that more because right now I still question that. I think that when Obama pulls us out of Iraq that it will show that you can do whatever you want to America because we're not going to fight back. I think that our foreign policy may be getting better because I think Democrats might be better at relating to the other countries than the Republicans are because the Republicans are very strict on what we believe, but I think that America shouldn't give up our true, core values to make other countries view us better.

Johnson: I think that it was a good thing that Obama was elected so we have a better standing in the world, but I am really disappointed that America isn't the top anymore. We should begin to adopt policies that other foreign countries have such as in the E.U., like Finland and Sweden and countries like that. By improving our education and things like that and we definitely need to regain our status and not pull out of Iraq because that will show that major weakness.

8-18 Media: When you vote in 2012, what do you think the political atmosphere will be like?

Seiple-Welch: I think that for people who choose to look at the positives of the Obama Administration and not only focus on what they view to be the negatives it will be a positive atmosphere. By 2012 I will be old enough to vote and unless something in the party goes horribly wrong I plan to vote Democrat.

Liubakka: I think in 2012, or at least I hope in 2012, America will see that they elected a horrible person to represent our country and I can tell you that unless Obama turns pro-life and anti health care reform I will not be voting for Obama.

Johnson: I think that once we've recovered from what Bush did that America will be more welcoming for a Republican candidate, but if we do have a very bad Republican candidate then I plan to vote for Obama because he seems to be doing some good for this country's economy but some of his policies really bother me.

8-18 Media: This past election, unlike any other past election, saw a huge involvement by young people who were more aware of it. What do you think caused that and will it keep increasing or decline?

Seiple-Welch: I think mostly because, for once, there was a candidate who in some ways normal people could relate to. It wasn't, you know, just another old politics, Caucasian male who was raised well and did the whole law school, Congress, Senate...whatever...track. Someone who actually came from a level that people can really relate to. Seeing something in common and not seeing this person who, as an individual, is so different from yourself or anyone you know. Someone you actually want to support as a person, not only as their political opinion.

Liubakka: I disagree with Aryana. Not everybody supported Obama so why would they be involved in the election if they did not support Obama? Not just because they were dealing with a non-Caucasian old guy. What made me become more aware is that this year a lot of things have happened and a lot of things that will happen in my future are being affected and we needed to vote for the person that we thought would deal with those issues and fix those issues. I became more aware so that I would know who the best candidate was and I could support them and go out and tell people why I support them.

Johnson: I think that Obama's a very young and dynamic president and so he would get a lot of young people's support, but also I think that people paid a lot of attention that that election because there was absolutely outrageous media coverage of Obama. I mean nobody was so concerned about Bush's Blackberry or Bush's dog...or whoever...and so we all got thinking about Obama and I really think it was some kind of propaganda technique so we would be thinking, Obama, Obama, Obama.

8-18 Media: Will you become more involved in elections in the future?

Seiple-Welch: I will definitely continue to volunteer and be involved in the elections and try to make a difference and get the correct people in office who will make good decisions that will actually improve our country and not be holding us back.

Liubakka: I will stay involved. I am a young person who cares about my future and has a lot of strong opinions on what our country's values should be. I will vote the person into office that I think will uphold the American values that our country was founded on, and that we became the number one nation on, that we are now drifting away from and turning into a not-number-one-nation.

Johnson: I don't think that I will become particularly involved in volunteering but I will definitely vote for the person I think is the best candidate. If the person I vote for does not get in office I will just have to continue pointing out the horrible decisions that they make.