Voices of the Unheard Voters, Shaping the Youths’ Political Perspectives

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Recommended: Role of youth in our country

Over the recent decades, the youth’s participation in electoral politics has been inconsistent and historically low based on statistics. In a survey conducted by The California Voter Foundation found in 2004 that non-voters consists of significant numbers of young, single and less educated people. In our general political history, the youth’s real participation in decision-making is often denied because of certain qualities attributed to them. These media-painted generalizations and societal representation of the youth such as lack of knowledge or experience, lackadaisical in terms of social and critical issues like in politics may be one of the reasons of the decreased political participation of our young people. These provide the youth the idea that their vote will not make any difference. However, through the help of the emerging organizations in this era who trust and educate the youth about politics, our today’s young generation continues to prove that they are important characters in the entire political scene. This implies that instead of disenfranchising the youth in the decision-making process, it is very important to provide them a room to grow politically and consider the need for investment in cultivating their political interest to get their mature participation in the political sphere.

Our youth need to feel that they are part of the solution and not as part of the problem. Often times, the social rejection and political exclusion that our youth experiences lead them to rally together and fight for their beliefs and privileges. “Without successful DDR (Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration), access to education or jobs, and opportunities to have their voices heard in the reconstruction process, young people can...

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...rsglobal.org/Final - Youth and Politics.pdf,

The California Voter Foundation (CVF), “First-of-its-kind survey reveals attitudes of Califonia’s Infrequent voters & Non-voters”, Web. 15 October 2004, 13 March 2011, http://www.calvoter.org/news/releases/101504release.html

The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, Web. n.d., 13 March 2011, http://www.civicyouth.org/youth-turnout-about-20-comparable-to-recent-midterm-years/

Wimsatt, Billy, Please Don’t Bomb the Suburb: A Midterm Report on My Generation and the Future of Our Super Movement, Akashic Books, 2010

Youth Play a Positive Role in Post-Conflict Reconstruction, New Book Outlines Approaches to Youth Transition from War to Peace”, United States Institute of Peace, n.d. Web. 13 March 2011, http://www.usip.org/newsroom/news/youth-play-positive-role-in-post-conflict-reconstruction,

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