Almost every time I tell a friend or professor I hope to one day serve in elected office, the typical response is skepticism.
Why would you want to run for office when our political system is so broken? That seems like a waste of time and energy. I thought you cared about making a difference and dismantling the systems of power that have bred rampant inequality and reinforced racist, classist and xenophobic institutions.
When the best examples of political leadership in this country are the duo of Presidential candidates like Donald Trump who are the personification of a Facebook comment section and a pile of cash and the North Carolina General Assembly, which approved Thursday the most sweepingly bigoted legislation in recent memory, I too begin to question whether public service can be a service or only ever a hindrance to progress in this nation, whether in order to get to a position where you can enact change, you sacrifice your morals and humanity in the process.
Thursday’s ludicrous and unsettling legislative session in the General Assembly reminded me why more than ever that fight and aspiration are what is needed within our generation of leaders. If you’re as angered by the past week in North Carolina politics as I am, then it’s past time we do more than vote in elections.
It is time that our generation doesn’t just participate at the ballot box, but stands up and begins to run for office.
I love a protest, well-worded critique or witty hashtag as much as the next social justice warrior. My columns consistently cover current social justice issues and argue for a world that is more just, inclusive and decent. I have been asking myself why would I not aspire to become an activist, public intellectual, or the typical Duke investment banker or consultant, why public service through elected office is the path I wish to pursue. Particularly when that pathway requires becoming a part of a system that is inherently problematic, imperfect and exclusionary, the questions linger with little in the way of affirmative answers.
As much as organizations can protest and file court cases against unjust laws enacted by ideologues in suits, these efforts do little to change the fact that the people who have the power to dictate and create laws are the ones with the legislative mandate, the elected officials and public representatives. I am frankly tired of social media posts that argue we should vote out the leaders who create these kinds of backward laws because it fails to take into account the necessity of a better candidate to vote in.
If we want to boost participation in politics and voting amongst young people, then we need to begin to provide more examples of people who represent them, their interests, and values in elected office and build the future generation of our nation’s leaders who can steer our nation forward. That also means more people in our generation have to be willing to raise their hand to serve whether on a school board, city government or state-level legislative body.
When House Bill 2 was introduced, passed by both houses of the North Carolina General Assembly and signed by the Governor in a special legislative session Thursday with the ethics of a drunken bar brawl, I honestly wasn’t surprised. When a General Assembly member from my hometown of Emerald Isle described the law, which directly removes any form of protections against discrimination in North Carolina based on sexual orientation and gender identity, as “protecting‑not from a transgender, necessarily‑but from a predator” the citizens of the state, I wasn’t surprised. This is the state of our current politics and a political system that has been rigged by our general apathy and a deficiency of effective, morally courageous leaders.
The media portrays a false myth that young people do not care about politics nor have the power to begin to redefine the conversation in our nation. Movements like #BlackLivesMatter and the fervor of young people’s support for Bernie Sanders have begun to prove otherwise. Instead of always defending and responding to the next Donald Trump sound bite or state law that has stripped the rights and progress many fought and died for, our generation needs to recognize that we have the capacity to actively push for progress and to create a society built on love for all people in more ways than posts on social media.
It took a concerted effort by conservative financiers like the Koch brothers to slowly acquire control over state legislatures and governor’s houses around the nation. When our elected leaders use snowballs to deny climate change on the Senate floor, perpetuate myths about poverty and inequality in this country, openly argue for the patrolling of Muslim neighborhoods across America and categorically deny that racism, police brutality and racist policies exist, it is high time for a change. It will take a concerted effort to support and engage young leaders in getting involved in politics, to make the sacrifice of paycheck and at times sanity, but the fight for evidence-driven policy, socially just laws, and a politics grounded in a sense of decency and humanity is a worthwhile one.
When #WeAreNotThis began to make its way across my Facebook newsfeed, all I could think was that this empirically false and regressive law, passed under unethical and frankly morally corrupt conditions, might actually be us. If the people in the General Assembly are a reflection of the state and the communities that inhabit it, perhaps this law reflects who at least a majority of “we” are.
Our generation can reconstitute “we,” and it starts with with those we put into office. The choice between assuming a mantle of leadership where we learn to become those leaders who embody a love for humanity and accepting a level of apathy is one with a limited window of opportunity. We better decide soon before leaders, like our own in North Carolina, inflict even more damage on our democracy and our communities.
Jay Sullivan is a Trinity senior. His column runs on alternate Mondays.
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