"Democracy is not a spectator sport!" Neither is being asked to chaperone 24 high school kids on 24 hours' notice to a convention of 1200 aspiring politicans. Reporting from the Junior Statesmen Statespeople State of America, good news on our next generation of leaders!
JSA is a non-partisan political organization founded 75 years ago to teach high school students to be politically aware students, skilled debaters, and leaders of tomorrow. Students attend conventions where they debate issues of the day. I was roped into attending Spring State 2009 in the Los Angeles region, and thought y'all might appreciate a report on the leaders of tomorrow.
JSA runs summer school programs at Stanford, Princeton, Yale, and Georgetown. The Georgetown program, in particular, brings in some seriously high ranking politicians to speak to the kids: recent past speakers have included both Clintons, George H.W. Bush, Condoleeza Rice, a number of Senators, and a skinny-but-tough junior senator from Illinois with a strange name (I wonder whatever happened to him?). JSA alums include Mike McCurry, Ed Meese, and Charles Schwab.