"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.
Teenagers being teenagers, many debate topics are oriented toward teens and their civil liberties, specifically their right to party. Should teens be required to undergo random drug testing every semester? (Heck no!) Should age limits criminalizing consensual sex be repealed? (Yes!) Should third trimester abortions be illegal? Should prostitution be legalized?
They also debate hoary old chestnuts familiar topics: Should the US leave the UN? (No, but the vote was 21-20.) Should the US ratify the Kyoto treaty? (Hint: no, because very soon it should ratify the Copenhagen treaty instead.) Should cigarettes be declared illegal? Should meat be taxed? Should the United States federal government fund stem cell research? Should the United States dismantle its nuclear weapons?
My son attended a debate on "Resolved: Bush was the Worst. President. Ever," initially believing that he would vote "yes." Young Republicans from Orange County argued "no" vociferously. A pro debater pointed out that, while he hates Bush as much as anyone, Bush still isn't as bad as Andrew Jackson, Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, or the guy who died a month after taking office. So my son abstained, as did many others, and the resolution failed.
Two topics may be of particular interest to Kossacks.
First, in keeping with others' astute observations, gay marriage is a generation gap marker, and this generation has no problem with it whatsoever (even if they still use the word "gay" as an insult). The resolution that "Proposition 8 was unconstitutional" passed by a wide margin.
Second was what may be an end run around traditional adult views on marijuana legalization. "Resolved, the legalization of marijuana should be an issue left entirely up to the states." The printed pro arguments were classic federalism arguments. The printed con arguments read:
The US Constitution and Bill of Rights were conceived and written to limit government. The federal government regulates the control of drugs and their scheduling including marijuana. The federal government majorly controls trade, a major component of legislation.
The argument delivered by the "con" speaker was not at all what I was expecting, i.e., a typical anti-drug "just say no" kind of argument. Instead, it was a call for blanket federal legalization of marijuana: don't leave it up to the states, instead legalize it in all states! The resolution passed by a wide margin.
As a parent/teacher adviser, my main job was to do head counts every so often and make sure the boys weren't in the girls' rooms and vice-versa. I also sat in on several of the debates. I didn't participate in anything similar to JSA at a high school level, and might not have even if it were at my high school, but this looks like a fun organization for aspiring politicians.