When I turned 18, my Nana told me something that has always stuck with me: If you don’t vote, don’t complain.
Flash forward to Wednesday when, at the ripe age of 23, and with so many people my age disillusioned with the political process and often even more frustrated with the options presented to us from both parties election after election, I watched another year of primary debates.
I did so employing my Nana’s logic: If I don’t watch I can’t complain.
No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, and no matter which sides of the issues you agree with, there is value in these debates.
For a self-proclaimed political nerd like myself, some of the value comes from those signature moments that live on well beyond the campaigns: Ronald Reagan’s “I will not make age an issue of this campaign” in 1984, Lloyd Bentsen’s “You’re no Jack Kennedy” in 1988, George H.W. Bush checking his watch in 1992, and Al Gore’s famous sighs and eye rolls in 2000.
For those who don’t get as excited by primary debates as they do about the Patriots season starting, the value of the debates for young people is in being able to see what’s on the ballot beyond the candidate’s name.
The first debates I remember watching occurred before I was able to vote, when I watched both party’s debates in 2016.
For many my age, their first experience with a presidential debate in which they had skin in the game was the Democratic primary debates leading up to 2020 and the chaotic 2020 general election debates, which for many just affirmed the dysfunction of the political process.
However dysfunctional those debates were, and however dysfunctional at times Wednesday’s debate was, these debates are invaluable to getting a broad picture of the political discourse of the moment.
Many of the candidates on the stage Wednesday were likely unknown commodities, not just to young people, but to voters of all ages.
People who aren’t into politics would likely know Mike Pence, Ron DeSantis, and Chris Christie, but I assume many had never been exposed to candidates like Doug Burgum, Asa Hutchinson, and Vivek Ramaswamy — and if they don’t watch these debates, they likely never will.
The value of watching these debates is being able to hear candidates’ views outside of the viral sound-bites and attacks, outside of the aforementioned famous debate moments from elections past, outside of the feisty onstage spats that will be played in the next morning’s news — outside the boring stuff.
Policy isn’t fun, but the policy is the point.
It’s time for young people, many of whom are inundated with the viral sound-bites and testy exchanges from the debates on social media, to realize that watching these debates and focusing on the moments of true policy discussion, no matter where you stand on that policy, is what will move us toward having a serious discussion about who we want to lead our country.
I’m no Jack Kennedy, but I know he once said: “The torch has been passed to a new generation.”
The torch is sitting there. It’s time to take it.
James Bartlett is The Item’s Lynn reporter.
