Viewpoint: Youth must stand up for politics ‘all the way’

Eli Steinberg

I am a sophomore at Sentinel High School and serve as the chairman of the High School Democrats of Montana. In order of importance, I am an American, a Montanan, and a member of the Democratic Party. 

I think most Montanans, of every party and of every creed, will hold my firm belief that Montana is the best state in the best country in the world. Thus, it is vital for the people who will inherit our state, my generation, to begin to do the work of politics and service now. However, it is a well-known fact that young people are not engaging in politics. It is my considered opinion that there are two reasons for this. 

The first reason, as Groucho Marx said “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.” Politics in Montana, and all across America, has become like this, cynical, and is not living up to what it can be, because too many establishment politicians, Tim Sheehy, Ryan Zinke, and Greg Gianforte chief among them, lie to, and cheat, and steal from the people that elected them. 

However, the second reason for the political apathy that defines the youth of Montana and America today, is that the political and cultural establishment have made a fatal mistake. The idea has been promoted, with great error, that voting is all there is to democracy. Democracy is not a voting system, it is a way of life. Voting is the most important part of that way of life, but it is the bare minimum.

So that large number of voters, who, each election cycle, are skeptical about whether politics can work for them, and went and only voted, and got their ‘I voted’ sticker, woke up after election day exhausted and disappointed, because they did the bare minimum. No one has ever been seriously satisfied by doing the bare minimum. As a result, they didn’t experience what democracy is really all about: people. 

Now imagine being a high schooler, not able to cast your own ballot, who is told the only way to be a part of politics is to vote. Will they believe they can become politically engaged? No. So we must demonstrate what politics really is.

I say this to all Montanans, especially the youth of Montana: The way to make a difference is simple: Go out and knock on doors; go out and make phone calls; Go out and volunteer at a community event; go give some time to a non-profit. Don’t do the bare minimum, do the absolute limit of what you can do. That is my challenge to the youth of Montana. Some people, some youth, in some parts of the world I would not expect to be able to fulfill that challenge. But I believe that this youth, in this state, in this country can fulfill that task.  

That work, the work of politics, is not without fruition. By giving forward the absolute limit of what is possible. You will see candidates elected who share that same ‘all the way’ and ‘hard work’ spirit, and that have the same honesty and dignity that the people of Montana have. 

But, that victory, that pay-off, can only be achieved through doing what I believe every Montanan, and every youth in Montana is capable of. Giving back to your state, and being a real part of politics, not just being a fearful observer. In 1964, Lyndon Johnson, one of my favorite Democratic presidents, ran on the campaign slogan “all the way with LBJ.”

Now 60 years later, with our state on the cusp of an election just as important and decisive as that one, let us, as Montanans of every party, make “all the way for Montana” our slogan. Let us be on our way. Let us be on our way for Montana. Let us be on our way for the youth of Montana.  

Eli Steinberg is chair of the High School Democrats of Montana