Young Democrats

The Young Democrats club spends time during the election year discussing individual policies, issues and the impact of significant election events like the presidential debates. The club prefers to discuss the election in an open floor format with a wide range of different opinions and perspectives brought from a group of politically involved and aware students. Members of the club discuss both the Republican and Democratic parties and how they relate to one another as well as how they compare and contrast when dealing with different issues.

Senior Alison Potter is a member of Young Democrats Club and recognizes some of the important differences between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. She has considered the impact on education.

“I think each party has different funding ideas for specific things,” Potter said. “For example, the Republican party might not want to fund types of sex education or types of health that include the teaching of abortion whereas the Democrats change their funding to put more focus on those things that aren’t currently being talked about in the status quo. I think in terms of funding it will affect education.”

Potter realizes that the election has a large impact on education in general and students at LHS are more engaged in politics than ever.

“I see a greater turnout in both the Young Dems Club and the Young Republicans Club,” Potter said. “More people are getting politically involved because they are actually seeing that this can impact them and not just their parents. I think after this election students will be more likely to join political campaigns not just on the national level but on the local level.”

Young Democrats Club members are definitely involved in political campaigns on their own time. They bring this experience and information to their meetings.

“Young Democrats is a group that has committed almost all of its energy to

community activity,” Young Democrats sponsor TIm Baldwin said. “They’re using their meeting times to get on the same page as the other Clay County Democrats or Young Democrats.”

As a member of a younger generation and Young Democrats Club, senior Rafe Pasha feels he recognizes the emphasis that Hillary Clinton has placed on gathering support from a young voters.

“She is going for that young audience and that millennial crowd rather than the older American crowd,” Pasha said. “She’s going for that really young first year voting kind of thing and I don’t know how well that’s going to help her out because I think she needs to be widening it.”

Young Republicans

This election year has definitely changed what goes on in meetings for Young Republicans Club. The club is sponsored by debate teacher Tim Baldwin, who is also the sponsor for the Young Democrats Club.

Young Republicans have been much more interested in doing things in this building, promoting their activities among their student body and using time to discuss big issues,” Baldwin said. “These big issues include mainstream conservatism vs. reactionary of Trump within the Republican Party.”

The Young Republicans meetings involve a lot of discussion in regards to the presidential candidates, especially the republican nominee Trump.

“This year all of our discussions have been based around Trump and Hillary and what will happen and what as Republicans we would like to see happen,” senior Emily Azpell said. “The overall opinion in our club is Pro-Trump. There are a lot of people so it can get intense at times. Our sponsor is a good moderator and keeps things level for the most part.”

There are definitely mixed emotions within the Young Republicans Club. While some members believe Trump would be the ideal president, others do not like the fact that Trump is representing their political party at all.

“Our candidate that is representing our party is definitely causing some controversy in the club,” Whitebird said. “Some of us don’t support Donald Trump, however, we still view ourselves as Republicans, so we discuss that feeling a lot within the club.”

For the Young Republicans who do not like Trump, they feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. It is one thing to be a Republican but it is another to be a Republican and simply disagree with or dislike the Democratic candidate.

“I will be voting for Trump,” Azpell said. “I think he will fix our taxes and many other things that we have wrong with our country right now. I am not going to vote for Hillary and I don’t want to vote for Trump, but a vote for anybody other than Trump is a vote for Hillary. The third party never wins.”

Another Young Republican, who asked to remain anonymous, may cast his vote for Gary Johnson, the third party candidate. He does not believe Trump or Clinton would be the best president and voting for Gary Johnson will allow his opinion to be heard.

18 Year Old Voters

A portion of the 2017 graduating class will have turned 18 years old by November 8, making them eligible to vote in this year’s presidential election with the two major party candidates being Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Over the years, both the left and right wings have become increasingly polarized, in turn making it increasingly more important for citizens to fulfill their civic duty and vote. This responsibility obviously carries great magnitude in that it impacts who America’s next national leader will be.

“I believe my vote matters because every vote counts,” senior Carter Abbott said.

It especially affects this generation since student loan debt is higher than any other form of debt in the United States.

“The election is going to affect post-secondary education (college),” Debate coach Timothy Baldwin intervened. “What is done to reform student loan debt, if anything is done to reform student loan debt, I think is the biggest [educational] factor.”

However, it is just as important to vote for the positions way down the ballot as

LHS is affected directly by the state-based offices.

“Who is your State Representative? Who is your Senator? Who is elected for Governor? These offices will do much more to shape LHS than any Federal office would,” Baldwin said.

Information was collected from a sample of 105 LHS seniors. Around 60% of those who responded in the survey will be old enough to vote and slightly over half of those who are eligible actually plan on voting.

Abbott is part of the demographic who is “with her.”

“I don’t like Donald Trump,” Abbott said. “He lies too much and doesn’t explain his plans. He just says this or that

is going to happen. He also doesn’t like Muslims and has a history of racism and sexism.”

On the other hand, there are those who support Trump.

“I am planning on voting for Trump because it’s the lesser of two evils,” senior Maxwell Wittman said.

Many LHS students recognize the polarizing affect that elections can have on people, even in a high school setting. Because of these strong feelings during an election, they also discuss the importance of voting to make your voice heard.

“I think it’s a really big year,” senior Sophie Jess said. “A lot of people feel very strongly about the candidates so I think if you want it to go your way it’s important to vote if you can. I think you need to take control of your election.”

Current Events Club

During an election year, it is not uncommon for most discussions to be intertwined with politics. Current Events Club recognizes this massive overlap between reporting on current events and the political realm during election time and they discuss it on a regular basis.

“Students share topics they would like to discuss and I add a few and then we explore them and the students share their opinions and viewpoints,” Current Events Club sponsor Jessica Lumetta said.

Current Events Club is different from Young Democrats and Young Republicans. The club has no single political identity, so the members don’t always share the same political views and opinions. Current Events Club is also mostly a platform to discuss world issues in general, not always pertaining directly to politics. Because of the election, discussions can often take a more political route.

“Current Events club is great,” senior Jackson Ferguson said. “We will sit down and have actual discussions. There are Trump people who show up sometimes, there are a lot of Clinton people who show up sometimes. We will talk about issues and stances candidates have taken. We had a big talk about Gary Johnson and how he didn’t know what Aleppo was. That was a fun day.”