By: Paige Rohe

There are an estimated  57 million people aged 8-21 living in the United States today. The buying power of these youth has a significant influence on our nation's economy. My  college roommates, the kids in middle school down the street, and myself, all of us who are between the ages of 13 and 21 have tremendous economic clout, to the tune of $156 billion in spending annually.  

Whether we're buying Britney cds or Star Wars Special Edition DVD sets, all those allowances, loans, and even paychecks boil down to approximately $10,698 spent per person per year.

Yes, pre-teens, tweens, teens, and young adults aren't shy about spending more than they are saving and our ailing economy hungers for their itchy-palm fiscal policies.

If this demographic were senior citizens or middle-aged professionals, any potential Presidential candidate would want to tap into that wealth. Some political campaigns are learning. Even though a politically aware 13 or 14 year old can't vote, they can still contribute to a campaign, despite recent Congressional legislation that strove to disallow them from doing so.

Although the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 attempted to ban minors under 17 from making political campaign donations, the US Supreme Court declared the legislation unconstitutional.

With more and more politicians establishing online payment systems for contributions, it is becoming even more convenient for Generation Y to funnel a little cash towards their favorite Presidential candidate. After all, as Harris Interactive study reports, 15% of young adult spending is done online.

Of course, teenagers who spend money on campaign contributions are quite the minority. In fact teenagers who care about politics, and the outcome of the Presidential election, in general, are about as rare as a five year old who thinks that Barney would not make a good President.

Voter registration and turnout among youth is down anywhere between 13 and 15 percentage points since 1972 and what's worse, they aren't the only ones.

America's voter turnouts are decreasing as a general trend.

Although the 2000 election did receive higher numbers to the polls than in 1996, only 51% of us voted in the last Presidential election, the closest in US history. Would the results have been as close as they were had more voters?  Or would we instead be hailing to a completely different chief?

Shows like Anderson Cooper's "Rock the Vote," a  presidential election special on CNN targeted at Generations X and Y are useful in engaging  youth with the issues, but only to those who are already likely to care and likely to vote.

Despite the high profile of young college-age protestors in the media, the majority of eligible young voters are disinterested in taking an active role in the political process.

There could be many reasons why, but suffice it to say most of my politically uninvolved friends offer the same excuse: "What difference will I make?"

A very big difference if we just banded together for once to get the issues we care about put on the table; like the senior citizen members of the American Association of Retired Persons do.

How can we ensure that America's future movers and shakers, inventors, mothers, and teachers aren't throwing away perhaps the most sacred right they possess, the ability to choose who will represent them and on what issues?

Although apathy towards the policies and policymakers of our government is an individual decision, politicians, the media, and educational institutions must nonetheless make a stronger effort to encourage young voters to wield the great power they possess.

My peers and I can affect the American political process, but first we must believe we can and so must the candidates who seek our vote.

As UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in 1998 to the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth: "No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts itself off from its youth severs its lifeline; it is condemned to bleed to death..... Nurture it; develop it; give it strength".


More information on this topic can be found at www.civicyouth.org

Paige Rohe is an International Studies student at Emory University and a contributing writer for PurePolitics.com. She can be reached at feedback@purepolitics.com.

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