Injecting Youth into the Alito Debate
| By AmandaAngelotti - Jan 6th, 2006 at 5:57 pm EST |
| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog | AlitoBlog |
So by now you know about our Alito's America campaign and how important it is that young people speak up about how the Supreme Court affects our everyday lives. (And CNN viewers just joined you in this knowledge - the Alito's America website was just featured this afternoon on The Situation Room!)
With all of Washington gearing up for the start of the confirmation hearings on Monday, we wanted to give you an update on our campaign activities.
Yesterday, we held a press event at our Center for American Progress headquarters in conjunction with fifteen other national youth- and student-oriented organizations to announce our mutual opposition to the Alito nomination. This event was noteworthy because it provided a platform for youth organizations from different constituencies and issue backgrounds to work together - not just to defeat the nomination of Judge Alito but also to build relationships for the future. We know we can make things happen if we stick together.
Be sure to check the events page to see if the campaign is making a stop at your school or one near you, and go here to submit your picture to our photo petition and for tools to conduct a petition on your campus. We're getting some really creative contributions…You want to win that iPod nano, right?
Stay tuned for updates as we send out on-the-ground organizers to schools in key states and get photo submissions from people in line outside on the confirmation hearing on Monday.
Some photos from the event:
With all of Washington gearing up for the start of the confirmation hearings on Monday, we wanted to give you an update on our campaign activities.
Yesterday, we held a press event at our Center for American Progress headquarters in conjunction with fifteen other national youth- and student-oriented organizations to announce our mutual opposition to the Alito nomination. This event was noteworthy because it provided a platform for youth organizations from different constituencies and issue backgrounds to work together - not just to defeat the nomination of Judge Alito but also to build relationships for the future. We know we can make things happen if we stick together.
Click here to watch video from the event!
Be sure to check the events page to see if the campaign is making a stop at your school or one near you, and go here to submit your picture to our photo petition and for tools to conduct a petition on your campus. We're getting some really creative contributions…You want to win that iPod nano, right?
Stay tuned for updates as we send out on-the-ground organizers to schools in key states and get photo submissions from people in line outside on the confirmation hearing on Monday.
Some photos from the event:
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Comments are closed for this post.
But the over-emphasis on "segmented" politics around here bothers me deeply. Each group focusing on the supposed 'issues that matter' to said group, as if the whole point is factional rent-seeking and not universal membership in a shared national identity.
The public doesn't buy it. Want a great way to lose the national debate? Keep treating 'youth' like it's a faction.
I'm still amazed at the work these groups and everyone involved in the Alito campaign are doing. There are so many issues that are important to progressive students, and here at Campus Progress we're proud to have been able to rally numerous groups with numerous concerns together to make a statement about our future.
Too many people pass off individual issues important to others because it doesn't concern them. This is especially the case for young people. That's why this coalition, and the campaign, is so significant- Samuel Alito represents a future where more than just a single issue to a single group is affected and in severe danger.
The individuality and focused concern of progressivism are among its strongest attributes. It's gratifying to see that expressed in so many different ways united for a better future for all students, and all Americans.
So there has to be a 'targetting' of youth, as opposed to simply targetting the general politically-involved population and assuming that youth will be socialized into that process over time?
To me, that strikes me as almost a Lakoff-esque (Or along the lines of Thomas Frank) proposition that marginalizes the individual, instead making them primarily a member of a group or class, and highly illiberal.