Established 1826 — Oldest College Newspaper West of the Alleghenies
NEWS

Prominent political figures speak on millennial involvement in the 2016 presidential election

By Grace Moody, News Editor

All 500 seats in Wilks Theater were filled Wednesday night with Miami students eager to hear the Janus Forum's most recent panel, "Is This Any Way to Elect a President?"

The Janus Forum hosted three prominent political figures to speak at the event ----- James Carville, Ann Compton and Alex Castellanos. The event consisted of a question-and-answer session in which students could hear different opinions regarding the country's future, the upcoming election and students' roles leading up to voting day.

In an interview with The Miami Student before the event, Carville, Compton and Castellanos talked about millennials' involvement in the election process and the ways in which they can impact the country's future.

Carville, a political consultant and co-founder of Democracy Corps, spoke on behalf of the Democratic Party. He said millennials are able to have a role in this presidential election in particular because of the variety of experiences they've witnessed throughout their lives.

"Millennials have seen the cost of education skyrocket, they've seen a not overly-great job market coming out of school, they're watching changes," Carville said. "9/11, the financial crisis, Hurricane Katrina, the first African-American president. You've seen a lot of things for a young person."

Carville, as a professor at Tulane University, said he works with many intelligent students who feel motivated to spark change.

"The single, best thing about young people is that old people have not been able to affect them with our prejudices," Carville said. "If I mention that someone is gay or black, why does that even matter today? What difference does it make? My children don't see the world the same way that older generations do, and I think that's true for a lot of young people."

Compton, a former White House Correspondent for ABC News, represented the media at the Janus Forum. Compton said she has seen great political activism among millennials during the primaries, but she doubts the turnout will be as high for the general election in November.

"Millennials come out of the woodwork for some of these [primary] rallies and political movements, but where are they in November?" Compton said. "They don't vote in the same percentage that they do when they are active during the primaries. So we will see whether the millennials are going to become a force at the ballot box, because in years past they have not been."

Reflecting on her years covering the White House and her experience being with the president in Air Force One on Sept. 11, 2001, Compton said the work of the media is important for the public.

"Every day I walked up the White House driveway for another dozen years after the Sept. 11 attacks," Compton said. "Every day I thought it was so important to have a free and independent media so that the American people can know what their leaders are doing, why they are doing it and whether they are keeping the public's trust."

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

Castellanos, founder of NewRepublican.org and regular commentator on CNN, spoke in representation of the Republican Party.

"I'm not that much of a Republican, to tell you the truth. I just love freedom," Castellanos said. "I think freedom is a wonderful thing and I think it's even better today because there's more stuff to be free about."

Castellanos said millennials need to seek change within the current government.

"I think the most important thing that millennials and college students can do in this election is demand change," Castellanos said. "Everything in this world is changing, except our old, fairly ineffective, disappointing government. The only thing we can't get anything new and better from is our government."

Similar to what Carville and Compton said, Castellanos said much of the rising power in creating this change lies within the current millennials.

"Old fogies like me aren't going to demand that change, but students here at this university can," Castellanos said. "If you're a student here you're probably closer to what's next in the world than anybody else. Demand the same from your government."

Read More

Trending