A Passion for Politics: The Youth and Government program gave me an inside look into our legislative and court systems–and I had fun too.

“I know in the next couple paragraphs I’m going to sound like one of those public service announcements that tries to con you into getting involved. What can I say? I’ve always been the kind of person who likes politics. I watch “Dateline” and “60 Minutes” and “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.” Yes, I admit it, I’m a walking promotion for youth democracy.
Let me insult your intelligence for a moment. There’s more to life than worrying about getting the latest Tommy Hilfiger jacket. Stop being so selfish. You should care about what happens to your government, your nation, your world. What happens affects you! You can make a difference! This is your country—your future!
You should vote and care about the Constitution… blah, blah, blah… America, America… O beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of…
Oh. I guess I was singing. Okay, I’m sorry. I can get a little carried away. You guys are just lucky that I have somewhere to direct my energies, otherwise, I’d probably be calling you at home at night, spewing my political views and pressuring you to get involved. I’d be that weird person at the supermarket that tries to get you to sign a petition.
Instead, I joined Youth & Government. (Aren’t you relieved?) Youth & Government, a model legislature and court program, brings together high school students from all over California to run their own mock state government and courts. But wait! Don’t stop reading! It really is a cool program.

You can actually play
the role of an elected official
Every sophomore is introduced to the program by what they call the Forum. You learn about Youth & Government’s two main parts—the legislature and the court program. Within those, you can play all different kinds of roles—senator, journalist, chief justice, attorney or many others.
In the legislature section you learn the correct procedure to debating a bill, just the way they do it in Sacramento. The bills deal with all kinds of issues: women in the military, abortion, affirmative action and immigration.
One silly bill stated that all playgrounds should have blacktop instead of grass. The goofy guy sitting next to me decided to be the bill sponsor. I thought he was going to get up there and just clown around but—presto change-o!—he became this sophisticated politician.
I grew up on blacktop and I have the scars to prove it, he said. His eyes were filled with passion and a hint of B.S. People that didn’t want blacktop were wimps who couldn’t handle anything, he declared.
We were all laughing so hard by the time he got done that it was hard to ask questions. Then someone who opposed the bill got up and said, Grass is good because it makes people mellow. When you fall, you don’t get hurt that bad. You can study outside on grass. Do we want angry people with scars, or mellow people, surrounded by nature?
The thing that makes Youth & Government cool is that you’re doing all this while you’re away from home on three fun-filled trips throughout the school year. The final trip is the best because you actually get to go to Sacramento, stay at a swank hotel and become a model law-maker in the Capitol Building, in the same plush rooms where our state legislators meet.
The other cool thing about Youth & Government is that students run it. You have advisors for supervision and sometimes help and support but everything you do is up to you. You have to complete your bill and get up before the senate and assembly and persuade fellow delegates to pass your bill. Or you have to plead your case to a jury or a panel of justices.
I don’t want you to think that there is a lot of pressure and if you don’t live up to the standards you’ll fail. The program is designed to take something that students might find boring and make it interesting. And there’s time to have fun—we have social events like dances and a talent show.
Even with all of these great things some people find that Youth & Government is not for them. You can get those people that use the program as an excuse to hook up with the opposite sex or a reason to miss some school. Some people use it as an excuse to get away from home. I’ve had friends who quit the program because they felt it was too much of a clique or they just didn’t find it interesting.
I won’t sit here and deny any of these claims. People join the program for different reasons and what you plan to do while in the program will determine what your experience will be. I won’t deny that it helps if you have friends in the program but you will get to make friends if you’re patient. Besides, wherever you go, you have to deal with difficult people.

I saw how our government works
But this program has really opened my eyes to how our government works. In the past two years, I’ve had a chance to be a journalist, a lawyer, an assemblywoman and I got to write a bill. Being a lawyer was my favorite because, with my legal partner, I had to analyze a case in which a man was accused of attempted rape. But we figured out that the witness was contradicting herself. When my partner Lucia cross-examined her, the case fell apart! The accused was later found not guilty. We were so happy, we felt like legal sharks that had a good meal.
I’ve never had that kind of victory in high school. Sure, I’ve gotten As, or sometimes my teacher might read my essay to the class, but this was my moment. It showed me that I can compete with the best of my peers. I got to see a first-person view of the justice system, not just watching it on the news.
To join Youth & Government, go to your local YMCA and see if they have a chapter. If they don’t, they can probably refer you to a nearby Y that does. Costs vary from one center to the next. It can cost several hundred dollars or more, but you can often get scholarships and you may be able to raise money by selling candy, working on a Christmas tree lot or doing volunteer work.”

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