...Because, as much as I hate to say it, sometimes, we get it right a little faster than the "grown-ups"
This past weekend, I went to my first Youth in Government conference. Basically, a YIG conference entails high schoolers picking a government branch, preparing for their positions and spending a weekend in their state's capital building pretending they are working in the government.
I decided to be in the House of Representatives and so I needed to write a bill. Being a frequent lobbyist for my local Planned Parenthood chapter and working as a "political liason" to the Planned Parenthood youth program I am involved with gave me no shortage of legislation to choose ideas from. Eventually, I decided on a part of a larger bill my state's affiliate has been trying to pass for years: The Compassionate Assistance for Rape Emergencies Act, which basically ensures that female victims of sexual assault receive information about (provided by hospital) and correct dosages of emergency contraception (if they request it). Not too controversial? Hmm. Not according to the adults. This past year, we weren't even able to get the bill a hearing...
After slapping a different title on it (Comprehensive Assistance for Rape Emergencies - creative right? really thought hard for that one), revising the fine provisions and rewording the entire bill (the entire point of writing a bill is to use existing format or slightly change a statute - I promise, I am no plagiarist) I was ready to go.
This past Thursday, I argued my bill through committee. The first point I made every time was that EC is not the same as abortion. Much to my surprise, no one objected and there were hardly any disagreements.
On Friday, my bill was called on the House docket, and aside from one bump (someone asked what my bill would do for men who are victims of rape. wow. really? male rape victims are real, and should not be ignored, but do they have uteruses? my response: "this is a bill about emergency contraception... seeing as most men cannot become pregnant, it would be unnecessary to provide them with emergency contraception") my bill passed easily with a 60 something to 30 something margin. By no means was that victory not hard won, it just didn't take as much fighting as I expected.
I found myself a sponsor in the Senate and on Saturday I watched her argue my bill to a 21 for, 1 against and 1 abstention victory.
Later that day, after a little straightening out, my bill was signed into law, unamended, by the youth governor.
What does all of this say to me? What am I getting out of this experience?
That sometimes, it takes a group of students to get something done. My bill was argued against on grounds of merit, economics, anti-choice platforms and importance. But in the end, it was passed. Interesting how a group of students can get it right, while the real House of Reps in my state has gotten in wrong so many times in a row...
Just putting it out there. (be nice, I'm new at posting:)
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This was a great post to read! I hope it encourages you to keep fighting the political fight, because, well, someone's gotta do it, and it sounds like you might have the knack. :)
Question: Pardon my ignorance on the subject, but does passing a bill during a Youth in Government conference mean it was just a a "dry run"? If it is, maybe you could table it to your rep. Just a thought. I'd never heard of YiG before, so I'm curious as to its sway.
It gets a little harder when there are more diverse interests to balance and represent, and real budgets to balance.
Part of YIG is actually calculating the feasible budget from the state that she is in. So, the amount of money to be spent on the bill must actually be the amount of money it would really cost. To write you bill you must do countless amounts of research and then redraft the legislation. Congratulations on getting yours passed and signed into law teen feminist. I too was a YIG student in high school and I loved it.
I'll take your word that it's a good simulation, and I'm glad young progressive people are getting an early taste in government. But it's still unrealistic to say that because it was easy to get teenagers to roleplay doing the right thing, it shouldn't be so hard for adults to remake the real world.
Congrats on your hard work and on your awesome learning experience.
As I'm sure you understand, though, the fact that the young folks were able to pass the bill and the adults were not doesn't mean that the adults don't "get it." Young people in a YIG program can pass whatever bills seem right to them, because they're not accountable to anyone, their careers aren't on the line, and they don't have to follow up to see their laws get implemented. If I'm a feminist in a real state House of Representatives, I might not be able to vote for a bill like that even if I wanted to, either because I have a conservative constituency who would vote me out of office, or because I would lose major donors and wouldn't be able to run a successful reelection campaign, or because the bill would be quite costly to implement and my state might have a balanced budget law or other concerns, or because I might lose valuable allies in the House who I need to work with me on other issues I care about.
Unfortunately, as I'm sure you saw during your YIG experience, the real workings of government force representatives to vote against things they like, avoid proposing controversial legislation, and make compromises in order to advance their priorities. I really hope you're able to use your experience to keep involved with these issues, and pressure our government to do the right thing (and even maybe run for office yourself one day!).
Makes me wish our own representatives were a wee bit less beholden to partisan litmus tests and so divided an electorate.