<p>Are you acquainted with anyone young who roots for "cool" politicians, yet knows very little about said politician? </p>
<p>From what I see in surrounding peers, I believe that the lemming mentality will lead to our generation's downfall. Groupthink is rampant, as well as image-based campaigning which deceives the young into thinking that what's "fresh and popular" is truly good.</p>
<p>They use their banner of support for whomever they mindlessly choose as a cover-up of their ignorance and lethargic apathy. It's so easy, though, to tear the banner down by simply asking the silly young people what exactly their beloved politician believes in. It's likely that they'll miss the target.</p>
<p>XD When we did AP Switch with our AP Government class, he had us take this survey thing that told us what party we were, and mine came out Centrist. And he asked who was surprised by their result and I raised my hand. And when he asked me why I told him because both my parents were really strong Republicans. And he goes "It's probably because you're a teenager, so you disagree with your parents think."</p>
<p>And I was thinking "Um...no. That's so stupid." I don't think like that at all. my mom is my best friend.</p>
<p>But getting back to the topic at hand...Most of my friends either have a good reason for supporting someone or they just don't care about politics at all. Not many fall into the group you described.</p>
<p>My class is pretty political; ie we're known to debate until the cows come home.
As much as I may disagree with some on their views, I respect them and I don't think their reasoning is immature.
But it could be because we don't have 3 solid candidates just yet.
Most I know aren't going to vote republican or democrat- rather for the person they like the best.</p>
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They use their banner of support for whomever they mindlessly choose as a cover-up of their ignorance and lethargic apathy. It's so easy, though, to tear the banner down by simply asking the silly young people what exactly their beloved politician believes in. It's likely that they'll miss the target.
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<p>Yeah, phrases like "Let's take the fight to our enemies" and "they hate us because we are free" signify nothing and yet so many people blindly listened to the fool who voiced them.</p>
<p>I follow politics actively (I watch all the democratic televised debates, Hardball on weekdays, Meet the Press on Sunday), and I really (really) like Barack Obama. I agree that most in the younger generation aren't inspired by politics to actively follow it, and resort to supporting them based on character rather then rhetoric.</p>
<p>However, I disagree with you in two ways. Barack Obama uses image-based campaigning as much as any other candidate (Hillary Clinton: I'm your gal), the reason he has support among young people is because he connects better with them. More importantly, most adults aren't as politically informed as they should be, often falling into the "lemming" trap. This is even worse than just young people not knowing the issues, because it is the adults who cast the votes.</p>
<p>I follow politics at a really high level. I liked Obama a lot... until I read his foreign policy white paper in Foreign Affairs magazine. He's a naive moron- I could've written a better foreign policy. I'm voting Clinton in the primary- I don't like her personally, or most of her policies, but I trust her to not be inept and lead us to ruin.</p>
<p>I have to admit, my knowledge of politics is very small. But I'm really determined, since I'll be allowed to vote for the first time next year, to become an educated voter and to form my political opinions as much as I can and vote for whoever I think is best based on that.</p>
<p>I agree that political ignorance (that word sounds so pretentious, but) is a problem in American youth. However, I also think it is also a problem in the general population. Most people, when asked, cannot list five reasons they affiliate themselves with a certain political party, or so says my former AP U.S. History teacher. :)</p>