HomeBy Deanna Irvin
This past Wednesday, March 27, Moab had the pleasure of hosting Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) for a town hall meeting held at the Grand Center. Chaffetz, being the Representative for Utah’s Third Congressional District, represents our very own city as well as its neighbors. Topics ranging from President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act and spending all the way to clean air and saving the sage grouse, were all brought up for discussion. The town hall saw an audience of liberals, conservatives, Republicans, Democrats, and independents —people from all political persuasions. What it didn’t have, however, was very many young people.
Out of the 30 to 50 people in the audience, there were only three people under the age of 18. Now, I realize that it was spring break and going out jeeping or staying at home watching Pretty Little Liars is ever so much more fun, but this stuff is important. Two of the young people even asked Rep. Chaffetz about bullying and his opinion and any ideas he had on that. All three young adults in attendance were juniors at Grand County High School, putting them within one to two years from being 18 years old and gaining the right to vote. Is it altogether irrational to be concerned about the lack of attendance by our future voters?
Obviously, young people our age do have opinions about things. Any time something large happens on the news, you can trust them to take to Facebook to share their opinions with the entire social networking community. Unfortunately, for many, that’s as far as it goes. We know teenagers have opinions on everything, and that in and of itself is a very good start, but by this age, we should be ready to take it to the next level: having informed opinions.
Opportunities such as last week’s town hall can almost not be matched. I, unfortunately, am guilty of not educating myself to the extent that I probably should in preparation for my impending right to vote within the next year. I would not have known who to vote for as my representative because I honestly had no idea where any of the candidates stood on anything. This town hall, however, cleared the air on that front tremendously. I was able to listen and talk to Rep. Chaffetz and really get a feel for who he was and what he believed in, and I liked what I saw.
Granted, I still have over a year before I am eligible to vote, just like many of my classmates, but it really is never too soon to start practicing for these sorts of things. If you get started early, you can not only figure out what where you stand on what’s important to you, but you can also be prepared to walk in with an open mind and accept new ideas as well as defend your own. This is one of the things that has made America so great.
In closing, please, young people of Grand County, try to be a little more involved in the world around you, because all too soon you will be a part of it. These are complex issues, so the solutions are going to take time, and our parents won’t be around forever. We are the fresh eyes to these problems we will unfortunately inherit. It’s time to form educated opinions and do something important with them. Your Pretty Little Liars marathon can wait, I promise