"Communitarians" Are Not Politicians - Yet

by Rachel Stockman

The acute reminder that you live in a totally different era than your parents occurs when you find the ole folks muttering phrases such as "teens these days," "how was the bash?" or "can you dig that?" Especially when conversation turns to politics, many teens today feel that their parents (who were teens in the 60's and 70's) come from a totally different planet.

The latter may be a hyperbole, but according to Rhodes scholar with the Brookings Institute and The Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, "You can see the attitudes of today's under thirties as a synthesis of the dominant ideas of the 60's and the 80's - which means, of course, they represent something totally new."

The reason most under 25 year olds are negative on politics and other "grown- up" issues stems from a dissatisfaction with the way the mass media covers politics and the belief that a life in public service is ultimately ineffectual. Mr. Dionne stated in his article, "Reform Generation," which appeared in The Washington Post, that a survey conducted by Peter D. Hart Associates with 728 young adults, who were between 18 and 30 years of age, "found considerable skepticism toward government-led efforts to solve problems, but also a strong streak of community-mindedness." The question asked - "Which do you think is a more important value in our country - the value of community and looking out for each other, or the value of individual responsibility and self-reliance?" The result: 50% chose community and looking out for each other, while 38 percent opted for individual responsibility and self-reliance.