I guess I see this simply as a way to reach out and engage kids. Not just to encourage them about the importance of a good education, which many kids sorely need to be reminded of, but to encourage civic engagement. I know there are several people on this board that are very involved with legislation and their communities, but overall our country is the definition of apathy. We can't continue to sit by and let our citizens disengage, it is dangerous no matter what your political beliefs are. And unless we start showing children how important voting and our government is now, we'll just have another apathetic generation. The only developed nation with a lower voter turnout than the U.S. is Switzerland. Even the Italians, who are a mess at organization and have lost my luggage every time I've visited, have a 90% turnout at the polls. I find it impossible to imagine that the usually lazy Italians care more about their rights than we do, but maybe they are teaching their kids something different in school
You can't expect involvement when the citizens have NO viable choices set before them. Picking the lesser of two evils only propogates further evils. That's just how I see it.
