The early start for the 2008 presidential campaign has jumpstarted the socio-political polarization that usually occurs around campaign time. Democrats vs. Republicans. Obama vs. Hillary. Bush vs. Everybody else. A hot button topic for this year’s campaign is the mobilization of youth. Young people, in numbers greater than in any campaign in recent history., are becoming actively involved in the political process. Though CHS is far from any hotly contested battlefield primary, there are still students who are very vocal and active about their political beliefs.

Senior Francesca Cole considers herself to be “very liberal, but not radical.” She attributes her liberalism to parental influence and that she believes that there is a responsibility to other people. She favors Obama in the upcoming presidential election. Cole tends the party line on most major issues; not having any key iisues on which she disagrees with the Democratic party.

Senior Joel Iventosh would consider himself a libertarian, different from a traditional conservative in that they tend to reject regulating citizen’s personal lives or morality. Joel highlights a combination of home values, parental influence, and logic as the main contributors to his conservative politics. Iventosh favored Romney, but now backs McCain; believing he has the best chance of winning. His conservatism trends toward free market economics, he says that many hot button social issues that America fights over are “not a high priority.”

Young people with deep political convictions who care about our nation’s future are exactly what is needed to reverse the stereotype of the apathetic and uncaring youth that still continues to dominate our current political discourse.