TCAN

[From time to time our blog features diverse voices in addition to our regular contributors from the TCAN staff and board. This one comes from TCAN intern Punam Kaji, a Plan II and Government major with a minor in Business at the University of Texas at Austin.]

For the past five weeks, my fellow intern Jonathan and I have been developing TCAN’s Civic Education program. From flashy PowerPoint presentations, to engaging clips from popular cartoons, to real-life stories from our own citizen advocacy experiences, this program aims to raise the civic consciousness of the average person.

Our nonpartisan program, which we call “Participatory Democracy,” will teach individuals how to engage in the political process on their own terms, whether that be through lobbying, writing letters, following legislation, volunteering for a candidate’s campaign, or joining a politically active nonpartisan organization such as TCAN. This program will not only teach but also inspire by showing individuals the influence of politics on their daily lives as well as the way individuals can directly influence their government.

An integral part of this presentation is our “man on the street” interview series. Amidst Austin’s latest bipolar weather conditions, we have been walking the streets of the capital city hoping to find out what the average Joe and Joanna know about their current political world and what they feel their personal role is in our political system. We interviewed a motley spectrum of individuals, ranging from a German Santa Claus finding haven in a hookah lounge on the Drag to people from Georgia and even India marveling at the stunning architecture of our beautiful Texas Capitol. What we heard was what we feel is an accurate cross-section of the attitudes about government in Texas and across the country.

A few interesting things we’ve learned from the interviews:

• Paris Hilton is better known than any government official.
  Almost everyone could recognize Paris Hilton. What is promising is that they wished they did not know more about her than they do about the leaders of our nation. They feel it is unfortunate that they see more in the media about celebrities like Paris Hilton than about the ideas and actions of political figures.
• Nancy Pelosi is Hillary Clinton (or even Barbara Bush!!!).
  Women in powerful political positions may be scarce, but they are not always a Clinton or a Bush. Most people we interviewed could not recognize a photo of the third most powerful person in our government, Nancy Pelosi. Perhaps the position of Speaker of the House is less understood than other high positions, or maybe she needs to inherit a political legacy to get the recognition her position deserves.
• Your vote is counted . . . sometimes.
  When asked, “Do you think your vote counts?” the initial answer was always “Yes!” But within a few seconds the answer often turned into “Yes, but . . . ”. We found that people believe there are stipulations on the proposition that every vote counts. For example, some said that without a paper trail on electronic voting machines, there is no way to prove that every vote is correctly tallied.

A well-rounded civic education is the best way to create better government. We asked our interviewees how they felt civic education would effect their lives as citizens, and time and time again we heard that civic education is vital to the preservation of our democracy. With civic education people are not only knowledgeable but, more importantly, they get involved in the system (and recognizing political figures might not be such a challenge).

As we interviewed random people on the street, we simply asked, “Would you like to participate in a survey?” Although most of those who agreed gave stellar interviews, the impulsive answer that we usually encountered was “No.” Perhaps the word participate is some how daunting. Is that the word that scares people away from our democracy? Perhaps that’s a stretch, but surely the idea of participation scared some people away from our survey. Or maybe it was Jonathan with a big bushy beard chasing them with camera in hand.

Until next time… Stay away from Jonathan! And let us know if you’re interested in scheduling one of our Participatory Democracy presentations at your school, club, youth center, or community group.