Can College Students Affect Change?

With 16 years of experience in Congress, former Republican congressman Mickey Edwards undoubtedly has a unique perspective of the role that college students can have in the U.S. government. I sat down with Edwards to discuss his views on whether college students can, in fact, affect change.

Although his second Weber Lecture touched on the lessened voices of constituents in politics, in person he expressed his view that the voices of those who want to be heard still matter very much. “I’ve seen that if people get involved, it’s remarkable how easy it is to make change in our system,” he noted.

He cited the influence of college students in the recent election campaign as an instance of effective action; “College kids really played an impressive role in the Obama election; getting the nomination, and then winning the election,” he said.

When asked what students should be more aware of in politics, Edwards pointed out a deficiency in knowledge of how the political system operates. “A lot of what they learn in middle school, high school, college, doesn’t teach them very much about the American political system,” he said.

“I hate to say this, but a lot of the theory in political science, which is chosen because it can be quantitatively measured, is just wrong, and it does some damage,” he added.

He cited the also simplified nature of college life as another part of the problem: “I’ve heard this description – that a conservative is a liberal that got mugged by reality. You start out very idealistic, and then you face the reality of decision-making, and how you have to balance one thing with another.”

When asked what he wished was taught more to prepare students for effective action, Edwards cited an increase in pragmatic political skills. “Organizing, turning people out to vote, how you frame a message to get people to go along with you, how you build alliances with people – College students need to know that, they need to understand how our system is,” he said.

However, as he reiterated in both of this year’s Weber lectures, the most important variable in effective political action is not knowledge, but persistence and motivation. “Democracy is built on political actions; it’s not a spectator sport. You can’t just be bystanders,” he said.