Podcast: Democracy hangs there by a thread

As a Washington state legislator, I always looked forward to stacks of letters from local high school students whose teachers tasked them with writing to a lawmaker expressing their concerns on an issue. I took extra care in replying to these letters, not only because I valued their perspectives on a range of issues but also because I knew this was almost surely the first interaction any of these students would have with an elected official. I wanted them to know that I was paying attention to their concerns—and that the democratic process could work for them.

I knew the value of demonstrating this lesson to young people because it had been so convincingly demonstrated to me in my own youth. One of the civic experiences that formed my confidence for later public service was participation in the American Legion Department of Washington’s Evergreen Boys State program. I got to spend a week with 300 fellow rising high school seniors who came together on the Central Washington University campus to simulate a state government and hear from elected officials. My peers elected me as chair of the “Federalist” Party and then as Speaker of the House. It was one of the most memorable and inspiring weeks of my life. Later, when I served in the real state legislature, I got to go back to speak at Boys State every year.