Joe Biden can inspire young people - if he listens to them - The Washington Post - 0 views
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Joe Biden faces a crucial conundrum in his quest to win the presidency: How can he energize young voters, even as at 77, even though he is of a decidedly different generation and was not their candidate of choice during the Democratic primaries?
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children are builders of humanity, each the forger of their own character, physical health and intelligence. Youth, Montessori insisted, is the cornerstone of society.
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In her view, a universal scientific, social and political commitment to liberating and focusing the power of children would prevent the formation of stunted, dysfunctional adults.
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Nonetheless, it took decades to fully implement them. The 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child was built on the premise that humankind owes children the best it can give.
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Childhood was valuable in and of itself, not as a transitional phase that predates adulthood or simply as a “training period” for life.
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Despite all of this apparent progress, children and young adults remain politicized but unable to be political. Mostly this is because politics remains an old person’s game, seldom open to direct representation of young people and adolescents even in issues that directly concern them, such as the presence of armed security officers in school.
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The latest protests to end racism and police violence have shown how a new generation of activists is willing to take on vexing, seemingly intractable issues, the very same problems that adults may deny even exist.
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It is now up to organized political parties to harness the power of youth organizations, to galvanize them and inspire young people to believe that the existing political machinery is receptive to their demands and that politics can indeed change the system it represents.
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Joe Biden has struggled to speak to younger voters, evidenced by the results of the Democratic Party’s primary elections