web1_115388289-e29dc554cb8f4b8c8d9ea775a84ab29e.jpg

Companies dropping ACA exchanges leave customers without insurance options

Greater Nanticoke Area announces second-quarter Honor Roll

Younger people are not as civic-minded as older folks.You&#8217;ve probably heard that familiar refrain many times before. And look no further than your local Lions, Rotary or Kiwanis club &#8212; struggling to stay in existence due to lack of new blood &#8212; for evidence to prove the point.And those are just social clubs.Getting young people to engage at the political level? It&#8217;s almost unheard of in this area or anywhere else.That&#8217;s why it is so refreshing to see some 20-somethings have thrown their hats into the ring for the five seats up for grabs on Luzerne County Council this election cycle.At this point, I know what you&#8217;re probably thinking &#8212; how can some 24-year-old have the life experience and perspective required to make decisions to effectively govern a county of more than 300,000?Well, it&#8217;s a good point.And while this is certainly not an endorsement of any of the office-seeking youngsters, there is local precedent for recent college graduates serving more than adequately in public office.Just downriver from us in Bloomsburg, a 19-year-old was elected to town council while still at Bloomsburg University in 2005.Several years later, 22-year-old Daniel Knorr became that town&#8217;s mayor.And guess what?Life went on just fine, as if there was no difference between a guy in his 20s being mayor or someone else in their 40s or 50s.Knorr didn&#8217;t have it easy either. He was in the mayor&#8217;s office when the 2011 Lee flood devastated Bloomsburg, which at the time had no protection from high water.A few other points have to be made here as well.First, the kids &#8212; er, young adults &#8212; running for county council certainly aren&#8217;t motivated by money.Council members receive only $8,000 annually, hardly enough for a few semesters worth of room and board at any local college.Second, and not to be rude, but it&#8217;s not like Luzerne County has a long history of excellence when it comes to those serving us in public office. (Please let&#8217;s not argue this point. There was a very good reason why the majority of voters decided to switch the county&#8217;s entire form of government to home rule.)So, if a younger person gets elected and manages to steer clear of an investigation of some sort, that alone could be considered a tiny achievement.Just to illustrate how rare it is for a person in their 20s to seek office, The Atlantic recently reported on a study about millennials as political candidates.Shauna Shames, an assistant professor at Rutgers University-Camden, decided to study top graduate students in law and public policy at Harvard and Suffolk University Law School because they seemed like the most likely contenders for elected seats.&#8220;What she found is that elite young people &#8212; even those who are pursuing advanced degrees in law and policy &#8212; think running for office sounds terrible,&#8221; The Atlantic wrote.Hmmm. Can&#8217;t really say that&#8217;s surprising.By the way, the title of that Atlantic story was titled: &#8220;Nobody Wants to Run for Office.&#8221;Let&#8217;s just be happy plenty of people here &#8212; both wet behind the ears and long in the tooth &#8212; are interested in running.The best forms of government can make room for every voice.<style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_Letter-to-the-editor1-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_Letter-to-the-editor1-2.jpg</photo0><caption0></caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>

Our voice: Youngsters part of the field for county council