John Hagelin / Nat Goldhaber 2000

Youth in the Administration
A Youth Panel Speech Given at The Natural Law/Reform Party Coalition Convention

I am not a delegate to this convention. I come from Niagara, Wisconsin, a very small town. I attend Niagara High School, a very small school of only 193 students. I am only a sophomore and cannot yet vote. As a speaker at this convention, I do not represent a large portion of population that is informed of the Natural Law Party or any other parties united to create a better United States. And as I said before, I am not a delegate to this convention, but I wish that I were because then I would be able to cast a vote for a better way of living in this country.

Ladies and gentlemen, I genuinely want to thank you for the opportunity to speak today. Why should I be so honored and proud to speak to you today? Many, many young people who are able to vote do not because they are disinterested and disengaged. They are tired of the past politicians who do not remember the promises they make when they are elected. Many, many of the young people today, who cannot vote, do not even bother to inform themselves of this country's problems. I am here to show America's youth that they truly can make a difference, even if they cannot yet vote.

I can remember being a Girl Scout in fourth grade. Our troop did many services for others in the community. We made a quilt for the Caring House that harbors women and children from domestic violence and abuse; we raked and did cleaning for the elderly who were not able to do these chores for themselves yet did not have the resources to hire them done. And one of the most important services that we did were food drives to supply the local churches with food to hand out to families who simply did not have the money to feed themselves. This is when I began to think. Why? Why do we have homes where all family members cannot live together in peace and dignity? Why? Why are there elderly people who cannot afford to maintain their quality of life? Why? Why are there people hungry in America? And when I asked myself these questions, that is when I began to question politics.

My parents taught me values that I value today. First, they taught me to listen to and consider all opinions and not be judgmental of others. They taught me that every single human being is an important part of this world. And along with listening and considering others' opinions, they taught me to never, ever be afraid to express my opinions and stand firmly in place for them. And above all, my parents taught me to never do that which I don't love -- always do what I love. Over the years, I have realized that politics is a career that I truly want in my life, and over these past years I have realized that the values that my parents instilled within me will allow me to be the politician who keeps the promises she makes when elected, and the politician who can effect changes that will give all Americans a quality of life that will allow them to live in dignity and not in domestic violence centers or using food banks.

I was invited to speak here today because of my speech experiences this year in the Wisconsin forensics speech programs. Forensics is a series of speech and interpretive events in which students choose an area to speak. While investigating political parties on the Internet for my speech, I first became informed of the Natural Law Party and called Priscilla Truen for more information about its platform. After researching, I realized that the Natural Law Party's platform conformed with my own morals and values, the values that my parents taught me, and I realized that the politicians who are running for office are exactly the politician I aspire to become -- wanting to better education, wanting to better health care, wanting to better our natural resources, and most of all, wanting to better America's youth for a better American future.

Although I have know for some time that politics was my future, it was only recently that I better understood what problems exist in American society. This past summer I traveled to West Virginia with my church youth group. The area in which we were working is one of the poorest counties in the nation. It has one of the highest drunk driving death and teenage pregnancy rates in the nation. It was not uncommon to see children walking around with no shoes, torn clothing, and scars from untreated wounds. It is shocking that these people are so accustomed to this way of living that they cannot imagine the style in which you and I live. No one, no one in America should live in such dire conditions. Once a coal mining area, this county is now without a major industry. Few people have jobs, unemployment is rampant, and most of the people have a very limited education.

After experiencing such poverty firsthand, I was convinced that helping these people and the millions of others who live in the same destitution is one of the main missions I hope to accomplish when I am elected to office.

Until that time, I plan to dedicate myself to helping this cause in any way that I can, which includes speaking and informing others about the very desperate needs of other Americans. Ladies and gentlemen, I want this coalition of parties to be successful. I want this coalition of parties to effect changes, the same changes I will effect when I am able.

Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you for this moment which is an honor and a memory for a lifetime. And ladies and gentlemen, I want you to know that hopefully, 20 years down the road, I will live in the White House.

Nat's final remarks:

You know, to those of us who were formerly young, I hope that the clarity and the depth of articulation of the ideas and the principles that we are hearing today ring true to you. You know, since we were young, we have started to lead lives to make money, to become embroiled in the day-to-day activities, and we forget the extraordinary clarity of youth in being able to look at problems unfettered by the nonsense that we older people live in our day-to-day lives and to see solutions. And that's why we promise -- really promise -- to make young people a part of our administration.