Of, By, For the People
By Shivanshi Sharma
WHY I STARTED
Up until eighth grade, I had very little knowledge about the United States government and different world affairs. When the longest U.S. government shutdown in history was going on, I had absolutely no idea about it. And I didn’t care. I didn’t see the importance of knowing about what was going on in my country or the world because I didn’t think it affected me. In eighth grade, I had been doing Science Olympiad for the last two years, but my dad forced me to quit Science Olympiad after seeing how miserable I was doing it. With the extra time, I decided to join Junior Model United Nations. JMUN is a competition in which kids represent a country and debate world problems from their country’s stance on the issue. JMUN completely opened my eyes to world issues I didn’t even know existed, and it, along with my U.S. history class and a school trip to Washington D.C., inspired me to delve deeper into national affairs. As I read and learned more about our government and our elected officials, I realized that there are many issues in our government that make it inefficient, and a majority of those issues stem from the ignorance of voters. Even though our government is very powerful, these issues hurt us and our country by making it harder for the government to help those who really need it. But, I don’t solely blame the voters. Many reputable news companies, such as Fox News and CNN, are biased, difficult to understand, and boring. So, that summer, I started Of, By, For the People, a nonpartisan student organization that aims to inform people about U.S. politics, and national and global affairs in a simple way to empower them to make better decisions. It has been a little over a year since I started Of, By, For the People, and the organization has evolved and taught me a lot, not just about our country, but about leadership as well. I hope that people use our organization to develop a love for our world and country that they use to learn more about it and get involved in helping it.
IMPORTANCE
We vote for the people who we want to represent us. With educated and responsible votes, we can prove that the morals and credibility of a person matters more than anything else. Unfortunately, most voters do not put in the effort needed to make an educated vote, which is why Congress is flooded with members who have ulterior motives. For example, many of our elected officials are funded by big corporations. They rely on those corporations to fund their campaigns to keep them in power. Therefore, when they vote or draft legislation, oftentimes they prioritize the interests of the corporations over their constituents. The members who initially propose a bill work for countless hours to make compromises on the bill to ensure that it passes. This is one reason why it takes so long to pass a bill, and why laws are not incredibly effective. We have the power to change this. Although money can and often help, it is ultimately our vote that gives elected officials power. If we put more effort into educating ourselves about the character, beliefs, and credibility of candidates, we can make our government more efficient, which in turn, will benefit us.
It is important to recognize the importance of more local elections. Although most of us tend to focus most of our attention on the presidential elections, the result of smaller elections are equally important. For example, many of us can name several Supreme Court Justices, which are appointed by the President, but few of us can name an equal amount of judges in our cities. However, it is important that we know about them because in order for a case to reach the Supreme Court, they need to go through courts with judges that we elect. Therefore, we should make sure that we not only thoroughly research presidential and congressional candidates, who tend to get more attention, but our local mayor, councilmembers, and other elected officials. Most importantly, we need to vote because, as said many times, decisions are made by those who show up.
For example, given the severity of the 2007-2008 economic recession, Congress felt compelled to pass legislation restricting big corporations and Wall Street to prevent a similar devastation in the future. The resulting legislation, the Dodd-Frank Act, took a little over a year to pass, which is relatively fast for a bill, and wasn’t as effective as the legislators who wrote it originally intended for it to be. In order for the bill to pass, it needs to satisfy the majority of legislators in the House of Representatives and the Senate, but many of the members were and continue to be funded by big corporations and Wall Street, so they did not support any legislation that went against them, even if the legislation helped their constituents.
It is important to recognize the importance of more local elections. Although most of us tend to focus most of our attention on the presidential elections, the result of smaller elections are equally important. For example, many of us can name several Supreme Court Justices, which are appointed by the President, but few of us can name an equal amount of judges in our cities. However, it is important that we know about them because in order for a case to reach the Supreme Court, they need to go through courts with judges that we elect. Therefore, we should make sure that we not only thoroughly research presidential and congressional candidates, who tend to get more attention, but our local mayor, councilmembers, and other elected officials. Most importantly, we need to vote because, as said many times, decisions are made by those who show up.
For example, given the severity of the 2007-2008 economic recession, Congress felt compelled to pass legislation restricting big corporations and Wall Street to prevent a similar devastation in the future. The resulting legislation, the Dodd-Frank Act, took a little over a year to pass, which is relatively fast for a bill, and wasn’t as effective as the legislators who wrote it originally intended for it to be. In order for the bill to pass, it needs to satisfy the majority of legislators in the House of Representatives and the Senate, but many of the members were and continue to be funded by big corporations and Wall Street, so they did not support any legislation that went against them, even if the legislation helped their constituents.
WHAT WE DO & HOW TO GET INVOLVED
Of, By, For the People provides knowledge on national and international political affairs and political topics, such as abortion rights. We have an amazing team of writers that works hard to give our readers fresh information about politics two to three times per week, whether it be background on a politician or news about the elections. We also have a hardworking team of activists and graphic designers that puts informative content in a beautiful format to educate people about political topics and different stances on the topics to encourage empathy between people with differing beliefs. We hope for people to become inspired by the knowledge we provide, research politics at a more local level for them, and use their research and knowledge to make informed votes. We are always looking for more students to support and join us, and therefore, we strongly encourage you to check out our website (https://forthepeople517.wixsite.com/mysite), and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/of.by.forthepeople/), and continue to stay informed.
Shivanshi Sharma is a sophomore at Scripps Ranch High School. She is the founder of Of, By, For the People, and she enjoys exercising and watching The Office in her free time.
Podcast episode can be found here.
Podcast episode can be found here.