I have never been less cynical about the benevolent power of U.S. election politics than when I was 17, freshly dumped by my first serious friend who participated in the American Legion Auxiliary California Girls State . Girls State, like its American Legion-sponsored rival Boys State, has designed a week-long government-in-action summer program to educate teens about state government and foster civic responsibility, democratic participation and patriotism. These typically take place on college campuses across the country, where participants have the task of creating their own state government through mock legislation, submissions, campaigns and elections.
The 85-year-old program is also the subject of a Sundance US Grand Jury Prize-winning documentary directed by Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine. Filming under the hot Austin sun of Texas Boys State 2018, Boys State deals with some of the biggest political issues of our time – including civic dialogue, election responsibility and ethical campaign – through the eyes of 1,100 crisp, talking teens as they debate abortion, gun rights and the preservation of their own masculinity. At first glance, Boys Statethe sea of mostly white boys who pay American flags and describe themselves as’ right-wing libertarian[s]A big-time capitalist[s]’It might seem like a summer camp for, as one politically progressive participant described it,’ conservative indoctrination. ‘Earlier in the film, another teenager is interviewed for the chance to see Boys State join a competitor dressed in full military attire. He remarks anxiously, “If there are a thousand children dressed like that? I do not know … do you know that? ‘
However, the documentary quickly shifted to consider the perspectives of a handful of Boys State attendees across the political spectrum. While one statesman flutters his Ronald Reagan action figure (who speaks!), Another shows the March for Our Lives chapter he leads on Instagram – a move that comes back to haunt him during his bid for “governor” . ” In many ways, it’s the frenzied, hopeful week that these guys mirror my own at California Girls State in 2014: the reach of political perspectives, the intense community, the passion for making political change. But the documentary also shows how much the program depends on the real-world political climate of a particular place and time.
For much of the film, Moss and McBaine have viewers at the edge of their seats about which of the boys will move up to the program’s highest, and most coveted, position. I will never forget when my advisor on Day One looked at all our eager faces and told us that the governor of the Girls State would be elected at the end of the program and only “for about 18 hours” in office holds, governs. I allowed myself to take the more relaxed route of running for my city council, being elected on the first day of the program, and resting more easily knowing that I would have to accept the stress of submitting and campaigning for state positions.
Madeline Ducharme
Being rocked on city council. Sure, it sometimes felt childish when we came up with foreign cheers, made paper hats, or wrote ourselves hoarsely in the dining room. But at other times, it felt extremely mature, especially when we advocated for the laws that our city most cared about in provincial meetings and instructed them to pass certain positions on education, immigration, climate change and LGBTQ rights on the platform. of our party. Boys State differs, either because of location or gender as the difference that a few years can make, showing restless participants proposing legislation to ‘ [Texas] Prius owners to Oklahoma, ‘ban pineapple pizza and cargo shorts, and change official pronunciation from letter’ W ‘to’ Dubya. ‘ Placing one child for serious discussion is filled with anger.
That is not to say that the girls were never caught in terrible trouble. (I remember how an ethical question about letting a community use a water source, even if it would destroy a fictitious fish population, derailed the campaign, even earning one candidate with the secret nickname “Fish Killer.”) But the environment that these Texas teens experienced in 2018 versus the one I experienced in 2014 is a crucial new element: technology. When I attended, California Girls State was an analog event, and campaign via social media was strictly prohibited. In Boys State, the old-school way of elections is rapidly abandoned in favor of partisan propaganda, racist memes, and personal attacks via Instagram.
René, a Black participant, debate champion, and one of Boys StateThe best orators, becomes the subject of a vitriolic campaign on social media in which the whole members of the group who chose him to lead their political party, engage him. He discovers an @impeach_rene Instagram account – but drifts far above her digital harassment with a level of self-confidence and grace that very few other guys his age display, even if the account betrays racist attacks. It’s an ugly moment in the program, one that sheds light on exactly how the 2016 election shaped the way some of these teens viewed the American political system and gave it a new set of tools.
The naivete and optimism of for the most part privileged teenage girls in the Obama era helped me and my employees of Girl State free our elections from the ugliness of social media. Even my optimism about the program as a whole has largely disappeared over the years. Noticeably absent from Boys State is every discussion of Donald Trump. Indeed, remarkably few current American politicians are ever mentioned, although the rare exceptions include a “Beto for Senate” T-shirt worn by participant Steven on the first day. Given my experience with the program, that’s probably meant. At California Girls State in 2014, even before the Trump administration’s rancor, we were advised to keep actual politics and politicians out of discussion. “This week is about the state yes want to create, ”we were told. I have to wonder if Steven was also offered this “advice” off-camera and told to change his shirt.
It is also noteworthy that Boys State does not name its two political parties after the Democrats and the GOP, instead being passed on by the Federalists and Nationalists – although no one is such an innocent name as they seem to think. I loved the program when I was present, but now that I look back on it, it is hard to imagine that Girls and Boys State can effectively claim that our form of government is inherently good, effective, and important when that whole argument is required. on escaping the larger context of our actual (continuously failing) democracy. If anything, Boys State show how these failures are bound to creep in anyway.
