"I like the fact that Obama's done so much so far with small donations. He talks about a new brand of politics where regular people can get involved," says Ned H. of Harrisburg, South Dakota. Ned, a 21-year-old junior at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, donated to a campaign for the first time in his life last week. Despite his age, Ned has been engaged in politics on the local level and beyond for quite some time. Ned twice ran unsuccessfully for the school board of Harrisburg (once coming within 2 votes against an long-term incumbent).
His passion has been education reform:
When I went to college, I realized I wasn't prepared nearly enough and that the education I had received simply was not up to par. I ran two times for school board to try to change things. I wanted to make sure teachers got paid better, to improve the quality of education. At least in my school district, it was more about educating everyone at the bottom level, more about preparing kids to go straight into the workforce rather than into college. The agriculture department in our school was really big and there's definitely a place for that, but the emphasis could have gone to upper level classes rather than emphasizing that students know how to judge cattle.
I try to keep an open mind and I think suddenly pulling out is a bad idea, but at the same time I don't think this war worth is losing my best friend over. I've opposed the war from the beginning. I couldn't see losing someone over this.
Ned is a Democrat but he says he doesn't consider himself "very far left at all." He says there are plenty of issues on which he disagrees with the majority of Democrats. Part of it, he says, is cultural. His family has been in South Dakota for generations, ever since his great great grandfather settled there thanks to the Homestead Act.
Ultimately, as a person from a predominantly Republican state, Ned is interested in a leader that can do "what Bush promised and failed to do… 'be a uniter, not a divider.'" "I think it's time for someone who brings us together based on what we have in common," says Ned.
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