The 2024 elections, coming in less than a year, are set to be the most expensive electoral cycle
in U.S history, with $10 billion being spent on TV ads alone. $10 billion spent on commercials, all while young people have been fighting to see reform on countless issues and their voices continue to
be ignored- issues like rising prices, low wages, a growing climate crisis, student loan debt, gun
violence, attacks on our reproductive rights, funding destruction overseas and a democracy that
is far from representative.
We need to demand action on these issues from our leaders, because our futures are at stake.
Today we turn on the news to see nations in rubble, orphaned children covered in burns,
dismembered, with no food, water or hospital supplies. An entire population ran out of their own
land and American tax dollars paying for the bombs obliterating their homes and destroying their
communities. 66% of Americans call for a ceasefire yet our government seems to think they are
no longer accountable to the people. Ignoring the majority and acting on self serving, destructive
agendas. I’m tired of politicians telling us that our problems are too complicated or too
expensive to fix.
We haven’t seen any action on all these critical issues, even though the majority of the country
agrees that they should be solved. Why? Because we have a government that’s bought and
sold out by the same corporate and special interests that can spend 10 billion dollars on political
ads. Americans are struggling to be heard and our government is only fighting the battles of the
highest bidders.
The silver lining is that we can do something about it. Our university administration has
spent $684,000 (in 2023 alone) to influence lawmakers, acting just like billion dollar
corporations do! Right now our university is spending money to pass laws that benefit
only themselves, not the students they are supposed to be assisting.
As individuals, we don’t have the leverage of a billion dollar corporation, but as thousands of
students on UW-Milwaukee’s campus, we do. If we students have a say in how our tuition
money is spent, we can put the issues we care most about on the university’s spending agenda.
This means that through the university we can better move our lawmakers to finally take action
on pressing challenges, like gun violence, climate change, and healthcare. Our University has
the opportunity and the responsibility to work with young people to ensure we have a
government that prioritizes our needs.
That’s why I’m organizing with Un-PAC, a non-partisan student organization focused on
empowering our generation to determine our own futures. By passing a set of Youth Power
Reforms on campus we can make it easier and more accessible for students to vote while giving
us the power we need to redefine this political landscape. This campaign is about our
generation completely owning our political, voting, and economic power as students.
Our reforms would cancel classes on Election Day, ensure there’s a polling location right here
on campus, and give us, students, a say in the university’s lobbying priorities. Our plan would
uphold UW-Milwaukee as a beacon for youth power and more! 2024 is the year we stop relying
on politicians to rescue us and step up to save ourselves.
I won’t lie and say that I’m not anxious about what the future holds, but if you ask me what I’d
expect for the 2024 elections, I’d say: Expect to see young people on the ballot.
You can learn more about Un-PAC Milwaukee and the work we’re doing via instagram
@unpacuwmilwaukee and sign the petition on our website!