Eighteen-year-old elected as youngest state lawmaker in US history

Discussion in 'Current Events' started by . : tale_wind, Nov 5, 2014.

  1. . : tale_wind Ice to see you!

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    Saira Blair, an eighteen-year-old freshman at West Virginia University, was elected to West Virginia's House of Delegates. She ran on a Republican platform and defeated her 44-year-old opponent Layne Diehl by receiving 63% of the vote as opposed to Diehl's 30%. (A third candidate received the other 7% of the vote.) “History has been made tonight in West Virginia, and while I am proud of all that we have accomplished together, it is the future of this state that is now my singular focus,” Blair said in a released statement. “When I made the decision to run for public office, I did so because I firmly believe that my generation’s voice, fresh perspective and innovative ideas can help solve some of our state’s most challenging issues,” she added in a post on her campaign's Facebook page.

    Blair first gained national attention when she defeated the 66-year-old incumbent in May's primary vote when she was seventeen.

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  2. Misty gimme kiss

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    I've heard of her before and am of course impressed that a young woman was elected to any kind of political office, though I was upset to hear that she's actually extremely conservative on many issues, including abortion. That doesn't jive too well with me but democracy and all I guess. Still pretty cool.
     
  3. Meilin Lee RPG (Red Panda Girl)

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    Yeah, that bugged my moderate liberal mind as well, but like you said, this is what democracy's about.

    Anyway, I personally find this great, and I do hope more young people try running for public office in the future.
     
  4. Makaze Some kind of mercenary

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    Trappings of power and all that jazz.

    She will become an even worse person.
     
  5. al215 Kingdom Keeper

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    While she might be rather conservative (for many people's liking including my own. It would be nice to have someone more liberal), from what I can tell it's at least good that someone 18 years old is actually getting somewhere within politics. It's been said already, but the point still goes. It's not necessarily a bad thing to have someone of a younger generation in a fairly significant position like that. It's another sign that times are changing and new ideas and ways of thinking may start coming in. I'd like to think that this could be the start of a new trend and I hope it is, because having younger people in politics might allow governments to actually understand the current generations. I think that in many ways, the older generations are disconnected with the newer generations and while this isn't a drastically high position like a senator, it perhaps opens the way for younger people to enter the higher posts. It might change the way things are viewed by the government and cause a little more empathy towards younger people. That I believe, carries a lot of potential for the future.