By Jill Sunday Bartoli

Proud to be a Pennsylvanian

Just six months ago our Pennsylvania lieutenant governor spoke to a packed Stern Center at Dickinson College with a message of respecting the rule of law, being true to our Constitution and serving a democracy we can believe in. Austin Davis encouraged young people to get involved in the government, to run for office as he did at an early age, and to help defend the values and principles we all believe in as citizens in a democracy.

But why would our youth even think of getting involved? In this month of Valentine love and Black History justice, it is so unconscionable to see empathy, compassion, fairness and equality crushed under white supremacy, power grabbing and blatant greed. We hear of the rule of law and our sacred Constitution being trampled under the boots of ICE and the federal administration.

The amazing thing is that there actually are some youth who are willing to get engaged and make a difference. A Carlisle High School student, Landon Spence, has organized a Democratic club with 50 members pledged to join with others in the community to defeat the cruel and dictatorial practices of our government.

Landon explained, “I founded the Cumberland County High School Democrats to give my peers and me a real voice and a meaningful way to participate in the democratic process. Seeing the direction our country is headed, we knew we couldn’t just sit back, so we chose to step up, get involved, and work to create change ourselves.”

Dickinson College students have worked with local and state candidates to inform voters and to engage in the process of thoughtful voting. With the Carlisle Area Democrats and groups like CV Rising, they have asked questions like, is your current legislator rubber-stamping Trump’s violent and inhumaneattacks upon our own people?

It was great to see a Republican representative from Pennsylvania, Brian Fitzpatrick, voting for more accountability from ICE after the murders of two of our citizens. Local citizens also ask, is your senator standing up against corporate and billionaire greed? And if the answer is no, what are you going to do about it? And who will you support to take their place?

Primary voting season is coming up in early May. We need to look carefully at the candidates and be sure they have a heart, a brain and a backbone to stand up to the cruelty, the lies and the repeated propaganda that is suffocating us in purposefully created chaos and despair.

In addition to being a proud Pennsylvanian, I’m also proud to be a Stephen Colbert fan. Looking into an audience of powerful and influential media executives, Colbert said:

We sit here surrounded by prestige, fame, and applause while the world outside struggles with hunger, injustice, and inequality. If your voice reaches millions and you choose not to use it for those who have none, then you are not creating change—you are creating noise.

If you are a registered Independent who cannot vote in the primary, it is possible to change your registration before the primary election, and then change it back afterward.

Remember it has been Democrats who have fought for open primaries in Pennsylvania so that everyone can vote and all voices are heard. So far, the Republican majority opposition has prevented this in Pennsylvania, but we can change this.

After thirty years of teaching high school and college students, I am proud to be a Pennsylvanian because our youth, and those of us who are now grandparents are working hard together to claim and use our voices for the benefit of others—not just ourselves. Colbert said it well:

If you have more than you need, it stops being just yours. Your responsibility is to lift up those still carrying burdens you can ease … Legacy is not measured by fame or awards. Legacy is measured by how much suffering you ease and how many lives you lift.

Jill Sunday Bartoli is professor emerita at Elizabethtown College and writes from Carlisle, Pa.