The Dangerous mixture of Politics and Indivisualism

One might assume that the student body at Lewis and Clark is exceedingly politically conscious and proactive. In class students seem passionate and in tune with a large and colorful pallet of current events. People are also very engaging passionate and seemingly eager to have conversations regarding the declining state of this country and our future predictions. On the surface this observation made me feel a bit optimistic. The approach and outlook that my generation specifically carries is one that now provokes dire pessimism.
American youth is unarguable much more individualistic than most countries around the world. The middle and upper class youth dream of careers that will provoke revolutionary action where they do not follow but instead lead. Self-fulfillment has always been the greatest incentive but a country of revolutionary leaders can not exist. People seem to voice their opinions for the sake of personal recognition rather than sincere and intended change.
I was absolutely astounded when I observed some of my peers during the political debates. I imagined watching the debates in a large group and sitting in my room watching them on my computer did seem appropriate by any means. I imagined watching them in the main lounge in platt-howard, amongst my peers who were just as passionate, and interested in what we were watching as I was. In reality people were unable to stay focused and interested for the entire 2 hours of the debates. By the time the debates finished only one third of the students were able to stay the entire time of the debates. I rushed to the debates from dinner accompanied by two of my friends. After a half hour, they decided to watch in on their lab top in their rooms. I was interested if they really would follow through with doing what they said and so I asked them about it later on. As expected, they responded with something along the lines of “ distracted and forgetting”. During the debates people were texting, talking on the phone, or usually just leaving all together. I feel a lack of collaborate efforts and genuine understanding of the dire situation that is worsening every day in our country.