As a political guru and now Coordinator of the Political Awareness Committee, I've heard my share of "politics is (insert negative adjective here)." From boring to irrelevant, there are dozens of reasons people offer for avoiding political involvement or even confronting political issues.

Especially for students, politics is the "real world," that area outside the bubble of the Hill that we don't have to think about until commencement. We like to think that we can coast through college with an "education" and somehow avoid all the decisions being made in our absence.

Despite this idyllic image of student life, almost all of us are Americans by birth, and citizenship is unavoidable. Few people on this campus are younger than 18, which means we all have the opportunity to participate in the upcoming election. Not only that, but failing to exercise our right to vote, our right to choose the direction of our government, is not only missing out on a rare opportunity but scorning it. Americans have died, have protested, have lobbied to ensure our generation the opportunity to decide our political future-don't waste it.

Ironically, the nearly 80% of college students that don't vote aren't being as apolitical as they think. Do you work? If so, you pay taxes, which implicitly means you recognize the right of government to part of your earnings to invest in the public interest. Do you volunteer? Then you are saying that service is an acceptable means to help those who society has failed to assist (or who have made poor decisions). Do you go to church? Then you enjoy your right to freely practice your religion without interference from government or imposition of a foreign religion.

Here we get to the heart of the matter. If all of us are so involved in day-to-day interactions that are politically relevant, then why can't we discuss things politically? Political structures are not about parties and elections, issues or advertisements, but utilizing common resources for the public good. Our Congress is not supposed to be about Republicans fighting Democrats over the limits to abortion and whose pants were where, but a place where problems facing American society can be resolved.

So, when PAC works on campus to facilitate political awareness, we aren't trying to raise another generation of bickering politicians or even force people to talk about campaigns and issues. PAC tries to delve into student life to find those issues that are already being discussed: in FCA or Volunteer Network (VN) or even Student Senate. We then try to encourage people to connect these issues they deal with to real practice of civic involvement.

Maybe you won't vote this year, but you'll come hear a PAC speaker talk about white privilege (October 10th). Maybe you'll participate in VN and think, "why are there always homeless people for us to serve?" That's what politics is really about, examining the ways that people can work together to make communities better. Sure, this kind of organization needs structure, which is why we have government. But at least in America, we're all invited to participate.

Upcoming PAC Events:
Tuesday 10/3 - Mary Carlsen speaks on "Integrating political activism with family and work life" at the PAC discussion dinner. Time TBA.

- PAC sponsors the presidential debate, on network television in the Pause! Cheap popcorn and drinks will be available.

-John Farrell is the PAC coordinator and a senior at St. Olaf College.