Before September 2006 few people may have heard of Eden Prarie, Minnesota, but the heroic actions of one young man in Eden Prarie may be remembered by future generations of Americans as the touchstone of the next civil rights movements. Which may very likely be the last civil rights movement in America. That is, the movement for the civil rights of young people.
Taking an action which he calls, "The biggest thing he's ever done in his life", a young man named Jesse L. Hunter had his credentials examined, showing his birthyear as 1989, and was told to proceed to the voting booth. A script which most of us take for granted. But in this case, perhaps for the first time in US history, an educated, morally sophisticated 17 year old man cast his ballot.
In a climate very ever plummeting voter turnouts show the increased apathy of the currently enfranchised American public, and where two consecutive presidential elections have yielded a 50/50 split, showing that the Americans can't tell the difference between the two major party candidates, or that, in fact, politics is merely a toss-up, the DA in Mr. Hunter's area decided to move forward to charge Mr. Hunter with the class 1 felony mandated by the state of Minnesota for voter fraud.
For wanting to participate in his own government, Jesse Hunter faces up to one year in prison for doing something that most of us would be applauded for. The following are Interviews with Jesse Hunter and with National Youth Rights Association: Alex Koroknay-Palicz
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To elaborate, in the bioregional state, each watershed has a civic democratic institution (CDI) that is informally made up of only and all residents born in the watershed or 'naturalized' to it by ten years solid residence. So all ten year olds either by birth (regardless of where they are then, can vote in their 'natal watershed' if they desire), or by residency, in this informal civil democratic institution.
This CDI would be for selecting and honoring people all in the watershed admire for whatever capacities they are doing already instead of empty election promises based form of election. This could be for anyone and everyone who could be honored in this way.
In the watershed, these votes are tallied up. This goes into a civic appreciation body of assembled honored residents. You can vote in a 'negative' vote as well--in other words if you don't like someone who is being honored, and don't want them recognized, instead of being forced to vote for someone else (the only way Democrats were supported in 2000 with Gore and the only way they are getting more power presently in 2006, instead of people actually liking the Democrats), you can simply cast a simple negative vote.
There's a bit more detail than this in the book, though that's the gist of it.
Several years after age 10, after having the honor of informally participating for three years as a watershed voter in the CDI, I think it would be I think be good to tie in at 13 a "democratic coming of age" ceremony with giving the right to vote tied to this age.
This would be several years after ten year olds had time to both watch (age 1-10), as well as participate (10-13) in their local watershed council as a watershed voter for several years. This would serve as an important civil prepraration for democratic ethics, tying their groundwork to the watershed and the locality, instead of addicted to artificial political parties run by external corporations without any home anywhere.
Thus the suggestions would be for a form of 'living learning school' for democracy from age 1-10, watching the watershed and capable of being elected to its CDI, and from 10-13, capable of voting in it, and at age 13, capable of voting in the wider world. Starting small and building slowly.