Recently, Charlene Martinez - a young, Democratic activist - said to me, "Although I'm young, I'm starting to get disillusioned by politics. But the one thing I cling to, is that if [Americans] can vote for Barack Obama as president, then anything is possible. And I cling onto that for dear life."

Charlene is starting her second year at the University of Nevada-Reno; she's 19 years-old and her first caucus and first general election was dedicated to campaigning for Obama. In my opinion, she's blessed to have come of age in this remarkable and historic time.

But the alarming thing about my friend is that her age belies her world-weary outlook on politics. She's intelligent, optimistic and insightful, which is the cause of my concern. If the brightest of the new generation of voters were already beleaguered by the inherent compromises in the game of politics, 10 months after the most historic election in America to date, it doesn't bode well for the future. This age group was among the first to be engaged by the presidential election, but the politics-as-usual attitude of elected officials seems to be wearing thin.
At this point, the onus falls on us - as Washoe County Democrats - to mentor our young Dems at every level in the county, be it in high school or at the college level. While the Young Dems at the University of Nevada Reno did great work before the election and will undoubtedly continue to do so for the 2010 elections, we must be willing to extend our hands to them and support every effort they make.

While Gov. Jim Gibbons' budget cuts threatened the very existence of higher education in Nevada, our Democratic, legislative leaders took on the mantle of leadership to override his veto and allocate funding for the universities. But not everyone nor every program was spared. How many professors will not be returning this fall and how many courses that many students looked forward to will no longer be offered? Eben Webber, the son of our own executive director, is no longer able to earn his degree in International Relations within four years because of budget cuts.

It's our responsibility as the local Democratic activists to take this basic information and present it to the student citizens and help them to see that without our party's leadership in the last legislative session, more severe cuts would have been made. It's our duty to illustrate that even with the ideological shift that took place nationally with the presidential election, state and local politics have a bearing on daily life. It's our obligation to educate and inform the youth about the impact of local elections and how the Washoe County Democratic Party can help in terms of affiliation, resources and objectives on the immediate political stage.

As Charlene said, we need to cling onto that hope for dear life, if for nothing else than to teach the younger generations of Democrats that sustains us and makes us stronger.