TEDxTulane
A talk on youth political participation and the structural barriers that exclude young people from the systems that govern their lives.
Youth Political Participation
At TEDxTulane, I delivered a talk on the structural exclusion of young people from political systems. Drawing on direct experience founding and leading the Youth Coalition For Organ Donation — an organization that changed legislation in multiple states before any of its leadership could legally vote — the talk challenged the assumption that political efficacy is a function of age.
The central argument is straightforward: young people are not future stakeholders. They are current stakeholders who are systematically denied access to the decision-making processes that shape their education, environment, healthcare, and economic futures. The talk examines why this exclusion persists, what it costs democratic systems, and what changes when young people stop asking for permission and start building their own platforms for influence.
This is not a talk about potential. It is a talk about performance — about what young people have already accomplished when institutional barriers are circumvented rather than waited upon.
The Full Talk
TEDxTulane
From the Stage
“Youngpeoplearenottheleadersoftomorrow.Theyaretheleadersofrightnow—andthesystemsthatexcludethemareweakerforit.”
On youth political agency“Civicparticipationisnotaprivilegeextendedtothoseoldenoughtovote.Itisafundamentalrightthatbeginsthemomentapersonisaffectedbypolicy—whichistosay,frombirth.”
On expanding the definition of participation“Webuiltanorganizationthatchangedlegislationintwostatesbeforeanyofuscouldlegallyvote.Thatisnotananomaly.Thatiswhathappenswhenyoustopaskingyoungpeopletowaittheirturn.”
On the Youth Coalition For Organ Donation“Thequestionisneverwhetheryoungpeoplearecapableofpoliticalleadership.Thequestioniswhetherexistinginstitutionsarecapableofmakingroomforthem.”
On institutional barriersKey Takeaways
The data behind the argument — quantifying the gap between youth capability and institutional inclusion.
Half the world is under 30, yet youth representation in legislative bodies globally averages less than 2%. This disconnect between demographic reality and political representation is not a gap — it is a structural exclusion.
The Youth Coalition For Organ Donation was founded and led for over seven years, achieving legislative change in multiple states, all before its leadership could legally cast a ballot. This trajectory challenges the assumption that political efficacy requires formal enfranchisement.
Presumed consent organ donation legislation was advanced in two states through direct advocacy, coalition building, and testimony — work entirely conceived and executed by young people operating outside the traditional political apparatus.
The voting age of 18 is treated as a natural boundary for political participation, but it is an arbitrary convention. Young people are affected by tax policy, education policy, environmental policy, and healthcare policy long before they can vote on any of it.
“The measure of a democratic system is not how well it serves those who already have power. It is how effectively it incorporates the voices of those it has not yet learned to hear.”