Four decades ago a group of teachers led the charge to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 with the 26th Amendment. The push was with the thought that any person old enough to be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War had the right to vote. The organization Rock the Vote celebrated the 40th anniversary March 23 with Democracy Day, in which they held 20 assemblies to teach high school seniors nationwide about the importance of voting.

One of those assemblies took place at Lake Washington High School with a special guest speaker – U.S. Congressman Jay Inslee, D-Bainbridge Island.

“Our goal is to hook them into our democracy,” said Inslee, who represents parts of Kirkland, Bothell and Redmond in Washington’s 1st Congressional District. “One of the ways they can express themselves is to vote.

“We want and need their brilliance. We need new ideas that are creative and many of those will come from this generation.”

Inslee was introduced by two Lake Washington High School students and spoke to the seniors for about 15 minutes before opening up a question and answer session.

“I knew this was a cool school when I saw the pictures of Elvis on the doors to the office,” said Inslee, who graduated from Shoreline’s Ingrahm High School in 1969 and won a state title as a high school basketball player.

Inslee told the students how he got involved in politics and touted the new health care bill passed last summer.

Some of the students took the question and answer session as an opportunity to ask Inslee about serious current issues that will affect their generation.

Lake Washington senior Alexandra Mariani asked what the Congressman’s stance was on nuclear energy in the wake of the recent earthquake in Japan.

“There are obvious dangers associated with nuclear energy and we are seeing it in Japan today,” said Inslee. “But there are downsides to every energy source.”

But the Congressman surprised Mariani when he asked her what she thought.

“I think our priority should be to ween ourselves off of fossil fuels,” Mariani replied.

“I was really excited to give my opinion,” Mariani told the Reporter following the event. “I wish there would have been more of a debate aspect to it, though.”

One of the students took the opportunity to ask about the added $8 trillion in national debt accumulated this decade and the Congressman’s record on spending.

“Four main things have contributed to the federal deficit,” said Inslee, citing the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Bush tax cuts, the recession and stimulus spending. “I was opposed to four of those. We spent $1 trillion for the Iraq war and borrowed it all. I voted against the Iraq War. I think we should bring the troops home from Afghanistan.”

Other students opted for the lighter side of politics, asking “If you could have any superpower what would it be and why?” To which Inslee replied “to be humble,” and was booed by many. The Congressman then changed his answer: “To be humble and fly.”

Inslee was originally scheduled to come speak to the seniors two weeks prior, but the announcement and press conference for the new Boeing tanker contract with the U.S. military meant that the Congressman had to cancel. The Democracy Day event was the perfect opportunity to reschedule.

“We are super excited to have both in the same day,” said Lake Washington High School teacher Lindsay Rogers. “Our main goal is for them to learn that they can have an impact and they have a voice.”

Rock the Vote has registered more 18-25 year olds to vote than any other organization and the event coincided with 20 other similar assemblies in places such as Los Angeles, South Carolina, Virginia and Cleveland.

“This is usually something we do in a classroom,” said Thomas Bates from Rock the Vote, who was also accompanied by the Washington Bus, a separate organization aimed at getting young people registered to vote. “This is great to get to do this with the Congressman.”

The event also included a mock vote and a video on the history of the 26th Amendment.

“I have been in a lot of schools and I don’t think people realize how bright this generation is,” said Inslee.