In a time of ever-increasing political polarization, two Mercer County high school rising seniors had the opportunity to experience first-hand the power of positive politics and government in uniting people with different backgrounds and perspectives.
Ashwin Bindra of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North and Joseph Stilwell of Steinert High School were both selected for Boys State and then elected as the two New Jersey senators to Boys Nation, which gave them the opportunity to practice drafting legislation, make speeches, run for elections, and find ways to make government work for all.
Boys State and Boys Nation are summer programs sponsored by the American Legion for high school students (there are also Girls State/Nation programs).
The programs offers students the opportunity to participate in simulations of city, county, state and federal government. Students are divided into two fictional political parties—the Federalists and Nationalists. Over the course of a week, they compete in elections and explore policy issues through debates and seminars.
During the Boys State program, two representatives from each state are selected to go to Washington to participate in Boys Nation.
Bindra, 17 and a resident of West Windsor, found a passion for exploring political processes based on the lack of faith in the current system. “A lot of people think that their voices aren’t being justly heard, and that a lot of politics now is based on corruption where money can buy you votes, which is unfair,” Bindra said.
Stilwell, 18 and a resident of Hamilton, also found a frustration with the current political process, especially during the 2016 primaries and general election. “It was a very heated time, and people got a lot more politically active. All the aspects fascinated me, and I realized that good government is about electing people that represent us, help people, and actually do what we tell them to do.”
Because of their passion for politics and government, Bindra and Stilwell said they were immediately interested in Boys State.
“Some kids do sports, I do politics, so participating in Boys State was a no-brainer. I have a deep interest in U.S. history, and this experience provided an atmosphere to have interesting conversations,” Stilwell added.
New Jersey’s 2018 Boys State program, held June 17 to 22 at Rider University, was one of the largest in the country, with around 950 participants. Both Bindra and Stilwell were selected for Boys State by their schools and moved into Rider University just a few days after school ended.
Bindra was a Nationalist and Stilwell a Federalist, and both ran for a variety of political positions. Through the week, Bindra served as: a city councilman; city, county and state party chair; and Superior Court Appeals Judge. Stilwell also ran for numerous offices, including party chairman, which he narrowly lost.
Despite this loss, Stilwell still found the electoral process quite exciting. He used his ‘Average Joe’ slogan to spread a brand-name, which set the stage for a successful Senate bid. “I found it very exhilarating to run for office, because this was something brand new to me, running across a college campus in a political relay race trying to get votes, and also making friendships and connections,” he said.
Ultimately, Stilwell and Bindra decided to run for the Senator position, and worked hard to reach the primaries. “I ran around the Rider campus at 7 a.m. with around 40 other students vying for this position just to even get to the primary debate. I was one of the four kids that was able to reach the minimum of 55 votes,” Stilwell said. Then, in both the primary and general election, Stilwell and Bindra were able to give strong pitches about their policy positions and why they should be elected, and were finally elected as the New Jersey Senators.
Stilwell said he learned about how people with different political stances can still be well-natured and kind to each other.
“I found it very fascinating listening to conservatives and liberals debate on stage,” he said. “It was interesting to see both points of view clashing, but at the end of the day they can shake each other’s hands and become friends, which is something that’s very lacking in today’s political discourse.”
Ultimately, Stilwell and Bindra decided to run for senator.
“I ran around the Rider campus at 7 a.m. with around 40 other students vying for this position just to even get to the primary debate,” Stilwell said. “I was one of the four kids that was able to reach the minimum of 55 votes.”
Then, in both the primary and general election, Stilwell and Bindra were able to give strong pitches about their policy positions and were elected as the New Jersey senators to go to the next level.
Boys Nation is a simulation of the U.S. Senate made up of the representatives from each of the 49 states that participate in Boys State (Hawaii is currently developing its program). Boys Nation 2018 was held July 20-27 at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia.
Right away, lessons learned at Boys State about befriending people from different backgrounds and perspectives become even more obvious, as students from all across the country started to interact.
“You had your New Englanders, your Southerners, and it was really fun to talk with them about normal teenage things, like Star Wars,” Stilwell said.
“Especially during Boys Nation, we met people with a wide range of ideologies, people from California who might be a lot more left-leaning than the people from Texas or Ohio. The main thing was that we had to put aside your stereotypes of other states, but also to break down the barrier and work with people to find some middle ground,” Bindra added.
For the first few days, students broke off into their respective parties and sections and created party platforms, based on issues such as prison reform, the opioid crisis, and gun control. After creating their platforms, the parties elected different nominees for positions of President, Vice President, President pro tempore, and Secretary of the Senate.
Bindra shared his experience in shaping the Nationalist party platform. “A lot of people consider themselves liberal or conservative, but when you’re in fictional parties without set guidelines, you have to come together and make sacrifices to work with people with different opinions. For the Nationalist party, we made a platform that was middle ground. For example, we didn’t go super harsh on gun control, but we also recognized that there has to be some regulation to ensure that the mass shootings that are occurring do not continue,” Bindra said.
“It really taught us about trade-off and compromises. We realized that, if we’re able to reach across the aisle, there’s no reason that the politicians in office today shouldn’t be able to do that as well, which is a big lesson that the counselors stressed,” he continued.
For Boys Nation, each Senator also had the opportunity to write a bill on a policy issue of their choice and present it to their peers. Bindra wrote legislation about reducing mandatory minimums in prison, which was passed by the Senate and signed into law by the chosen President, and Stilwell proposed a flat-tax bill, which reached the committee level of discussion. Both said they were pleased to see their ideas spark policy conversation with their peers.
Outside of this simulation, the Boys Nation Senators took advantage of their location near Washington D.C. to explore their nation’s capital, a “living, breathing museum,” as Stilwell put it. They took a field trip to the National Mall, and saw the Jefferson and Vietnam Memorial and the Holocaust Museum, among other sites. They also visited the White House and met Vice President Mike Pence.
One notable part of their experience was Capitol Hill day, where the young men, along with their counterparts from Girls Nation, had the chance to meet with the actual Senators from their state. Bindra and Stilwell were able to meet with junior Senator Cory Booker briefly, but had the chance to sit down with the legislative staff for senior Senator Robert Menendez to discuss their ideas, and how they related with the work the Senator was doing. “It was really great to see that the senators were already thinking about some of the policies we had come up with and felt strongly about,” Bindra said.
Both Bindra and Stilwell cited the last night as the most memorable part of their trip. “We got together in our sections and just talked about our experience,” Bindra said. “It was very emotional, but also very insightful, because we learned a lot about people’s backgrounds that might not have come up in the rest of the week. You go late into the night talking about life stories and how it’s shaped who we are and our perspectives.”
“Boys Nation is called ‘A Week That Shapes A Lifetime.’ For everyone in the beginning, that was just a phrase that didn’t really mean anything, but by the end of the week, everyone really felt that it was a week that shaped a lifetime,” Bindra said.
Joseph Stilwell, American Legion national commander Denise Rohan and Ashwin Bindra visit the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, during Boys Nation this past July.,
