Jim Matheson, former U.S. Congressman, spoke at the BYU Forum on Tuesday afternoon at the Marriott Center. Matheson told students and faculty that democracy is best served when people are engaged in the political process; and encouraged students to be actively informed about the world around them.
Matheson gave four ideas on being engaged in the political process:
1) Take part in the whole political process.
"It's not just about voting in the general election, we need people to engage in the nomination process."
2) Learning to be politically engaged starts at home.
"I got interested in what it means to be a citizen...because my parents talked about it at the family dinner table. They told me how important it was. It's going to take that kind of conversation at all our family dinner tables to encourage this notion of what it means to be a true citizen of this country."
3) We need to take the message beyond our homes.
"We need to talk to friends, colleagues about what really matters. We need other people to show up."
4) Just showing up is not enough. We need to be informed and engaged.
"It's not just about showing up. We need active engagement. Being well informed takes effort and it takes judgment...you've got to really dig to find it."
If you missed Matheson's address, you can watch it on BYUtv.org.
Next Devotional: Elder Larry Y. Wilson, Quorum of the Seventy
The next BYU Devotional address will be held on Tuesday, December 1, at 11:05 a.m., in the Marriott Center.
Elder Larry Y. Wilson, a member of the Quorum of the Seventy, will deliver the Devotional address.
His remarks will be broadcast live on BYUtv, BYUtv.org, KBYU-TV 11, Classical 89 FM, BYU Radio.
