Just returned from a great event with the Penn Democrats. Speakers included myself, Chris Bowers, Michael Nutter who is running for Philadelphia mayor even if he can't legally admit that, Joe Hoeffel, Lois Murphy, Patrick Murphy, Dennis Spivack, and Paul Lang.
All the speakers did a great job, especially me of course, and kudos to the Penn Dems for hosting the event and for putting out what looked like a great food spread even though I didn't sample any because I was about to speak.
In my brief talk I mentioned that it was important for candidates and institutions to not just exploit willing young people as volunteers but to also find ways to actually pay some of them, as not everyone can afford to take a summer off without pay. I didn't make clear that volunteerism is a great thing, and kudos to all of the people who do it, but I also think that by relying too much on volunteer labor campaigns end up excluding a huge chunk of the young population from participating in politics.
