September 30, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "The Congress and the general assemblies and the president are responsive to voters," says Lee H. Hamilton, the 1952 DePauw University graduate who served 34 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. The veteran statesman is quoted in a story which examines a report showing 45.5% of Americans voted in the 2010 congressional elections. Only 21% of citizens ages 18-to-24 cast ballots.
"It's no accident, for example, that much of the federal budget flows to older people in various programs, and that is because, in large part, older people vote," Hamilton tells the Indianapolis Star. "The flip side is true: Younger people do not vote nearly as well, and so
the country tends not to pay as much attention to their interests."
The U.S. Census Bureau report finds that college-educated people made up 68% of voters last fall. People without a high-school diploma only comprised 6 percent of voters.
Read more at IndyStar.com.
Called "Mr. Integrity" by Newsweek, Lee Hamilton served as co-chair of the 9/11 Commission and Iraq Study Group. He is now director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University. On March 15 he returned to DePauw to deliver a Timothy and Sharon Ubben Lecture. A summary including video clips can be accessed here.