Aging Reading Democratic Committee is dying for younger members

By Steve Reinbrecht

Reading’s Democratic Committee has to figure out how to get younger people to join, according to Larry Miccicke, voted president last month.

Perhaps that’s a vacuum for a new generation of city leaders to fill. And raising political awareness in Reading could affect county races.

The committee should have 88 members but has only 39, and that’s the highest membership level for a long time, Miccicke said.

All over, even older people have become disenchanted with politics, but the young are least involved, he said.

Having a robust political party in Reading is important. The University of Southern California has a good list of some of the reasons that parties matter.

1. In a political system where well-funded special-interest groups have the most influence, parties give political clout to everyone. Rich people have money; poor people have votes.
2. Parties promote compromise and moderation. “Leaders work hard to forge compromises on issues to keep as many people in the party as happy as possible. That usually requires that extreme ideas get turned into more moderate ideas.”
3. Parties make it easier for voters to vote by lining up candidates with similar views and policies, and anything to make it less onerous to vote is welcome. “Voting research strongly supports the hypothesis that party identification makes voting easier. The stronger the party identification a person has, the more likely they are to vote.”
4. Parties play a role in organizing political campaigns, especially on the local level. They recruit and screen candidates, recruit volunteers, raise money, plan strategy, work to get people out to vote, and provide campaign advice. 
5. And they recruit new groups of voters.

The city committee is inclusive, Miccicke said, and has members of all races and ethnicities.

“What you don’t see is young people.”

Miccicke wants to have more events – rallies and parties in neighborhoods – to spark interest. 

Voters need more opportunities to talk with local politicians who represent Reading – state Reps. Tom Caltagirone and Mark Rozzi, and state Sen Judy Schwank. The three are very approachable, which helps engage newcomers, he said.

Miccicke will need more members to work during elections and call prospective voters. In a world of social media, robocalls and caller ID, nothing is more effective than personal calls from a neighbor, Miccicke said. 

With a higher turnout in the city, Berks Democrats could control more county elections, Miccicke pointed out. Interest among city voters is high in city races for Reading School Board and City Council, Miccicke said, but there’s less interest in state offices. Democrats’ clout is dilute in Berks County, which has been gerrymandered to dispose of Democrats into conservative Republican districts.

In the primary election in May, 44, 932 people were registered to vote in Reading – 32,003 Democrats, 6,056 Republicans and 6,873 “other.”

The Berks County Democratic Committee’s website lists seven races with no Democratic challenger -- those for U.S. Congress in the 15th District, and for state representatives in the 124th, 128th, 129th, 130th, 134th, and 187th. 

The committee doesn’t have the same percentage of Latinos as the city does, but the proportion is rising, Miccicke said.

There will be some discrimination and close-mindedness as people who differ from traditional Berksians get more power, he said. And there isn’t a grand alliance among Latinos, many of whom identify most closely with their homelands than their language. Maybe they could rally around being Democrats if they could see how that could pay off.