Looking for a better way

An Eckerd College student sees personal action as the means to a more responsive, responsible political system.

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 7, 2000

Mike Tucker

• 22
• Eckerd College/Environmental Studies
• Campaigning for his ideals

[Times photo: Jim Damaske] Eckerd College student Mike Tucker hits the road for Ralph Nader's Green Party.

The system must change, Mike Tucker says.

"Young voters think politicians are corrupted, that there will never be an honest politician," he says. "I think it should be one person, one vote, not one dollar, one vote."

Tucker is a Green Party volunteer. He spends countless hours campaigning for Ralph Nader in a system he says is hugely biased against a third-party candidate but desperately in need of one.

"Nader's not connected to Washington. That's appealing to me," says Tucker.

An Eckerd College senior reared in the District of Columbia and now registered to vote in Florida, Tucker was 18 when he voted for Bill Clinton. He feels betrayed. "He's moved too far to the middle."

Texas Gov. George W. Bush is anathema. His values are "abysmal," and he "can't form a cogent sentence."

"It's an embarrassment."

In Nader, Tucker finds a principled man.

"He's committed his life to the public good, to creating accountability where there was none," he says of Nader's work on public safety, the environment and election reform.

"I think his ideas about a living wage are important. The Clinton/Gore administration gives itself credit for the greatest increase in jobs. Nader, in his speech in St. Petersburg, said the average worker says, "Yeah, you created a lot of jobs -- I've got four of them."'

An avid camper and outdoorsman, Tucker went to work for the Public Interest Research Group two summers ago. Administered by young people, PIRG canvassed door to door on environmental issues, he says. "I got to lobby my congress person on updating power plants to higher clean-air standards."

Gen Y votes for 'none of the above' Young people 18 to 24 are one of the most disconnected groups of potential voters in the nation's history, experts say. The big question: how to get them to the polls. A wake-up call in college Shawna Mulford, 21, University of South Florida/psychology Pushing them to the polls Looking for a better way Mike Tucker, 22 Eckerd College/Environmental Studies Campaigning for his ideals Voting is the bottom line John Gehm, 20 St. Petersburg Junior College/Education Pitching the economics of youth

Last summer, at Americans for the Environment, Tucker exposed "astroturf" organizations -- faux grass-roots groups which front for corporations, not citizens.

On Sunday afternoons, he is with Food, Not Bombs handing out vegetarian meals and fresh fruit to the homeless in St. Petersburg's Williams Park.

"I think some people get a warm and fuzzy feeling from picking up trash along the highway, but there aren't enough such individuals to take care of the problem," says Tucker. "The reason I decided to work within the system is to structure our government in a way that's ecologically and fiscally responsible."

He set up a table by the mailboxes at the college. He waved signs on street corners. He organized Nader's appearance in St. Petersburg.

One student Tucker registered to vote did so because registering made it easier to get a state fishing license.

"There is," says Tucker, wincing, "the greater good of the society to be considered."

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