A Conversation with the Fall GU Politics Fellows
Below is a transcript of Carly Kabot’s conversation with the GU Politics Fellows for Spring 2020. It has been lightly edited for clarity.
CARLY KABOT: Hello everyone, I’m Carly from On the Record. Let’s jump right in. What motivated you to become involved with politics? What brought you to where you are today?
MARY KATHARINE HAM: I am in politics really because I like to talk, but I also like to listen. I grew up in a community where I was, not from the very beginning, the ideological outlier, but I have always liked to contest the majority view to poke at ideas and to understand why people believe the things they do. And, why people enact the policies they do. In my town that meant it was an extremely liberal town, so I asked a lot of questions like why are we doing it this way? And is that benefiting the people I go to school with and the families from different socioeconomic backgrounds that are all together in this place? At a young age, I just started to wonder about policy and that led me to politics. I think culturally it has gotten harder and harder to talk about politics in a way that is edifying and fun. I keep doing it with the hope that I can convert more people to having fun with me on these topics, even when it is tough and even when we disagree.
FAIZ SHAKIR: I’ll just answer very briefly for myself. I will say that it has always been the injustices that drive me–– about this system. Going back to the first time I got politically involved, it was around the time of the Iraq War, post 9/11, the lead up to it and watching it as an American Muslim. So, watching it with that particular lens but also just generally seeing a government that at the time felt like it was doing something reprehensible and heinous, with severe international and domestic impact. And yet, the system just kind of carried it through. Since then, we live in one of the most growingly unequal times in American history–– massive levels of unemployment, obviously stricken by this crazy pandemic, but nevertheless you see a structural collapse of people unable to get basic standard of living in so many places in the country.
One of the eye-opening things about traveling with Bernie Sanders around the country was to see them firsthand–– the desperation of communities that have become shells of themselves and what they might have been 20 or 40 years ago. And trying to project that out into the world with greater climate catastrophes, more unemployment, more uninsured, fewer jobs, more wealth accumulating at the top. Then you say: okay, how is the system going to respond to these fundamental challenges? On the path we’re on, you would not be crazy to say “well it’s not going to do anything.” That is a massive injustice and I have always felt that if not me, who? If you have these passions then roll up your sleeves and get involved. You can whine and complain and get involved–– not one or the other. Not whine and complain and sit on the sidelines and say the system is terrible and I’m not going to have anything to do with it. Quite frankly, if you are living in a utopia where people are free in the truest sense of the word I would be coaching baseball. Politics isn’t an arena I particularly naturally enjoy, but one I am compelled to be a part of.
LIS SMITH: I got into politics because I was very interested to see what presidents could do to change people's lives, the way government can change people’s lives for the better, the impact of policies, but also because it combined that with being completely intoxicating and thrilling. It makes my job easier everyday because I can’t believe I get paid for what I do.
ERRIN HAINES: I spent most of my career studying the intersection of race and a lot of things. I gravitated to politics because race is the unfinished business of our democracy and the unfinished history of our time. Race and politics really just felt like the most urgent intersection. When I started covering it full time was in 2008 with the election of Barack Obama, obviously the country’s first black president. For me, it was a natural extension of the beat I already had, which like I said was writing about issues of race in America. To me, all politics is identity politics, so it makes sense that race and politics would be an area of coverage. Now, I get to cover race, gender, and politics, which is to really bring my lived experience to the newsroom as an asset and not a liability. So that’s a short answer to your question I hope.
CARLY KABOT: Thank you all for your answers. For the next two questions, whoever wants to answer can feel free to jump in. First, what is one lesson you have learned from your experience that you would tell students who are entering this field for the first time? That one piece of wisdom?
ERRIN HAINES: I think the last thing I just said that your lived experience is an asset and not a liability. You know, even now, there are things about who you are and your multiple identities can be brought to bear how you approach politics. But also, if you are someone who wants to go into journalism, who you are telling stories and who gets to tell stories, and who you are seeing and choosing to be included in those stories. A lot of times people will leave part of themselves at the door, but I think that can only help in so many ways for people to understand what it is that they do better and to see our elected and our democracy more clearly.
CARLY KABOT: Thank you. I’ll ask my final question, which is about this unique moment we find ourselves in right now, all physically separated. What is it that you want the students you will be working with to know?
MARY KATHARINE HAM: I can go and I’m going to jump back in to the other question because I liked it. Two quick thoughts, but the first is very practical. If I were to do it over again, I would not be a generalist. It is a lot harder to make it in politics covering general politics as opposed to having a real specialty and a policy specialization. For people going into politics finding that thing makes a lot clearer what a path could be. A lot of people want to do all of politics and end up doing a pundit thing or a press thing. Finding that policy specialty of yours increases the possibility of success. And two, I always say this to young ladies in particular, but I’ll say it to everyone, get yourself a negotiating coach when you go in to talk about your salary. You will feel better about what you are asking for and you will maybe ask for what you are actually worth. It will get you farther… it builds a stronger base throughout your career to build on. I had a friend who would just psych me up like a football coach every time I went into a negotiating process because it is very uncomfortable for so many people.
As far as what I want people to know, I am very cognizant that we are all in this same weird boat together and we are all having these weird stresses and learning to deal with them in new ways. I am excited to give students a bunch of grace and for all of their different opinions and takes and ways of dealing with this. I am excited to be surprised by what they have to tell me.
REP MIA LOVE (R-UT): One of the things that I get really frustrated with is when people say, “I just don’t get involved with politics. I have so many other things to do.” The one piece of advice I would give is the same advice I would give to my kids, or anybody–– even my parents, aunts, and uncles. The world doesn’t revolve around you. Even though you think it really does, it doesn’t. I think everyone is given a gift or talent and it is their responsibility to use it for the betterment of society. That is one thing I would say.
The other thing is that if you are not standing up, if you are not making your voice heard, I promise someone else will do it for you. And you may not like what they have to say. So, not engaging, stepping back, is never going to work out for you and really, I think that’s what it means to have a Washington led by people versus a people led by Washington.
FAIZ SHAKIR: I think I speak for a lot of my fellow fellows. I think we all really want, and for me personally, people who may not agree with us to be part of the conversation and to engage with that. So I hope all of us are extending that welcoming place of telling us that you have a different perspective, or that you see things differently, or would like to have a conversation about that. Certainly, I am mindful of that coming to this conversation with deep ideological background policy views, but in that way I really want to hear you tell us where you think differently and know that it is a place we are trying to create and welcome.
Carly Kabot is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service from Westchester, New York. She is an aspiring political journalist.