How Boys State explains America's broken politics

Everyone wants to understand how politics got to be the way it is now. Books and articles have been written, and doctoral theses submitted, all in an attempt to put a finger on what a teenager explains in five words in the fantastic new documentary Boys State: "Talking about taxes is boring."

Out Friday on Apple TV+, Boys State follows 1,100 Texas high schoolers as they attempt to create a representational government during the American Legion's annual Boys State program, which has served as a launch pad over the years for the likes of Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney, and Rush Limbaugh (yes, there is also a Girls State). The experiment is idealistic: what if you could build a democratic government from the ground up, without the real-world concerns of budgets or donors? But alarmingly, the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, self-proclaimed "political junkies" quickly clue into the fact that talking about actual policy is less likely to get them votes than stoking partisan tribalism and yelling about someone taking away their guns. It's also less fun.

On the one hand, this is exactly what you might expect when you get a bunch of 17-year-old boys in a room together. Joke resolutions, like banning pineapple on pizza or funding a $15 billion extraterrestrial defense system, get applause; a teen who briefly attempts to restore order is booed.

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But the teens do take seriously their mock elections. The boys are divided arbitrarily into "Federalist" and "Nationalist" parties at the start, which have to create policy platforms and field a candidate for governor. Rather than debate anything substantial, though, most gubernatorial hopefuls take to hollering about gun rights, abortion, and "illegal immigrants." Sometimes they just resort to shouting "Go Feds!," like their political party is a football team.

It's mesmerizing to watch. Though the boys (who are predominantly conservatives) are partially parroting arguments they see pundits make on TV, you also get the sense that they really aren't so different than grown-up politicians — only they're not quite sophisticated enough yet to pretend to be discussing something meaningful when they're really just looking to bash the "other side" for applause.

While "culture wars" have been around forever, "petty tribal arguments are now driving the bus on serious policy," Politico Magazine wrote in 2018. Boys State allows you to see the breakdown from policy to manufactured controversy and us-versus-them warfare in real time. You watch as it dawns on the leaders of tomorrow that this is how you motivate voters into backing you (being earnest — the alternative — has markedly less success).

Who can blame them, though? They learned from the best.