UVA TODAY — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin encouraged students and others who wish to make a difference in their communities to get involved at the state government level, saying more gets accomplished there than in the federal government. Youngkin spoke Friday at the 41st Annual National Student Symposium, sponsored by the University of Virginia School of Law chapter of the Federalist Society. The symposium was themed “The Federalists vs. The Anti-Federalists: Revisiting the Founding Debates,” and focused on the arguments surrounding the ratification of the U.S. Constitution to help shed light on the document’s original meaning. Youngkin, the 74th governor of Virginia who is now serving in the first year of his four-year term, was the keynote speaker. Noting he was speaking to the Federalist Society – an organization of lawyers, law students and scholars who support the principles of limited government they point to as embodied in the U.S. Constitution – Youngkin focused his comments on federalism, individual rights and the rule of law. He said he understood how people would be alarmed and discouraged looking at the extremism and dysfunction in Washington. Youngkin said James Madison, known as the father of the Constitution, “gave us checks and balances, but today in our nation’s capital it often seems like leaders have checked out and the balances in the idea bank have dropped to zero.”