Generational politics have come to the forefront this cycle. The standout surprise has been the continued impact of the youth voters in the Millennial generation. This generation includes people under 30 like Chelsea Clinton (28) and me (22). What is driving this vote and who are these voters? I want to explore that question about who we are as a generation in the broad sense and why we are coming to the polls along with what the implications of that are. Is this turn out about us or is it about Senator Obama?
In America we love to label (see Penn, Mark), so it comes as no surprise that the TM has been hard at work trying to figure out and label my generation. Here are three quotes that taken together give a fairly complete view about my generation, based on myself and my experiences.
We're ironic, sarcastic and self-deprecating, a reflection of the pop culture and politics that played out while we grew up in the 1980s, 1990s and onward. We were weaned on Chevy Chase movies ("Spies Like Us," of course, being the best), grunge and MTV's "The Real World" (seasons 1 and 2 only, please) and trained by the Onion, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to detect spin in the most banal comments. People my age shed privacy at the nearest high-speed Internet connection and, more often than not, display the very grown-up qualities of self-awareness and self-reflection. (Ian Shapira-Too Solemn for Her Generation? WaPo Sunday, May 4, 2008; Page B01)
Millennials mostly reject the conservative viewpoint that government is the problem, and that free markets always produce the best results for society. Indeed, Millennials’ views are more progressive than those of other age groups today, and are more progressive than previous generations when they were younger. (The Progressive Generation
How Young Adults Think About the Economy- Center for American Progress)
Recent studies have shown that we, the youth of America, are more narcissistic than our predecessors. A recent study shows that despite these recent studies just mentioned, there is little evidence that shows us to have increased impressions of ourselves compared to previous generations. The U.S. Navy calls us "narcissistic praise junkies" and "a somewhat alien life force". Tom Friedman from the New York Times says we are both "more optimistic and idealistic" and "less radical and politically engaged" than is necessary. We are "actively defining the global context." We are civic generation with a belief in political and social systems. We are the most diversified and unified generation. We are only interested in tangible results. We are over individualized, self-promoting, narcissistic. We are "thin skinned individuals who do not take criticism well and think we are better than we are." We don’t want to work for it, actually we don’t want to work at all. We work hard, as long as it's on our terms. We even get our own consults representing us to corporate America so our boomer bosses can "manage" us more appropriately. We have the highest sense of entitlement of any generation. We will never be as financially successful as our parents based on current economic conditions. We re-invented the midlife crisis into the "quarter-life-crisis"... does that mean the 25 is the new 50? We have been taught to believe that anyone can do anything, it isn’t true. More of us will get college degrees than ever before. We will carry larger college debt than ever before. We increasingly feel like forces outside of ourselves control the outcome of our lives. We are oversexed. We are a generation made of pop stars and party kids. We are defined by technology. We have no real belief in anything. We have only an ironic response to life. We have no inspiration. We are afraid of being taken. We are cynical. We are hopeful in the future. (http://genwho.blogspot.com/)
My own view is that my generation is defined by failure. If you want to see how badly the Republican brand is damaged look at my generation. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are failures. The economy under the Republican Party has been a failure for the future prospects of the young. If you read the Center for American Progress study the angst shines through. The study focuses on the Progressive character that is forming in my generation. This character is more progressive than any in the last 40 years and more supportive of progressive politics across the board than the generation immediately proceeding us. There has been a failure to address the coming of Global Warming. Osama bin Laden is still out there. We have been paying attention and because our views must be long the implications of a lack of opportunity economically and success in anything else has not gone unnoticed. It is not hard to make the leap that the Republican Party is responsible since they have held the presidency for the last eight years and the Congress for an additional 6 years before that. The biggest challenges of the last decade have gone unresolved and that will affect us for all our lives.
These failures way heavily on my peers and myself. Being self-aware and engaging in self-reflection is not something that seems to lead to a plethora of happiness. I once spent a week where I contemplated the meaning of life and death and man was that a black hole I do not want to go back into. Knowing that you and your Country have these awesome burdens to deal with over the course of your life can, and probably should, make anyone anxious. Think about the news we have received since growing into maturity. It has been mostly bad. The news is constantly filled with crime and death and scandal juxtaposed with mindless trivialities. 9/11 opposite American Idol. So yes, we have become skeptical of a great deal that goes on in our lives and our country. We express this skepticism politically by voting against the established way of doing things and denouncing non-reality based politics.
The establishment has been Republican. My generation if nurtured will not be Republican. We are pissed off by the failure of the establishment and we think we can do better. We vote largely for Obama a candidate who speaks to a way of doing things based in unification rather than division. For these things we are called naïve by Bill Clinton. That statement by Bill was important because it reveals the divide between the those from the 60’s and the Millennials. The basis for this is that many of those who went through the ideological battles of the 60’s and subsequent decades have become disillusioned or burned out and believe my generation is bound to follow the same path. These people hold the view that life is cyclical and that they have been there done that and so clearly they know better-and they might.
Still, I think that this idea is wrong. Generally, the views that people develop when they are young are maintained. It is a myth that people become more conservative as they get older. In fact, the findings of a 2007 study of 30 years of public opinion data in the prestigious American Sociological Review "contradict commonly held assumptions that aging leads to conservatism." According to the CfAP:
several studies have found that people actually become more progressive as they get older. A textbook on generational analysis argued: "According to almost any constant definition of conservatism people typically become less rather than more conservative as they age."
The key to tapping and maintaining the progressive Millennials is to avoid acting in a manner that embodies all the reasons we credit for our current failure. That is the key to the Obama Millennial connection. We were educated on the ideas of tolerance and working together. Team building and a focus on consensus are also characteristics exhibited in the problem solving behavior. As already discussed the spin and deception are a non-starter. The short-term thinking is not enough. If the primary had been between two candidates, who were very establishment figures the youth vote would not have shown up in the current numbers. The numbers would have been higher because of the hatred for Bush and the war, but not as high as we are currently seeing.
The picture is not all bright and rosy though. For every millennial involved and deeply invested in the process there are plenty who are not. The lack of investment in education has really been a problem. There are people who do not have the first clue about government civics or politics. Many of my peers have no understanding of history and many have tuned out to current and world affairs. Despite this apparent ignorance, I still have confidence that working together we can solve many of our greatest challenges.
Some have expressed distaste for the idea that the election may serve as symbol for passing the torch. It is true that the support Obama enjoys comes from all different quarters. This myriad and diverse support does not mean that we should not look to involve my generation in a baton passing. If we want to lock up the future in a progressive majority, we cannot burn out my peers engaging in politics for the first time. Feeling as if no one cares or is interested in your thoughts or ideas has a tendency to do reduce participation. Making some time and some outreach now will have major benefits for the future.
The answer to the question about whether the surge in Millennial voting is due to Obama or to us and our activism is that it is both in combination. Sen. Obama has run at the right moment in time to connect with the burgeoning progressive majority. However, my generation needs to be activated or else it will lie dormant supporting the progressive policies in theory but not engaged enough to make a difference. Unlike the TM, Obama has not talked about us, he talks to us. That difference between "to" and "about" is a fundamental difference that must not be overlooked. That he can organize over the internet is just one example of how he meshes with the Millennials. He speaks to our hope and confidence and does so in our language. We need to believe that meeting these challenges is possible, after all we have our whole lives ahead of us.
I hope this has provided some insight into my generation or at least made sense in some way. I can only base my observations on my experience so I guarantee not every millennial is as I described. Hope it was not too rambled. i recommend reading the study on Millenial Opinion here:
www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/05/pdf/progressive_generation.pdf