One of my friends (a recent college grad) recently posted a note on Facebook explaining what she's been going through politically the last couple years. She started off a big Obama supporter in 2008. (I've only made minor edits to keep her narrative going and to keep her anonymity.)
Having been raised by two hippies in Los Angeles and having selected History as my area of study when I started college in 2006, it is safe to assume that I supported Obama in 2008. It is safe to assume so because my parents have always been and are still very attached to their liberal roots (and would NEVER vote for a Republican, as they still hold grudges against Nixon and Reagan) and as a history major and hopeless romantic, I happened to have a fantasy of the 1960s returning to the US. And in 2008, Obama seemed like he was going to make that happen; he and Michelle and his daughters signaled the return of that nostalgic Camelot that was lost when America lost Kennedy. The WORLD loved him, for god's sake.
So I waited in line at UCLA for three hours in the rain to see Michelle, Oprah, Caroline Kennedy, and Stevie Wonder endorse America's savior-- it's definitely not pc to even mention, but Stevie Wonder fell off stage, got back up, and played a song on harmonica for Mr. President-almost-elect. He supported him THAT much. And I bought a shirt that said "Obama is my homeboy," and wore it as I shed a couple tears on election night 2008.
Typical story, right? College-age student in 2008, comes from liberal family in a liberal state, supports Obama strongly. What's the big deal?
It's what happened to her after Obama's election that serves as a warning to anyone here who thinks Obama's got the youth vote in the bag for 2012. It's the next part of her story that we need to pay attention to. More of her story below the fold.
But as I continued my schooling and Obama's flowery inauguration speech turned to Wall Street appointments and bailouts and endless bombs, invasions, reshuffling of troops, and shifting tactics toward Iran, I increasingly doubted his conviction.
And so I lost faith in America. JFK is dead, has been dead, and won't be coming back. Obama turned out to be a specter-- and a cleverly sinister (or helpless, depending on your opinion of his presidency) one at that-- of a prosperous America that we left behind last century. I graduated from university far more pessimistic than I was going in-- after all, history is a very sad story. But as several months passed and I endured life after my public education, I started to view what I learned in a very different light.
The case a lot of Obama supporters make today is that Obama may not have ended the wars, and perhaps yes, he did expand them. And okay, maybe he did sign the NDAA, but if you're not a terrorist, who cares!? The country is better off now than it was four years ago. The truth is that regardless of how many people Obama ensures has health care, or how many cookie crumbs he throws to the people with a jobs bill that really just mirrors NAFTA, his violations of the Constitution are so atrocious that there is no argument for his legitimacy as a president. That is because I have decided that while big, social government is a defensible way to approach government, as is the idea of limited government, as Americans there are real principles that run deeper than interpretations of the scope of the state that we ignore at our loss. Just as the liberals scorned Bush for his initiation of the Patriot Act - as all Americans should have-- we as a people should be demanding Obama be held accountable; the Constitution walks no party lines, and that is exactly why it is worth defending (obviously, amongst other reasons).
If you've read enough of my previous diaries and comments here, you may know where this is going. She has gone from disillusioned liberal to... fervent Ron Paul supporter. I've written before about these Ron Paul supporters I know. Young, mostly liberal people, who've been swooped up into fervently supporting Ron Paul because they don't like Obama for the wars or the coziness to the big banks. We've had discussions here on what makes them tick. But too often, this paints only a 1-dimensional picture of what's going on.
By all respects, she should be a solid liberal Democrat. She agrees with us on almost all the major issues of the day. But her disillusionment with some things Obama did, and other things Obama did not do, has caused her to now join the "Ron Paul Revolution". She then rattled off some of the same stuff about Ron Paul we've seen other supporters say. But unlike many of his other supporters I've talked to, who've completely swallowed the Kool-Aid about ending the Fed and shrinking government to the point of choking us all to death, she hasn't been brainwashed in that regard.
I do not agree with all of Ron Paul's policies, and in all honesty, I believe that if America ever wakes up and demands material, tangible accountability from their representatives and leaders, there is a chance that a more social, big federal government could somehow thrive. But given the state of corruption politics at both the state and national level has reached, there is simply no justifiable reason to hand over more power to those who have stolen it and used it to spit on our rights and reputations as not only Americans, but as (F-ING) human beings. War is not okay, regardless of the letter next to the mongerer's name. Arresting people without trials or due process ships us back to the 17th century. Writing regulations to favor corporate invincibility while taxing the people to keep the crooks afloat is offensive to the individual, the people, and the foundations of everything the American Revolution defended.
I spend so much time lambasting Obama because I feel genuinely betrayed. I donated my hard earned $8.00 an hour income to his campaign when I was 19, only to have more of my money snatched and donated to TARP, and my poor American heart broken. I CRIED for the guy when he got elected. And for what? Some eloquent rhetoric we will someday quote as the beautiful and irresistible rhythms of a dictator (should the side of liberty win). Anti-Paul crusaders call his campaigners conspiracy theorist loons, but all I can go on is history, principle, and the Constitution. With that, only one candidate is left standing. JFK is not coming back, but we have one real, last shot at paving our own way... and it is time for the establishment to recognize that "in the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger." We should not shrink from this responsibility - we should welcome it :)
Now, she may be an extreme example because she went all the way from fervent Obama supporter to fervent Ron Paul supporter. But her story of disillusionment is hardly unique. I'm still at UCLA. I see the mood. While most young people will still vote for Obama over any of the Republicans, the enthusiasm and passion I saw in 2008 is not there. Now, it's based more on the fear of what the Republicans will do (hello, GOP war on women). Her story of disillusionment is palpable and very much real among young people.
My worry here is not whether the youth that show up to vote in November will vote for Obama or Romney. My worry is whether they'll show up to vote in the first place. All those young people that showed up in 2008? Yeah, most of them stayed home in 2010 and let the Republicans sweep a lot of good Democrats out of office. And I have yet to read any article that talks to young people who didn't bother to vote in 2010 admit they made a HUGE mistake, and will definitely be voting in 2012 to try and correct that. I'm not sure they recognize that cause and effect.
I realize a lot of this is going to be based off of what Obama does or doesn't do in the coming months. But what can we do without executive power to convince young people to actually show up and vote for Obama (and especially Democrats downballot so he doesn't get stuck with a Tea Party Congress) this November? What can we do to break their disillusionment with what they perceive as a lack of substantive change the last couple years, combined with some bad policies as it relates to Wall Street and civil liberties?
And when Ron Paul finally ends his campaign, can we bring some of his young supporters back into the fold?