Much has been made about Bernie Sander's popularity with the younger voters, 18-29 year olds. Many of these people are very idealistic, others lacking of political history (which is pretty easy to get online tho), many are both. Every election or two, someone who is going to change politics and end partisanship comes along on a white horse or white horse-like animal that shits rainbow. Obama is kind of guilty of this, of course, if you really bought it, not that I did in the 2008 primary.
I am a millennial. I was born in the latter half of the 1980s, have barely consciously known a world without the internet, never was alive in a country which in my lifetime banned people voting, living, marrying on the basis of skin color, and so on. However, because I've been following politics since I've been in high school, and first closely followed a campaign in 2004, after kind of knowing ones were happening in 1996 and 2000, I took the time to learn history, which is reflected in many of my posts. It's readily available via online archives, which is why I don't buy the excuses out there about not knowing how different times once were, or how public opinion once was.
Why should a millennial support Hillary Clinton? Here's why:
1. Promises to "change politics" and "end lobbyists," be an "honest politician," etc. have proven themselves to be talk only, and thus fundamental dishonesty. Hillary isn't into that kind of thing. Hillary is a pragmatist who knows how things work and thus has the tools and tactics to be an effective leader. Her experience as FLOArkansas, FLOTUS, Senator from NY, and SoS give her a governing advantage that is unmatched in recent decades.
She doesn't pray on people expecting that politics and international relations will become a big kumbaya. Even if, like other politicians, she can parse words or whatever, she in reality is a much more honest representation of how this contact sport works.
2. Hillary has a realistic plan to make college affordable and accessible for all that will not drown our country in debt that millennials and their kids would be burdened with. A plan that teaches responsibility, hard work, and leaves them without insurmountable debt, if any tuition bill at all.
Students should never have to borrow to pay for tuition, books, and fees to attend a 4-year public college in their state under the New College Compact. The additional support they receive will reduce all costs, including living expenses, by thousands of dollars. Students at community college will receive free tuition. Students will have to do their part by contributing their earnings from working 10 hours a week.
Hillary's plan reflects both the difficulties millennials face but doesn't feed into the "everybody gets a trophy" meme out there.
3. Hillary will show that gender will not hold back an aspiring American leader. This creates a better atmosphere for women who aspire to move up in their professional lives and reach for fields formerly dominated by men. Women of all races, creeds, and religions will have a much stronger hand going forward.
4. Hillary Clinton's foreign policy will help help arrest the global advance of radical jihadism. September 11 will move further into the background. HRC will also help see to it that Putin doesn't replace the old USSR with a stronger and more technologically advanced reincarnation so that millennials' children can grow up in a safe world. Her policies will help see to it that wars like Iraq don't happen again while she's President.
5. Hillary's environmental policy will see to it that the improvements in the environment made since 2009 will continue forward so that millennials and their children breath better air and drink better water. That's why HRC opposes the Keystone XL pipeline, and plans to have more than half a billion solar panels installed across the country by the end of Hillary's first term. Hillary understands how such legislation occurs, instead of just clapping her hands in front of a lotta college kids and thinking its gonna happen.
Sure it may help that in my life time, I've only consciously experienced an era free of the stigma Jimmy Carter's term (rightfully or wrongfully so) put on the Democratic Party, thanks to Bill and Hillary Clinton. There are a million and one more reasons why millennials should support Hillary, but here are some of them.