Like It or Not, the Democratic Party Now Must Answer to Millennials

[Rebkeh]

Like It or Not, the Democratic Party Now Must Answer to Millennials
Thursday, 05 May 2016
Aisling O'Donnell, Truthout | Op-Ed

One of the most recurrent allegations leveled at Bernie Sanders supporters is that they are young. On the surface it is difficult to imagine that accusing a supporter base of populating an age bracket could be advanced as a serious critique, but such is the frequency with which the observation is made that one has to assume that there is some popular appeal to the coupling of youth with political illegitimacy.

In reality, the disenfranchising of young people is an easy way to dismiss their grievances, a sort of a crowd directed ad hominem attack. This narrative has not only appeared in mainstream media, but both Hillary and Bill Clinton have sought at points to publicly make ridiculous the political participation of young people.

snip

Compounding these deep-set infrastructural problems, voter suppression in Arizona and New York, and the lackluster response to it, has only intensified suspicions that the democratic process is neither free nor fair, and that interference in the most rudimentary exercise in political participation is commonplace. This has exacerbated a sense that somehow young people do not exist in a full enough capacity as citizens to expect meaningful participation or recognition in the electoral process. In a climate of such heightened tensions, it is indeed risky to imply that young people are petulant or reckless when they refuse to fall in line behind Hillary Clinton.

snip

The concerns of Sanders millennials are reflective mostly of a desire to preserve some of the world they will inherit. Refusing to take seriously their grievances reveals a willingness to ignore the terrifying enormity, perhaps even impossibility, of that task. If an account is not given for voter suppression and penance not made to restore the confidence of a disenfranchised demographic in democracy, there is no telling what the fallout will be. But if history is to be any instruction, willful disregard of the suffering of poverty without recourse to political participation usually ends in violence.

Far from being myopic and disconnected, millennials are media savvy and politically shrewd, and they are not going to be placated by the type of windy rhetoric that sated the Obama electorate. If Hillary Clinton wants to bring them to the ballot box behind her, she is going to have to do more than talk in sweeping terms about uniting a party against a common enemy: She is going to have to convincingly change her politics, and in an atmosphere of high mistrust, that may prove complicated.

Read it in full:
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35891-like-it-or-not-the-democratic-party-now-must-answer-to-millennials

[hack89]

1. Once they start voting in significant numbers they will have influence.

the potential is there for sure.

[cwydro]

3. I'm not holding my breath lol.

It seems to be a kind of lazy cohort from what I've read and experienced.

[JI7]

4. when they get older they will just as happened with other groups

[puffy socks]

52. Yep

they're just the next "horrible and lazy generation".

[baldguy]

59. +1000

They make up 10% of the population, but only 1% of the electorate.

[Arugula Latte]

2. Go, Millennials!

They get it.

[SFnomad]

5. The number of millennials and baby boomers are about the same (the millennials have a slight edge)

but the baby boomers vote in significantly larger numbers. Once the millennials decide to flex their power by voting, they'll get the respect they deserve.

[Rebkeh]

6. Yes, and we should keep giving them (and the rest of us) something to vote for nt

[SFnomad]

7. They already are getting "something to vote for"

If they want other changes, their voices need to be heard ... and by that, I mean voting, not just talking.

[brush]

56. Yeah, and going to rallies, but then not voting.

[JPnoodleman]

29. millennials have nobody to vote for, the DNC is ensuring that. n/t

[SFnomad]

31. That's a cop out n/t

[JPnoodleman]

33. A Vote for Clinton is basically a vote for a Neo-Liberal Koch brother ally.

I'd say the base my generation can do is not shop, not vote, and let the country slowly wither and die at this point.

If it gives nothing to us, why give anything back?

[SFnomad]

38. What a load of crap. Also, that Clinton is going to be the nominee isn't the "DNC's fault"

You realize that we have been having primaries and that BS simply didn't get enough votes. And that millennials didn't show up at the polls in sufficient numbers. That enough of them didn't vote isn't the DNC's fault.

[JPnoodleman]

40. It is, as well as Boomer voters....

They got theirs and will elect one of their own to power.

My generation is wise not to trust this political party, it does not serve our interests and NEVER WILL.

[SFnomad]

43. Blaming voters for voting ... wow

You couldn't come across as more entitled ... you don't get what you want unless you work for it. Try it some time.

[brush]

57. That poster sounds a little suspicious.

[passiveporcupine]

8. We've had violence here in the past because of ignored poor treatment of workers

even resulting in many of their deaths on the job...just yesterday I was reading about the Ludlow Massacre. John D Rockefeller Jr ordered that attack. He only died in 1960. His father later testified that he would still allow his guards to do it if it had been his call.

It wasn't that long ago, 1914...just eight years before my Mom was born.

The result of that Massacre ended up with a change to an eight hour work day and child labor laws. It was not a direct result, but the country was shamed and it started a conversation. But this was during the gilded age, and even that massacre did not wake people up to the problems of inequality. It was another 15 years before the great depression that got enough people's attention that we voted in FDR in '33. The wheel of change moves ever so slowly, and it's repeating it's course this time around. Much too slowly. Only this time our planet is in danger too. Very few in the top 10% seem to care.

Is a massive violent act of desperation what it takes for us to get things done? How long will the oligarchs let resentment build before they respond (acquiesce to the need for cooperation)...or will it really take violence again. God, I hope not. We are supposed to be civilized people in this country...but it seems an awful lot of people have never really accepted that treating people well is what civilized people do.

So, we are in a new gilded age. I was also reading and looking at pictures of Gate's house in Washington. It reminded me of Hearst Castle. It's not necessary for anyone in a country so filled with poverty and hunger and low paying jobs, to live like that. It's obscene.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. Young wolves, show us your teeth. John Steinbeck K&R

Hopefully, they will no longer settle for the "lesser of two evils" and vote out of principle rather expediency.

[uponit7771]

10. Most millinneals like Hillary

[fizzgig]

14. not any of the millenials i know

nor any of the late gen xers.

[uponit7771]

15. Anecdotal

[fizzgig]

17. they support her against trump

but support sanders over her.

[libdem4life]

32. What's your source to support your statement?

[grasswire]

50. you don't get out much, I take it nt

[libdem4life]

68. Naw... but one special one calls me Mom. Silly retort.

[Il_Coniglietto]

47. Now you do.

Hi, we exist.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

12. Not if they're acting like immature bullys.... If they act like mature people then ok.

[liberal_at_heart]

13. if immature means holding politicians accountable and voting for whom

best represents your interests and values and being mature means voting blindly to uphold party loyalty no matter how corrupt politicians become then I'll side with the immature ones all day every day.

[uponit7771]

16. Immature = cutting off nose to spite face

[MillennialDem]

18. No, the Clintonites are the ones doing that.

[JPnoodleman]

30. Clinton is not entitled to my vote,

I don't own fealty to that Dynasty.

[Henhouse]

19. I've been hearing that since I was a millenial....

Course I was a Boomer....and as the name implies, there were a whole bunch of us.... Now we are card carrying AARP members and, there are still a whole lot of us.

I'm not sure how to get Millenials to get out and vote. It is a question for the ages....

[Rebkeh]

20. It's not complicated to get out the millenial (or any) vote

1. Unrig the system, or at least start getting serious about unrigging it. Restore, preserve and protect the integrity of the vote.

2. Run better candidates.

You cannot count on the anti-vote anymore, those days are long over. If we are damned if we do and damned if we don't, we cannot count on people to make an effort. Especially if voting is a pain in the ass, which it often is.

The media could step up their game as well by bringing journalism back. This is about democracy, not profit or ratings.

[Warren DeMontague]

25. A question for the ages? How about start with genuine reform on cannabis law at the federal level

Meaning full descheduling, not a token move from I to II which still leaves to conflict between federal law ans state recreaional/medical legalization intact.

An issue which is supported by a Majority of Americans, and a VERY SOLID majority of Millennials.

[thucythucy]

53. It amazes me that our candidates

aren't running with this issue. It's as though they think it's the 1980s or something.

Reform is happening--painfully, grindingly slow reform, state by state--but it absolutely needs to happen on the federal level as well.

I'm hoping that, after the election, President Obama will issue a blanket pardon to everyone in federal prison on nonviolent drug charges. I'm not sure if he has the authority to spring people from state and local jails, but if he does I'd hope he does that as well. AND work to restore their voting rights.

Honestly, declaring an end to "the war on drugs" is such a no brainer.

[icecreamfan]

21. 2012 Election 18-29 years olds voted 60-37 Obama. 65+ 44-56 for Romney.

Clinton, which age group doesn't do their own research and just likes to protest stuff again?

If only people over 40 in 2012 voted, Romney would have won. Young people were a major part of the Obama coalition and they certainly don't deserve condescending rhetoric and smugness from the likely 2016 nominee.

http://ropercenter.cornell.edu/polls/us-elections/how-groups-voted/how-groups-voted-2012/

[CobaltBlue]

44. I’ve posted that 18–29 are Democrats’ voting-age base…

That it was the only age group which nationally carried for John Kerry, the 2004 losing Democrat, when he received 48.27 percent to Republican president George W. Bush’s 50.73 percent.

But, this seems to be, as Al Gore might say, An Inconvenient Truth.

[icecreamfan]

48. I agree

Voters under 35, POC and single women are the Democratic Party base. But the liberal vs. conservative identification of those under 35 vs. previous generations is striking. It signals either large changes are going to be needed in the party platform or trouble is ahead in the coming decade.

[CobaltBlue]

49. A 2016 Hillary Clinton—perhaps the last time Ds can get away with…

nominating a Diet Republican for president of the United States.

A good amount of the 65+ Democratic primaries voters, from 2016, will have died. That means their influence in nominating those breeds of Democrats dies as well.

If nominating a woman was the most important motivator…instead of Hillary Clinton we should have Elizabeth Warren. Perhaps knowing well enough how the establishment operates may explain best why Warren shut down the calls for her to run.

This is a party of insiders which engineer making sure true liberals don’t get nominated to prominent offices. (Barack Obama—who signed on for propping up Wall Street and the military—turned out to be a fraud.)

I am guessing Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Chuck Schumer will design something in mind. (Schumer already has.)

It is time not only for the Old Guard of the Republican Party but also the Democratic Party to exit their stage.

[brush]

58. You won't do well here calling Obama a fraus an asking the majority of the party to exit

[malokvale77]

22. I would agree...

accept for the fact that the oligarchs are going to take it all with Hillary.

Elections will become defunct.

[realmirage]

23. You mean the ones who couldn't bother to show up

and help Bernie win? Everyone knows the youth vote is a mirage candidates chase at their peril

[Warren DeMontague]

24. You're gonna set the teeth flying with this op!

[CrowCityDem]

26. In the future, but not now

Just look at the voting statistics this cycle. Millennials are still a small enough group that they don't have the kind of influence being talked about. They might in four or eight years, but right now politics still belongs to the older generations.

[mehneh]

27. All the millennials have is the power of the internet

They control it, they control the information on it, and that's about it. Our tech savvy generation that will start a new era.

Two things need to happen:

1. Millennials need to get positions of power
2. Millennials need to start voting. They suck at that.

[JPnoodleman]

34. Wasn't it the boomer hippies who smoked weed every day?

And spread every venereal disease under the sun.

[JPnoodleman]

37. They voted in Reagan, Both Bushes, now 2 Clintons, why is your generation so Right Wing?

[libdem4life]

39. What's your source for this pusilanimous garbage? Eh?

Links or just Bull Crap. Have a Jim Beam and chill.

[libdem4life]

36. Oh, FFS, with that attitude, they don't want your attention.

[JPnoodleman]

41. The DNC answer is "FUCK OFF AND OBEY! GIVE US YOUR MONEY!" n/t

[CobaltBlue]

45. That is a recipe for failure.

18–29 would lower their participation—the size of their turnout vote.

[JPnoodleman]

64. The GOP will likely start trying making inroads on the...

Generational hatred thing, make us all into Libertarians who want to smash the government and all the things Baby Boomers like.

[CobaltBlue]

70. Can they sell it? (Parts of libertarianism will not fly. But, parts of it do.)

[JPnoodleman]

72. Well the working class largely votes republican.

Anything can happen and you can't take voters for granted.

[CobaltBlue]

75. JPnoodleman—Well, the Baby Boomers sold out for Rs [Reagan!]!

[JPnoodleman]

76. Exactly, I mean this shit isn't unprecedented in America....

Heck, my tax lady wears a peace sign and said "Well Trump is someone who can get jobs, I mean sure he has failed businesses but that means he knows his mistakes, I think the media isn't representing us at all."

In my defense, she has an encyclopedic knowledge of taxes and is incredibly cheap.

[CobaltBlue]

51. That has been the Ds answer for some time. Fight them—and they do their head games.

[seabeyond]

55. The people voted. Why do Sanders have such an issue with the peoples vote?

[JPnoodleman]

60. Are Democrats all people

In case you were unaware, the party will need more voters than merely those dedicated to the party before anything else.

[seabeyond]

61. Clinton has got this. ;)

[JPnoodleman]

62. I do not make bold pronouncements of who will win.

I never even once said "Bernie will win!" I merely would like him to do so.

I can only control my own vote. And mine, thus far, is not with her, and may be unable to EVER vote for a Clinton.

[seabeyond]

66. Your prorogative.

[vintx]

63. Pick one: "Clinton has got this. ;) " or "VOTE FOR HER OR ELSE! SCOTUS! BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID!"

Y'all can't have it both ways.

[seabeyond]

67. Hey.. I am long sense done suggesting one think beyond themselves. Whatever.

[vintx]

65. Yep. Watch while we don't. nt

[jamese777]

42. Exit polls in New York

showed that millennals voted in record numbers and that they were 65% to 35% for Sanders over Clinton but Clinton's more diverse coalition of supporters gave her the primary victory.

From Time Magazine: "Young Democrats in New York turned out in even greater numbers than they did in the record setting 2008 nomination of Barack Obama—many of them to vote for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Of the 322,000 voters ages 18-29 who came out Tuesday to vote Democrat, 65% cast their ballot for Sanders, with 35% voting for Hillary Clinton. However, the former Secretary of State handily won the contest with support from a diverse coalition of voters.

While some 86,000 young Republicans voted in New York, the numbers did not break the previous record set in 2000..."
http://time.com/4301535/new-york-primary-sanders-clinton-millennials/

[CobaltBlue]

46. State of New York is a closed primary.

[seabeyond]

54. We answered. Almost a 100 more delegates and over 3 million votes. We answered. Clinton.

[Darb]

69. No we don't. Stay home like '10 and '14. IDGAF.

They get what they deserve. Enjoy.

[Maru Kitteh]

71. Millennials, like it or not, you have to show up to vote.

Let's take it from there. mmkay

[marlakay]

73. And they wonder why the young don't vote

I am having a hard time talking my grandson and daughter 18 & 36 into voting, they say they will for me, but for them? They don't think anyone cares about them. Its all fixed and a joke.

[eridani]

74. Clinton has essentially gotten rid of a whole cohort of portential Dem activists

Yes, they'll probably keep the habit of voting for Democrats, but that's ALL they'll do.

[emsimon33]

77. The Party may lose a whole generation. It is very sad.