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In reply to the discussion: My son told me that he would not vote [View all]Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)We're a small portion of the population, compared the the boomers.
we tend to be poor. You're not going to find college students or young couples who can really throw big bucks at campaigns.
We tend to be quite a bit to the left of what either party, Republican or Democrat, is ever willing to offer or even discuss.
They're already not going to listen to him, even if he does vote, because he can't make them wealthier and because, odds are, they would have to change the status quo that is making them so very wealthy, if they did listen to him. Listening to young people is a risky investment as far as career politicians are concerned.
They want our votes, so they can become incumbents. They want our money, so they can become wealthy incumbents. They want us to volunteer, so they don't actually have to pay staff. But they don't want our voices. They don't want our ideas. They don't want our input. We are a resource, to be used and thrown away immediately after.
Maybe you don't understand how voting actually is supposed to work. You see, casting a ballot is not a plea for a politician to come down and listen to you. Oh no. Quite the opposite. A vote cast is a statement that you are 100% with the guy you voted for, at least as far as he's concerned; a politician wins an election, he takes it as vindication of the status quo he's running, not as a moment to take criticism from a small and largely poor selection of the people who voted for him.
If you want to encourage your son to vote, telling him this fairy tale of "they won't listen to you if you don't" won't work, unless you raised your son to be a complete fucking moron.