Millennials and Gen Z Can Save American Democracy on November 8th
All they have to do is vote in high enough numbers to counter the votes of older Americans, which means it’s time to start praying for a miracle.
--
“There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny. In this world of ours in other lands, there are some people, who, in times past, have lived and fought for freedom, and seem to have grown too weary to carry on the fight. They have sold their heritage of freedom for the illusion of a living. They have yielded their democracy. I believe in my heart that only our success can stir their ancient hope. They begin to know that here in America we are waging a war against want and destitution and economic demoralization. It is more than that; it is a war for the survival of democracy. We are fighting to save a great and precious form of government for ourselves and for the world.”
— Franklin Delano Roosevelt
On November 8, 2022, Americans will once again exercise their democratic duty and head to the polls to vote in the midterm elections. This election is shaping up to be the most important in our nation’s history. Our democracy currently hangs on by a thread, and it is the youngest American voters (Millennials and Gen Z) who represent the best hope of saving it. But, as always with younger voters, the question is: will they vote?
I am an “elder” Millennial (I was born in 1982), and 15 years ago I realized that Millennials could be an absolute powerhouse of a generation if we wanted to be. At that time I was only 25 years old, which meant that the majority of Millennials were still in grade school. Thus, it would take some time for us to really begin to have an influence, but when we did, we would likely greatly influence politics, society, and the economy. Now that Millennials are all adults, there is substantial proof that I was right — although, not as right as I had hoped to be.
Overall, Millennials have been a progressive generation, politically, socially and economically, and we are primarily responsible for pushing our nation in a more progressive direction the 15 or so years. So, it’s no surprise that we have favored the Democrats in every election we have voted in (although the Dems have lost some ground with Millennials). Millennials also had higher voter engagement in their youth than their Gen X predecessors. There was an 11-point increase in the youth voter turnout between 2000 and 2008. And in that election, Millennials voted for Obama by an overwhelming 35-point margin. And we were the key to him winning the Democratic nomination for president during the primaries and caucuses that year. However, we are yet to match that voter enthusiasm since, and that is what concerns me — and has concerned me for the last several years.
I used to run a website/blog called The Millennial Legacy. I created it because I hoped to inspire and empower my generation to be the change we want to see in the world. When I realized, way back in 2007, that my generation had a unique opportunity to be the main initiators and leaders of world-altering change, I wanted to do my part to ensure that we took advantage of it. The U.S. and the world were heading in a perilous direction, and I could tell that things were going to only get worse (although, I never thought that they would get this bad…like, wow).
On my humble website, I frequently blogged about current events and politics, and almost all of those posts discussed the importance of political engagement and voting. In every one of these posts, I made the same points over and over again. I truly did feel like a broken record. I even recorded videos that I uploaded to YouTube where I went into extensive detail about why it was so important that we vote (you can view them here and here if you’re curious). The first video is 34 minutes long. That’s how passionate I am about this issue. I wanted so desperately to get this message out because I knew how important these elections were, and I also knew that if enough Millennials voted then we would have a major impact on the outcome. (Note: my Millennial website no longer exists; it is a sad story about not being able to afford to repurchase the domain name and then losing all ten years’ worth of content because I hadn’t thought to back it up — yes, I was devastated and extremely angry with myself.)
Millennials and Gen Z are incredibly progressive voters, and every year we make up a larger percentage of the electorate. That means that if enough of us vote, then we can potentially swing this election — and several future elections — in whatever direction we want. That is the immense power we can have right now. The problem is, we aren’t using it. Yes, we saw a 79 percent increase in the youth vote from 2014 to 2018, but the 18-to-29-year-old turnout was still only at 36 percent in 2018 (it was an abysmal 20 percent in 2014). We can certainly do waaaaayyy better than that, right? When we don’t use our power, then we are willfully abdicating it. And that is what breaks my heart — and may be what finally breaks our nation. What do I mean by that? Well, let me *break* it down for you (sorry, please keep reading).
The United States is a Republic, which is a type of democracy. A democracy is a system of self-governance in which the citizens choose their representatives. They do that by voting in what are supposed to be free and fair elections. In the United States, in every race except the presidential race, the candidate with the most votes wins. (The Electoral College is a giant piece of racist shit that needs to be abolished ASAP, but that’s a topic for a different essay).
A democracy is weakened by two things: (1) apathy (i.e. indifference or not caring), and (2) ignorance (i.e. lack of knowledge or understanding). Our democracy is on the brink of implosion, but is the American people — not the politicians — who are to blame for this.
As Abraham Lincoln famously said, a democracy is a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” In other words, the people are in charge, not the politicians. But when the people don’t vote, and when the people don’t keep themselves informed, then the people have given their power away to the politicians, as well as to the lobbyists and the special interests groups that largely fund their campaigns. This weakens the democracy, because a democracy is only as strong as the participation of its citizens.
Let me say it louder for the people in the back: When we don’t vote, when we don’t keep ourselves informed, and when we don’t hold our elected leaders accountable, then our democracy is weakened. And that is on us. It isn’t the fault of elected officials, for they are elected by us to represent us. We are their boss, not the other way around. What has happened, however, is we have acquiesced our power to politicians and lobbyists because we don’t vote in high enough numbers. If we want to strengthen our democracy, then we need to stop blaming Washington and get really honest with how WE THE PEOPLE are failing our nation.
Our lack of participation (i.e. voting) has left a power void that has been enthusiastically filled by lobbyists and special interest groups. When we don’t vote in high enough numbers — and we absolutely do not — we don’t threaten those who are in office. In other words, elected officials don’t listen to us because they know that not enough of us will vote come election day (apathy), which gives them tremendous job security. That’s our fault, not theirs. We also don’t keep ourselves informed (ignorance). And when we don’t know what is going on — or when we don’t bother to adequately understand the issues facing our nation and world (both ignorance and apathy) — then we can’t ensure that we have the best “leaders” in place to help us navigate and address the many critical issues that plague our country and the planet.
Apathy and ignorance are like kryptonite to a democracy. Our apathy and ignorance are the main reasons why there is an incumbency rate in Congress that hovers around 92 percent despite the fact that Congress only has a job approval rating that hovers around 20 percent. And it is also the reason why the NRA, Big Oil, Wall Street, and pharmaceutical and health insurance companies have more power in Washington than us. If we want this to change, then We the People need to change. We need to vote in higher numbers, we need to keep ourselves informed, and we need to constantly keep on our elected leaders in check. Remember, the only way politicians gain office or stay in office is with our votes. It doesn’t matter how much damn money they raise, or how much money the NRA or ExxonMobil contributes to their campaigns. Ultimately, politicians win with votes, not dollars.
Is voter suppression an issue, and is it hurting our nation? Yes, and yes. But that just proves how important voting is! If our votes didn’t matter, then there wouldn’t such a fervent effort by the GOP to prevent certain groups of people from voting — you know, the groups who typically vote against the GOP. How do we counter this treasonous voter suppression effort? We do everything we possibly can to make sure that our votes count — and that we vote for candidates who won’t try to suppress our right to vote. If we need to stand in line for hours to vote, then we do it. Vote early, vote via mail-in or absentee ballot. We do whatever it takes to make sure that our votes count!
If only one-third of eligible Millennials and Gen Zers vote (which is an optimistic estimate), then we are failing to do our most basic and important duty as citizens of a democracy. Our generations could have much more political power than we currently do, but again, we are willingly giving it up. Older generations (namely, Boomers and Xer’s) will vote in higher numbers than us, and we may not agree with their choice of candidates. If that is the case, then it is entirely our fault, not theirs.
So, here we are in 2022, and I find myself, once again, making the same points about the importance of voting. I don’t think I am being dramatic when I state that the midterm election in a few weeks’ time is literally the most important election in our nation’s history, because there are individuals in all levels of government (local, state and federal) who, if given the chance, will end our democratic republic in favor of authoritarianism. They don’t want a majority-rule style of government because they know that they are well within the minority. Thus, the only way they can have political power and control is through minority-rule. They don’t care about democracy; they only care about obtaining control so that they can force their extreme [religious and white nationalist] views on everyone.
Beyond the continued existence of our democracy and keeping the fascist Christian Nazi’s who have taken over the Republican Party from obtaining control of our government, other issues of importance that are on the ballot include: voting rights (obviously), abortion rights, privacy rights, same-sex marriage rights, interracial marriage rights, transgender rights, workers’ rights, support for the working poor and the middle class, Social Security and Medicare, combating climate change, gun control, the continued support of Ukraine against Russian aggression, preventing Russia from continuing to meddle in our elections and infiltrate our political system; maintaining the student loan forgiveness plan recently implemented by the Biden administration, and holding the January 6th insurrectionists accountable for their treasonous actions — including their cult-leader, who just so happens to be our former president (who also stole highly classified documents from the White House after he tried to have his Vice President and several members of Congress killed during the insurrection). Just to name a few.
Maybe some of you reading this are in favor of what the GOP is hoping to do if they win control of Congress. But if you don’t support the extremism of the GOP, then I highly suggest that you vote, because older generations will vote and they will vote in much higher numbers for Republicans than we will. And trust me y’all, if given the chance, the GOP will vigorously implement their extremism on the country (they already are at the state and local levels). And they won’t waste any fucking time with it.
I’ve been trying to 15 years to get this message out and hopefully inspire and empower more political engagement in my generation. And I’m tired y’all. I don’t want to have to do this anymore. Every two years as I write another blog/essay about the importance of voting, and I record another video, I wonder if it is even worth my time and energy. And I ask myself why I care so much. Hardly anyone consumes the content I spend so much time creating. I have no real platform because I’m not famous in any capacity. So why do I even bother? I bother because I love this country, I love humanity, and I love this beautiful planet. And I know you all do too.
Look, I know that it’s hard to have any sort of hope right now. Shit is crazy, and it’s getting crazier every day. But please don’t become cynical and develop a defeatist attitude. Cynicism is poison that paralyzes you and rots your soul. We can get through this time of crisis, but we must act. Change starts with us, not with those in Washington. We have to be the change we want to see in our country and in the world. And remember, this is not the first time our nation has faced a time of crisis. We endured then and we will endure now.
So, Millennials and Gen Z, are we ready to flex our political power in a couple of weeks? If we show up in large enough numbers on November 8th, potential disaster can be averted and we will be remembered as the generations that saved American democracy. But if we don’t, and our democracy crumbles, no one is blame more than us. So, please vote. In this election and every election. We can’t change a system if we refuse to participate in it. (Also, vote for candidates at ALL levels of government — not just the federal level.)
In 1936, FDR spoke of a generation who had a “rendezvous with destiny.” I chose that quote to begin this essay because we find ourselves in the same position today. The mysterious cycle in human events has circled back around, as we are also “fighting to save a great and precious form of government for ourselves and for the world.”
Our rendezvous with destiny is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday, November 8, 2022, and the fate of the nation depends on us showing up to meet it.
“The job facing American voters…in the days and years to come, is to determine which hearts, minds, and souls command those qualities best suited to unify a country rather than further divide it, to heal the wounds of a nation as opposed to aggravate its injuries, and to secure for the next generation a legacy of choices based on informed awareness rather than one of reactions based on unknown fear.”
— Aberjhani, “Illuminated Corners”
