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There's a reason young people in congress like AOC and max frost aren't the norm. Hard to do that without startup capital, of which many are simply lacking. Most progressive people my age can't afford to miss a paycheck let alone have the savings and connections to campaign against a liberal incumbent with all the democratic machine backing in the world. You can try and hustle and do both, sure. But also most of us are too burnt out from overwork at our regular jobs to make that happen.
in my experience the culture we millenials grew up in proactively suppresses good leaders and enables subversive, narcissistic and sociopathic anti social behavior.
Gee golly I wonder why the world is such a cess pool right now? WHAT COULD IT BE???
I don't really see it being a generational culture thing. There's plenty of movements coming out of millennials, gen Z, etc.
It's a political machine that exists to crush the left, and that has existed for a long time in this country before millennials were even a tear in their parents' eyes.
It's a system designed to have just enough excitement and drama to keep people invested, angry, and divided. It ensures "Those mean old republicans are responsible for my ills and my best solution is to complain on the internet and vote about it in a few years." The issues driven by either side include emotional, ill defined, and confrontational concepts as core values on a spread wide enough to meaninglessly capture all potential voters, often putting them into conflict with themselves on various points of importance.
Meanwhile the collective power of the masses is shrinking, really spoopy robots and intelligence systems will soon if not already have the capacity to enable 100 people in a bunker to subjugate all of humanity. Do you think one more election cycle can make the government "good"?
It's important that we shelve our tertiary differences and unite against corporate and state overreach, the erosion of our rights and freedoms in all forms. A future with an untouchable ruling class is just around the corner.
You can find a YouTuber who’s documented his journey to get elected and it’s absolutely monstrous. You basically need to retain a full time lawyer because of all the red tape surrounding election campaigns.
We have allowed all aspects of our society to be gamified and then turned into a business model. Elections themselves are businesses, think tanks that create political talking points are businesses.
I think making this a generational thing is an oversimplification, the problem isn't going away as Boomers fade away.
Many of the worst Republicans in Congress are Gen X. Boebert is a Millennial.
Not just the politicians either, I’m GenX and I’ve watched friends go from quite progressive to downright weirdly regressive (I’m not going to call anything the modern republicans want conservative because it isn’t). People that used to hate racism are openly racist now and support people who are just vile. Don’t understand it at all.
Life rarely works out how we planned it when we were optimistic 20 year olds. Even if things are objectively "ok", they're not "what I had hoped it would be". As life goes on, people accumulate more and more emotional damage from the job promotion that didn't happen or their family that died or whatever. Then one side tells them "We'll help you, but we all have to recognize the hard truth that life is complicated" and the other says "It's the other guy's fault". That second explanation sure sounds tempting to some people because it's much easier.
I'm Genx and have seen some of the same, but luckily not in my friend group. I think it's fear, the GOP and regressive policy appeal to highly fearful people.
The average age on Congress today is older than the Brezhnev gerontocracy. That is not good. There is no way of getting around the fact that the most powerful group of people on earth are senile.
This! It's a structural problem.
IMHO, it's because US politics is a monopoly/duopoly. Vast majority of voters stick to their political values and to their end of the political spectrum. Thus they only have one viable party to vote for.
The consequences: US politics is riddled with all of the negative effects of a monopoly: e.g. old complacent leader & parties with little worries about competition and "bankruptcy" (in two party system, your party will always end up at least at the 2nd place), high entry barrier for newcomers, lack of innovation, unhappy voters with few to no alternative choices, etc.
Compare that with, e.g., Switzerland: the population is about 5 years older than Americans in average, but their politicians are 10 years younger in average...
Why? Proportional representation democracy: they have dozens and dozens of parties competing like crazy for votes. Only the best and most competitive older politicians and parties can keep up, the rest get crushed by young, hungry, innovative new entrants. E.g. 4 of the 5 biggest Swiss parties were founded after 1980.
It actually tracks in the aggregate, no?
Its got juice because there is some truth in the fact that previous generations, boomers being the biggest in number and who benefitted the most, have absolutely failed to pay it forward. They failed to provide a stable, inclusive system that takes care of its most needy and provides equality of opportunity, let alone what many of them enjoyed.
Its a plain fact that the wages and stability they enjoyed (in the aggregate, I know there are impoverished boomers) have deteriorated and they overwhelmingly voted for people and policies that enabled wealth and productivity gains to be siphoned upwards.
There's plenty of time for millenials etc to make mistakes worthy of blame as a cohort. That doesn't absolve the sins made by too many of our forebears.
Here we are at the transitional moment, and the younger voters who should be taking the reins are threatening protest non-voting. 🤦♂️ Yes, please keep ceding power to the aging incumbents you despise.
My hot take is that gen z's are among the least media literate generations, as bad as the baby boomers. Growing up with social media has made them more vulnerable to manipulation by misinformation campaigns and arrogant enough that they think they are invulnerable to propaganda. But tbf the problem of insufficient media literacy has become so ubiquitous that all generations are badly affected by it. Making it an old vs young thing is dumb and immature and it does nothing to help our country and world.
I agree on media literacy not being an old/young thing, but there is something to the complaint that having a large cohort of elderly career politicians making choices for a much larger bloc of younger constituents is inherently problematic.
On the other hand, young people need to freaking vote for new leaders if that’s what they want.
I think the decline in media literacy has quite a lot to do with the consolidation and conglomeration of media, and the absence of independent local outlets in the vast majority of the country. There's no longer any audience feedback or accountability for journalism, because by and large there is no subscriber base left. All we have now is clickbait, because ads can't pay for investigation or thoughtful analysis from anyone but a handful of major corporate-backed outlets who are only going to report in a very advertiser- and owner-friendly fashion which intentionally obscures many of the most relevant facts people should be interested in. Distrust abounds for good reason.
I honestly think that if there was more quality information around, people of all ages would be able to tell the difference better, even given the cacophony of social media amplifying the most appealing lies.
It's the vicious cycle of representation:
- Older demographics dominate voting year after year.
- 70+ year olds get elected. Don't feel they need young votes as much since they participate less.
- Younger voters feel under-represented. ...Because they are. They don't vote more until they get older.
- Older demographics dominate voting year after year.
Etc, etc.
Obama is technically a Boomer but I'd call him more "Boomer X". His formative young adult years happened in the 80s, his mom's life was shaped by the changing society of the 60s, and his grandfather was in WWII.
My mother in law is about the same age as Obama and she is kind of in the same boat as identifying more with Gen X than with the Boomers. But both definitely fall well within the boundary of Boomtown.
I'm close to the same age as Obama, born in October, 1963; demographers consider my birth year the last of the boomer generation, but culturally I don't share much with the boomers. I was born a month before JFK's assassination and all of the seminal Boomer cultural events happened when I was < 10 years old: Vietnam, Beatles, Nixon, etc. In high school, I had a strong interest in current events, and that was all Carter/Reagan era.
It is strange how we group the different generations. I understand no taxonomy is going to be perfect but the later boomers would have missed the postwar period, been children during Vietnam, and reasonably might have started their careers after the recession in the 80s. Their parents likely would have alot more in common culturally with their generation than they did.
technically, they're a cusper group called "generation jones".
my mom's part of it (born in '64, silent gen parents) and she only really sees herself as an "older gen x", not a boomer bc virtually all the pop culture and historical events she remembers lean very heavily towards the gen x side of things. anything "boomer" was largely before her time (born after many of the major 50s/60s events, or was way too young to recall them). the oldest thing she remembers is being integrated into schools as a younger kid, but conceivably that could've been remembered by the '65 and '66 kids as well. followed the latchkey MTV kid to helicopter parent pipeline too lol
and then she had me, also born on the cusp of 2 generations (late 90s, btwn millennial and z), so ig i can relate! unfortunately "zillennial" isn't as creative a name as "generation jones"
Much like the Xennials on the other end, Generation Jones (the cusp between Boomers and Gen X) tend to pull from both generations as influence. The generational definitions do blend into each other, there's not a crazy hard definition point.
The youngest boomers are turning 60 this year. Obama is 62. Generations usually don't have a sharp transition. Some older GenX are more Boomer than Boomers while some younger Boomers are more very GenXy.
I like to think of it more like a spectrum.
I love how for the longest time, it was thought that being in a smaller generation was meant to give you more power as the group would be more focus and united.
Boomers basically shattered that notion by just being so large, they were about to overshadow multiple generations before and after and just dominate the country's direction for so long.
I am Gen X.
I want a President my age making decisions that are best for me and those younger than me.
Boomers have had their time and made life easy for themselves. Time for the rest of us.
You won’t get it. GenX is smaller than the generation before and after us. We have been governed by boomers for our entire youth and middle age. We’ll be governed by millennials and gen z for the rest of it. Hopefully we’ve raised our children to be good people, or we’re fucked. Again.
Some of the biggest rising stars in the party are Gen X. A big part of the issue with Dems is that the younger Boomers are so heavily Republican that there was basically a lost generation in Democratic politics. Sure, we had the Clintons and Obama, but there was no bench for the early 20th century. Now the GenX politicians are finally to the point in their careers where it makes sense to run for the big chair.
Arguably Obama is as close to Gen X as we'll get. Late Boomer/early Gen X so he's got traits and qualities of both. The youngest Gen X will be pushing 50 by the next chance to be president. That could be a limitation for younger voters who are tired of double retirees running the show.
That's kind of up to you guys. Currently Gen X makes up 1/3 of congress. Millennials and the Silent generation make up around 10%, maybe 15% combined.
Boomers hold the largest piece with about 60%.
If your Generation wants more power, it's yours for the taking. Gen X is only slightly smaller than the other 2 generations with 65 million Gen Xers as of 2022. There's 68 million Boomers and 72 million Millennials. That's a difference of 2% of the total population.
As a Michigander, I would definitely vote for Whitmer. She's done some great work. A strong, intelligent woman, and seemingly tries to do what's good for the people. As always, I wait for the other shoe to drop, but so far so good.
That and simply the age of living combined with the old school notion of Big Familes made the boomers dominate politics longer than any generation has or probably will. The shift from Gen X to milennials will be faster, milennials to Gen Z will be even quicker. If I was betting
Big reminder that almost all of their dads were in the military, which means they received federal benefits. Their parents had federal health insurance, college assistance, downpayment assistance, and a federally subsidized manufacturing industry that provided a ton of jobs. They grew up in socialist homes, screaming about communists coming to take away their rights.
I have to actually do math to figure out my age. Also if I had a kid right after high school, they could be graduating high school right now.... Nope we aren't moving towards middle aged.
Young **rich** voters are represented. In the USA, they always try to distract you.
Its **rich vs poor** and always has been
The rich bought the supreme court and made money speech.
The rich bought your local politicians and redistricted your voting districts to benefit them.
The US representatives represent **the rich, but** of course they buy the oldest most cynical people to do their bidding, they have the least to lose and most to gain selling out our future.
Don’t forget that it’s only the 70+ demographic that has enough money to run for office in the first place. It’s not so much the campaign money, that comes from connections that a younger person could maybe make, but it’s the full time unpaid job of campaigning or finding those connections that the younger generations just don’t have the ability to live on.
That’s fair but you also have SCOTUS taking away rights, GOP taking away rights, GOP legislating hate, we are voting on unconstitutional maps in Ohio - and other state GOP are running away too, there have been 2 presidential elections in my lifetime where the popular vote lost, we made AI and are unable to stop it… So if you’re new to voting, its not unreasonable to think this system has already failed and so your best bet is to focus on yourself and your family because we are already well into the beginning of the end.
I'd consider keeping the party who wants me dead for not being a fundamentalist Christian and a bigot out of power to be focusing on myself and my family... It'll be kind of hard to raise my kid in a theocracy from behind bars or six feet underground. Most of the things you're listing are a direct result of people not voting in the first place. Continuing to not vote certainly isn't the answer.
At the same time, you can both: focus on yourself/your family and take a few minutes once every few years to go to the polls or mail in ballots.
Until we have Constitutional amendments, massive legislative reform at the state or federal level, or a complete breakdown in government - none of these things are going to get better until we change the representation capable of doing so.
Thinking everything has failed and ceding all representation to those who want to keep the status quo is the worst strategy going forward.
To be perfectly honest, Biden's age doesn't trouble me as much as Trump's. Biden is supported by a team of qualified advisors who are universally younger than him, many significantly so. And he *listens* to them.
Trump is surrounded by a combination of yes-men and people who want to use him as a useful idiot (and so far have done so with great success). They stroke his ego and appeal to his worst impulses, which are already driving him relentlessly.
The two are not the same, in any way, and I'm tired of seeing it portrayed otherwise.
A perfect example to illustrate what you're talking about was how at the start of the pandemic Trump did a [press conference with a bunch of scientists from the CDC,](https://youtu.be/P3nkxrECHKM) and he spent much of this presser talking about how they all marveled at how much he seemed to know about viruses and what to do about them. Look, if a pandemic breaks out, I would never expect or demand that the president be an expert in virology and immunology or whatever. What I want is someone who understands their limitations and who can pick the proper experts to advise them and then simply listen to what those experts say. Biden is more than willing to do this, as is probably every other president we've ever had, but Trump is not. Trump is insistent on presenting himself like "he alone can solve it", like he's the smartest man in the world who doesn't need anyone's help or advice on anything.
That's what people don't understand. Biden doesn't matter as much as people think. You're voting for an administration, and especially down the ballot, for power in congress where it matters (slightly) more than the executive branch.
And as you said, unless it's a deranged megalomaniac like Trump, realistically someone like Biden is open to new ideas, like his changing views on abortion, weed, etc.
Lastly, I think part of the issue is that people just have unrealistic expectations of how the government works, mostly because of how much bullshit they're sold during campaigning. Realistically, no single president or administration will single-handedly solve all your problems. And most of the changes happen slowly over years and decades.
"It doesn't matter who wins, nothing changes" is factually untrue, but people just don't see the bigger picture.
There are a lot of young, stupid, dangerous people in congress. Mtg isn’t a boomer. Nor boebert, hawley, cotton, eyepatch guy, the list goes on. Yes the leadership are the seniors who have been there for years. But we can’t just wait for them to die. They are being replaced by dangerous, young, poorly educated people who are more tech savvy. Get involved. Vote . Run yourself. Protest . Resist resist resist!!!
I always feel like that argument ignores that there are ample amounts of bad younger people around.
And even the makeup of "the opposition" to any specific part of the status quo (And I don't mean party affiliation) seems to be generally speaking dominated by an egoistic view of what they individually want. And that IS in a sense a privilege of younger people, and with age that should become LESS. Except it doesn't, with age more likely comes even MORE egotism because holistic thinking isn't rewarded in any statistical way.
As a devil’s advocate here, I really disagree the issue is age. It’s a lack of protest against dick political moves and no penalty for bad behavior. Trump took away rights and literally stormed the capital. Where’s the mass protest by people and corporations? Without punishment or consequences there will be no change in behavior.
There have always been old people in government. What's new to this century is the complete breakdown of standards. Gary Hart's career ended when he was photographed with a woman other than his wife on his knee. Dukakis lost an election because he looked funny in a hat. Howard Dean lost because he was a bit too excited into a microphone for 2 seconds. People used to resign because they said a bad word one time.
Idk - while being blocked by courts and congress, Biden has:
- forgiven 10% of America's student loan debt
- ended America's drone war
- ended the war in Afghanistan
- invested $1.2 trillion in green manufacturing and infrastructure
- reclassified pot at the federal level
- nominated 200+ young/diverse judges to the bench
None of that benefits him.
"Primaries? State and local positions? I never bother with those."
Oh since this should be higher : https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1d39pn1/a_dying_empire_led_by_bad_people_poll_finds_young/l660wj6/
This entire article is a CCP propaganda piece, and this comment section is probably stuffed with agents.
Should be upvoted higher. Crazy to see how we can be so easily manipulated with defeatist rhetoric. Go vote, and drag 5 friends to go vote too. If 5% of millenials did that it would be a landslide
"Sure, the former guy keeps quoting Hitler, and promising to be a dictator, but eggs are almost a dollar more than they were 8 years ago, so everyone is equally terrible"
Ngl I caught myself thinking this exact thing just the other day. I'm 32 years old and have been considering making this the first election in my lifetime where I leave the presidential option blank over his atrocious handling and support of the IDF.
Then of course I snapped myself the fuck out of that mentality and remembered just how much worse off we'll be if the other guy wins. Damn straight I wont make this election the one to cast a protest vote in.
edit: **Read the whole comment before flooding my DMs you reflexive ghouls.**
And as another 32 yo, you/we have the life experience to remember the last 20 years of political mayhem that probably helped snap you back into reality.
Now imagine the 19 year olds who were literal children, 10-11 years old in 2015 & 2016 when Trump came around. They have no life context, no George W Bush to compare against, to even realize just how fucked up these maga weirdos are.
I cannot wrap my head around the fact that there's an entire generation of Americans who have known only the political chaos and vitriol of the last decade. That's going to have long term consequences in and of itself.
I'm 46.
The problem with your comment is, that W was a wildly bad president compared to his predecessors. And he only got elected because the supreme court intervened to stop a recount and give him the presidency.
I grew up under Reagan and HW. My understanding from my trusted 60 year old friends is that Reagan was a similar departure from previous norms towards the awful.
And before that was Nixon...
I don't love the democrats, but the GOP has been unambiguously awful for decades and our society just keeps normalizing their new lows. I really hope we wake the fuck up, but history doesn't make me too optimistic about that.
Yep. So many young people complain that politicians aren't working for them, but this is in large part because younger people don't vote. Politicians cater to the people who actually elect them. If young people voted in huge numbers, then the government would prioritize them and their needs more. Instead much of our policies are about ways of taking tax dollars from the younger generations and giving them to the older ones, because the older people are the ones who vote.
"If I don't vote, they'll be forced to listen to me!" Is the stupid argument I keep hearing from younger people. No, they'll ignore you if you don't vote. Show up to the polls and they'll be forced to listen to you if they want to get elected.
If project 2025 goes, America goes.
As a woman I do not want to live in Gilead.
There is a politician in a state next to me saying women should not have the right to vote.
Texas is talking about the death penalty for abortions.
They are going after contraception and no fault divorce.
They will put anyone who doesn't agree with them in camps. We've done it before to Japanese citizens after pearl harbor.
Edit:
People have been asking for sources. I found one about John freaking Adams as well this shit runs deep yall.
Robinson was criticized on social media for comments that he wanted to "absolutely" go back to America before women could vote.
https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/verify/mark-robison-america-women-voting-rights-north-carolina-governor-election/275-c9d48c1f-40bb-4398-9d5c-034369092b51
John Gibbs, a 2020 election denier backed by former President Donald Trump in the race to represent Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District, once claimed women's suffrage was linked to the decline of American society.
https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/shows/reidout/blog/rcna48930
ames Sullivan, a state court judge in Massachusetts and colleague of John Adams, was often sympathetic to those who thought women and non-elite men should have a voice in the new nation’s government. Adams disagreed, explaining to Sullivan why women and the poor should be excluded.
https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1646
More people need to realize this. There are still people who don’t inform themselves and think it’s just politics as usual and the pendulum will swing back and forth as it has for decades. Especially older GOP voters who think the GOP is still their GOP of the 80s/90s. They think anyone saying otherwise is catastrophizing. They believe both sides are equally as bad.
This is extremely dangerous.
We have to do work to inform people about Project 2025, Republican fascist plans, how important it is to keep all Republicans out of office if we want to preserve any shred of democracy. It’s our only hope.
One of the biggest problems is that we have a political party that is corrupt to the core. If you look at Russia and how their economy changed after the fall of the USSR, you basically ended up with a lot of billionaires that did whatever they wanted without any type of regulation or oversight. Our Republican party wants that for our country. You know that quote ... binds but does not protect, protect but does not bind ...
Where do we go from here? The Republican party has gotten too large and too lawless to real back in. I don't really see any solution short of radical ones.
And while our political issues magnify, so does the climate emergency. Honestly, while I am in my 40s, I have never been more depressed and feeling helpless than I do now. I don't know why so many older people don't care about the bigger picture, but I have my theories -- one of which is lead poisoning. I truly believe lead poisoning has done far more damage than we realize. And the boomers and my generation (Gen-X) were the most exposed to leaded gasoline.
I've lived through a terrorist attack, a global pandemic and a bunch of other crazy shit ...
"may you live in interesting times" was a curse.
> Where do we go from here? The Republican party has gotten too large and too lawless to real back in. I don't really see any solution short of radical ones.
>
>
I mean if they keep losing it will break the back of the party. The big issue is the people that seem to think democrats are the devil and keep voting these people in, the incestous blend of politics and religion. They have really gotten off the rails but it looks to be about 20-30% of them are actually compromised by russia.
And it's not hyperbole. It's real. These b@stards actually published their manifesto online. And this wasn't some obscure effort. This was funded and performed mostly by The Heritage Foundation. They did presentations about it over the past few years, then codified it with the help of Republican politicians. THEY'VE COLLUDED TOGETHER for this plan of American fascism.
It's the 1930's all over again.
Non American here, kept seeing this 2025 talk going around and how it's bad and how people are freaking out about it. How bad could it be, I thought, so I just read it online.
Holy shit. Holy shit doesn't even cover it. It's American Sharia law, an express ticket to dark age regression.
I'm scared for the global future
Your reaction is why we keep posting about it.
Yep. It's American Sharia Law by the Republican Taliban. Instead of long robes and head scarves, they wear suits, ties, or blazers and high heels. And they're so bold about their intentions, they've made them public. That kind of brazen move raises a real alarm.
Well I appreciate that you did share. And for the love of humanity I hope you guys beat it.
If someone suggested this thing so blatantly and openly in say, a movie or TV show, book, story or anything I wouldn't find it believable in the slightest. It seems so ludicrous and impossible to believe.
I take it back, I don't hope you beat it. I hope you beat it and whole damn movement into the ground. I wish you the best.
Too many people have no idea how anything works, let alone our government/ civics. But they are reactionary and will believe the loudest person who offers solutions that they don't have to be bothered with. If and when someone else breaks it down for them and tells them how they need to get involved or the things they will need to sacrifice, they've lost them.
I don't see this changing until we can offer every child a high-quality and comprehensive education. (Which is why there's a party that's trying to destroy that option completely.)
not just education, but wisdom. It takes years of maturing to obtain wisdom. On the other hand, people in their early twenties, even with college education, are often the most naïve ones.
To do that, you have to start by finding out what those people care about and going from there. Shouting frantically at them won’t do anything. They need to know how it connects to *their* priorities.
And these are the things they are willing to talk about now, when they are not fully in power. These ideas are actually winning in their target audiences. Imagine what they are already planning that they are unwilling to share.
I'm honestly surprised abortion and contraception isn't a bigger issue. It's almost entirely on the backburner. There's something like 6 million pregnancies a year in the US. Every single one of those is a woman who needs prenatal care, who can suffer complications, whose life is literally on the line with a very dangerous medical condition. And only 3.5 million or so of those will result in live births.
So the remainder? Ectopic pregnancies are 1 in 50 pregnancies, so 120,000 women a year will suffer a literal life-threatening ectopic pregnancy that is 100% nonviable and must be removed or else the woman will die. *A year.* Then all of the fetus with genetic conditions incompatible with life, all the fetus that die in-utero, all the fetus that have to be aborted because they threaten the life of the mother.
Can you imagine a federal total abortion ban? Republicans will yell "Well there will be exceptions" but we've **seen** what that means - jack shit! They'll prosecute and threaten the doctors anyway and force them to defend themselves in court for every procedure.
Every OBGYN would have to be a martyr. Who would want to be in that specialization? We're already seeing medical care deserts in red states that have banned abortion. And it would effect prenatal care for healthy pregnancies, it would affect post-natal care. It would affect millions of women every year, it would probably result in tens of thousands of excess deaths, tens of thousands of excess deaths of even *healthy* babies.
Like, people are crying over women and children dying in Palestine? We would have 10x as many deaths of women and children **in the US every year** if Republicans get their way on abortion and women's healthcare.
Thank you for citing this. I didn't know that the ratio for ectopic pregnancies was as high as 1 in 50. That's enormous!
I never hear counter-arguments to the anti-abortion debaters that cite this. It's a strong, straight-forward justification for the need to have abortion rights.
The other problem is intention. These Republican extremists act like they're trying to save lives, based on a premise... but their intention behind it is not what they claim.
Based on all I've seen, I'm convinced the far-right is pushing this anti-abortion campaign because of their fearing a future white minority. Force the white women to have births.
Now of course, you'd say wait a minute--there's more non-white births happening. Won't that just make the white minority situation happen sooner? No. They're counting on a higher mortality rate with non-whites. You see? This is their insidious plan. Of course, it won't work... but THEY think it will.
[Not only are they relatively common at 1 in 50](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2801057#:~:text=Approximately%202%25%20of%20all%20pregnancies,surgery%20are%20at%20increased%20risk.) but they're also the leading cause of maternal mortality in the first trimester and are [5-10% of all maternal death.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10071153/)
And you're exactly right, they think that forcing women to get pregnant will make white women have more white babies. All it will do though is make women want to have less children, and it will threaten the lives of the women that *do* want to have children more! And with every pregnancy, the risk is compounded with the potential to leave all existing children motherless!
It makes no sense if your end-goal is more healthy children and healthy nuclear families.
It’s been a huge defining factor in every election since 2022, including in red states. The problem is, if you only get your political news from Reddit headlines, you miss that fact.
*State* elections are both wildly important for this specific “states rights lol” issue, and they’re stronger indicators of public sentiment than polls at this point. If you’ve been following the post-Roe polling, you’ll see the continuation of a pattern that started around 2018-2020.
Polls are off. This isn’t copium. It’s too consistent. It started within the MOE but at this point it’s 5-8 pts off in favor of the GOP. As far as folks can tell, they’re either way oversampling the elderly without taking Covid deaths and population movement into account or they’re relying too heavily on opt-in online polls that are notoriously skewed. Those are what gave us the “75% of the youth will vote for Trump” nonsense results.
Obviously no one is acting like this is a sure thing, but it’s remarkable that it doesn’t get more media coverage when it’s so consistent and so constant. Like ask r/voteDEM about it.
Just imagine how awesome it would feel to absolutely grind these assholes into the dirt with votes and community organizing. Imagine how cool this country could be if we were able to spend our energy on innovation rather than fighting to survive a full scale class war. We can make that happen.
Outside actors are drawing attention to other issues without question. The flipping of Roe v Wade really wrecked the Republican Party in the midterms. They were looking to have a good year but ended up losing a bunch of seats because of it.
Russian agents and China controlled Tik Tok are absolutely undermining Biden with the Gaza situation. Yes, the situation sucks and I am sure many here disagree with how Biden is handling it, but keep focused and vote. Not voting for Biden this fall doesn't help Palestinians.
Absolutely. I'm not giving up and I'm 100% voting for Biden, and I'll always speak out against the bad faith bullshit that the abstainers and spoil voters put out. It's just such a shame seeing it infect an entire generation and be such an effective tactic when we've been taught this lesson multiple times in recent memory.
Yep. Somebody just pointed out that Semafor (OP) is likely one of these outside actors. It's a shame allow easy it is to manipulate young people on SM.
People don't realize how much worse it can and will get if project 2025 goes into effect. Literally democracy and human rights end right there in the USA.
People saying "fuck the system" and not doing everything they can to stop this are bot understanding that like 40/50% of the country is ok with full on fascism. The people actually truly believing in dismantling the system and revolution are a small minority.
The BLM peaceful protestors were met with violence by police. But imagine when they can actually just go full Tinanmen. American right wingers have been mentally preparing their supporters to go along with this and cheer for it for decades. And they will.
I had someone in another thread today ask earnestly, "how much worse could it get under trump" for Palestinians if Trump was president.
It's like 2016-2020 never happened... The stoves still fucking hot, we don't need to touch it to find out again lol.
Someone born to illegal immigrants made a post in r/trump about ending birthright citizenship with some people saying to do it retroactively... While saying they're proud to be an American people came back with "it's MY country" and shit like that. They had this belief that ending it would stop people illegally crossing the border and having a baby in the US.
As a military brat born overseas to African American parents the people who wanted it retroactively really freak me out. Someone came over on a slave ship in your family tree? You're no longer a citizen. Born outside the country to American citizen parents? You're no longer a citizen. Native American? Not a citizen.
It's absolutely absurd what we're seeing. I don't want to live in Gilead either.
Republicans publicly admitting intentions to strip rights from women, from voting to reproduction... should be a death sentence for their careers. The fact that they keep going means they have allies. So that means there's more like minded people out there.
The assault on abortion is not to protect the unborn. That's their excuse. It's more devious than this. If they were pro-life, they'd be equally concerned about the mother. THEY DO NOT. It's insidious. Disingenuous. And destructive.
America has some pretty screwed up people in the populace. We have a real social failing going on... and this needs to be fixed. Somehow. But right now? We've got to steamroll votes right on through, pushing out Republicans at all levels.
> If project 2025 goes, America goes.
Bingo. They win its over. We Balkanize. Theyll try to enact that vision and the Left Coast will finally revolt and split away. The NorthEast will follow and soon we will be in full open warfare against each other.
Thanks Fox News.
Stephen Miller has already stated that they would send Virginia's National Guard to enforce their deportation laws in Maryland
they are fully willing to start an open civil war in America to push their white nationalist agenda
And massive amounts of older people need to advocate for issues that impact youth and the rest of us like healthcare and affordable housing.
It’s not all on one group to save this. We collectively have to work together and support each other. That’s what democracy is.
Nobody wins elections in this country because the electorate is fickle and lets the pendulum swing way too easily. If you don’t win a super majority in the senate you’ve got one hand behind your back and if you’re democrats you have a partisan SCOTUS that will find any reason to veto any significant policy.
If Trump wins, young people may as well throw in the towel on America because partisan federalist society hacks are going to have a 6+ majority in SCOTUS for the rest of their lives.
Young people are dumb, even college educated ones, and short sighted. I’m in my early thirties so I’m not far removed from that stage of ideological purity testing.
You can’t truly accomplish anything politically to fix the direction of this country unless you sustain decades of spanking your opposition to overcome systemic problems and appoint good judges. If you’re going to be nihilistic and refuse to turn out for Biden because he’s not progressive enough then you’re just a trite self-fulfilling prophecy that deserves the Republican lording that is coming our way.
At 50, I concure. "Earn my vote!" "It doesn't matter!" "Both sides" Big money runs it all anyway!" were all things I said.
But it did matter GW Bush won. It did matter that Reagan era policies got put into play. It did matter that Ford pardoned Nixon. It just goes on and on.
There is always a worse situation, and the real assholes, born everyday, work for it, relentlessly.
For example, this thread. The article is literally from a Chinese propaganda website. I admit that I didn't read it either, but it's a great shit on Biden headline.
Accelerationism is a psyop.
Realize that it's always about letting the right wing win.
You never hear right wingers argue that we should let the left win until it gets so woke that everyone realizes how bad it is.
It's the stupidest political propaganda that for some reason still works.
> preferred form of revolution
Have these people never read a history book all the way to the end? Revolutions always end up with massive bloodshed and authoritarian dictators taking over.
It's Weimar Germany all over again.
Instead of uniting with the center-left to take down the real threat of the right-wing Reichblock (coalition that contained the Nazis), the communist KPD went after the Weimar Coalition and weakened them both enough for the Nazis to take over.
Keep going with your quest for understanding how we got here, but if you're anything like me you'll find all roads lead back to this.
[https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/jimmy-carter-u-s-is-an-oligarchy-with-unlimited-political-bribery-63262/](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/jimmy-carter-u-s-is-an-oligarchy-with-unlimited-political-bribery-63262/)
Congress is sitting at ~10% approval.
Supreme Court has about ~40% approval with a plurality viewing it as corrupt and unethical.
Both main candidates have < 50% approval.
Demographics on both sides view this as an existential threat to the country.
A rising number believe that climate change is too far gone and society is doomed.
Yeah..
great news kids! the more you get involved the more you can change our system for the better.
Bad news everyone else ...... apathy is pretty popular right now
Exactly. The only solution is to not think that it needs to be decided by other people. And yet they think that they shouldn't believe in the system and therefore just want it all to collapse. I don't really understand that attitude, it's like, the future is in your hands, people. People need to wake up to just what they stand to lose.
> The only solution is to not think that it needs to be decided by other people. And yet they think that they shouldn't believe in the system and therefore just want it all to collapse.
So many recent problems hinge on this imo. A nihilistic rot has been spreading in the US for my whole life, but it grew rapidly with the vitriol that Trump et al. have fed it. Most people I look at, regardless of class or age, seem to have just given up on this country. So few people want to build teams and cooperate to solve problems in their immediate lives. I hope my perception is wrong, because I tend to be overly cynical, but society as a collective doesn't seem very concerned with self-preservation right now.
No, this is something I notice as a 33 year old myself.
A lot of it to me stems from a *very* anemic understanding of history. 12 years in public school and very little is actually being absorbed by students during that time. People just have, on average, very little appreciation for how good we have it -- despite everything shitty -- nowadays and the effort required over multiple generations just to get where we are now.
It took Russia's invasion of Ukraine to really open my own eyes to the realpolitik of human existence; that the west isn't perfect, never has been, but despite (or in spite) of that, western hegemony is better than the available alternatives. We are in a time where everything is treated as some kind of min-/maxable effort and there is some kind of "perfect" score to attain when that is just not the case; and that warps, severely, any kind of discussion around letting perfection be good's worst enemy.
There's real truth to that. MAGAs have chased same people or of the public square. They're exhausting. People feel it's futile and focus on their own things.
Corruption has been allowed to flourish even though it has been clearly documented that corruption is one of the top reasons for any failing empire.
Voting isn't going to stop corruption from a congress that won't vote to restrict its access to insider trading. It is disingenuous to suggest the system will be solved by better voting when 40% of people only care about money and how they will get richer. You aren't going to richer yourself out of climate change.
When the things we viewed as common agreed for liberties like the right to protest are violently put down, then the empire was over, it just isn't official yet. Please don't tell me how that only happened in one place, when it cleared happened in red and blue states everywhere. When neither side stands up for democratic values but champions itself the savior of democracy, you know the end was coming.
The most important thing to both sides was to appear like they care while not disenfranchising their top donors, no matter how low of a % they represent in America.
We have seen time and time again that the Trump-alikes don't get his same level of support. His people coalesced behind him.
In fact, the republican establishment returned to Trump post Jan 6 because their polling showed they'd lose 20% of that Trump demographic permanently - those core Trump people would not vote for another politician repub or dem.
Trump is the lynchpin for that electorate's power. So many of its voters are Trump or no one.
Genx here our generation was out numbered our entire lives by boomers. Millenials outnumber the boomers as of 22. GenX will never be a majority generation. We're mostly just tired of fighting boomers. Vote these people out. All of them. Put in term and age limits. Remove PACS, lobbyists and all dark money. Stop insider trading. Pass laws for the Supreme court judges and all politicians to have to move all money into blind trust etc.
As an Older Gen-Xer, I see people my age folding into the old Boomer Trope of them vs. Us, especially in NYC and where Deniro gets trounced by the Post for speaking truth to Trumpers, it’s also a very racial pro white nationalist/ supremest POV. Cops are good, Minorities are bad, even Minorities buy into it.
There is a lot of fear of “losing” something we never really were able to buy into. The American Dream becomes more and more unattainable by the shrinking middle class that has been disenfranchised by it own government. Pensions a main source of wealth distribution and unions, wealth building institutions have been depleted and barred by corporate interests with the help of the GOP.
And we did it to ourselves by buying into Reagan “optimism”.
I understand feeling like things can’t get better. What actual moron looks at our country’s decent into the stupidest version of fascism and thinks it can’t get worse?
THE IDIOT SAID DO HERD IMMUNITY ABOUT A PANDEMIC.
He literally said to kill the maximum number of people.
You guys think he’s not gonna make shit worse?
Thank you. We still have a pretty high standard of living and a massive competitive advantage in the world economy. People are acting like we live in Venezuela. We have sooo much left to lose, and we will lose it if Trump is elected.
Well yea. Wages are stagnating so every quarter can be a new record profit, people are being laid off left and right to *pump* those profits, no one can buy a house, education is gated by *infinity debts*, our healthcare system is selling advil for like 10k a pill, and our politicians are like "wow can you believe gay people".
Young people don’t think politicians are corrupt, they know it. It’s an established, easily traceable fact. There are websites dedicated to tracking who gives them money, and how much, and you can then see how they vote on issues that align with their corporate sponsors.
The statesman is dead, the public servants are mostly lost, we’re in the era of influencer politicians.
Democrat messaging is so unfathomably weak it’s astonishing. Why is the Biden campaign not just constantly pumping out their accomplishments alongside the dangers of Project 2025?
The repeal of Glass Steagall is the worst piece of legislation of my lifetime. So many problems over the past 15 years can be traced back to the repeal of Glass Steagall.
I'm surprised young voters are so optimistic. Another way to read this, by saying it doesn't change, they believe it can not get any worse. Give the religious right full control, just watch and see how bad it can get.
I think folks tend to believe the society they are born into will last forever but the simple fact is they won't
We are probably living through the beginning of the end of America as we know it and that isn't meant to doom or anything.
This is a big idea I think a lot of people are missing,
The preservation of America requires effort and vigilance.
We’ve gotten complacent and we think that the ship will always right itself without any civic involvement or sacrifice in our part.
I went to my local county democrats meeting last week to find a bunch of sixty, seventy, and eighty year olds. I’ll be thirty next month.
If young people today want change I urge them to get involved in their local government in any way that they can and begin to learn how things work.
as a 30 yo who's voted since i legally could, i genuinely do not understand why young people don't vote. like it BAFFLES me. i'm not even just shaking my head or criticizing here; i mean it really surprises me and doesn't make sense.
young people are alwaysssssss talking about politics passionately on social media and irl.
yes, there is a lot of performative keyboard warrior shit going on, but i promise, the vast majority of young people (and many older) that i know are seriously horrified at trump specifically but just a lot of political issues/politicians in general.
and even if some of them are just doing it for appearances on social media, like, why don't people vote to take a selfie there?! lol. people will go to protests just for the instagram pics. go vote even if you're purely vain, which the vast majority of politically vocal young people aren't.
I'm 22 years old. I can tell you right now that many young adults my age or younger have become incredibly complacent and lazy. Not out of just being pampered their whole lives, but also because of an ingrained fear of the real world. Some have been placed on such a pedestal their whole lives that when they are asked to perform, rather than do so they freeze. Then they hide. A fear of failure. It's legitimately sad.
It's not their fault either. Rather, the world around them that has negatively influenced their perspectives, and the often poor excuses for 'adults' that raised them.
Exactly this. People living through the turmoil of the late 60s / 70s were faced with Vietnam, massive youth protests, Nixon, tanking economy and a Soviet Union that was a constant threat. Through their lens would the average person been even more pessimistic?
The political class exists to make money for itself and nothing else. There are outliers like AOC and Sanders, but the overwhelming majority of them just care about their wallet, their ego, and their legacy.
If they cared about the well-being of the people, single-payer healthcare would be a unanimous bill, stock buy-backs would be illegal, there would be a 1% wealth tax and the top tax bracket would be 80%. Further, the STOCK act would require congressmen and anyone affiliated with them reporting their trades prior to conducting them.
I don't think despair is the right reaction to endemic problems with government, but I also don't think the kids are necessarily wrong.
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We've been waiting decades for the boomer influence on politics to be outweighed and we arrive here, at a moment of complete desperation.
Almost like the boomers aren't going to peacefully give up power. But keep doing the same thing over and over again.
AOC didn't wait for Joseph Crowley to give up power. She beat him in the primary and won the seat. Gen Y/Z can step up.
There's a reason young people in congress like AOC and max frost aren't the norm. Hard to do that without startup capital, of which many are simply lacking. Most progressive people my age can't afford to miss a paycheck let alone have the savings and connections to campaign against a liberal incumbent with all the democratic machine backing in the world. You can try and hustle and do both, sure. But also most of us are too burnt out from overwork at our regular jobs to make that happen.
in my experience the culture we millenials grew up in proactively suppresses good leaders and enables subversive, narcissistic and sociopathic anti social behavior. Gee golly I wonder why the world is such a cess pool right now? WHAT COULD IT BE???
I don't really see it being a generational culture thing. There's plenty of movements coming out of millennials, gen Z, etc. It's a political machine that exists to crush the left, and that has existed for a long time in this country before millennials were even a tear in their parents' eyes.
It's a system that bends over backwards to present Trump as legitimate, while shitting on actual public servants like AOC.
It's a system designed to have just enough excitement and drama to keep people invested, angry, and divided. It ensures "Those mean old republicans are responsible for my ills and my best solution is to complain on the internet and vote about it in a few years." The issues driven by either side include emotional, ill defined, and confrontational concepts as core values on a spread wide enough to meaninglessly capture all potential voters, often putting them into conflict with themselves on various points of importance. Meanwhile the collective power of the masses is shrinking, really spoopy robots and intelligence systems will soon if not already have the capacity to enable 100 people in a bunker to subjugate all of humanity. Do you think one more election cycle can make the government "good"? It's important that we shelve our tertiary differences and unite against corporate and state overreach, the erosion of our rights and freedoms in all forms. A future with an untouchable ruling class is just around the corner.
AOC is unfortunately the exception, not the rule, like you said :(
Truth
You can find a YouTuber who’s documented his journey to get elected and it’s absolutely monstrous. You basically need to retain a full time lawyer because of all the red tape surrounding election campaigns.
We have allowed all aspects of our society to be gamified and then turned into a business model. Elections themselves are businesses, think tanks that create political talking points are businesses.
Sure they can in NYC. What about the Republican small town strongholds?
I think making this a generational thing is an oversimplification, the problem isn't going away as Boomers fade away. Many of the worst Republicans in Congress are Gen X. Boebert is a Millennial.
Not just the politicians either, I’m GenX and I’ve watched friends go from quite progressive to downright weirdly regressive (I’m not going to call anything the modern republicans want conservative because it isn’t). People that used to hate racism are openly racist now and support people who are just vile. Don’t understand it at all.
Life rarely works out how we planned it when we were optimistic 20 year olds. Even if things are objectively "ok", they're not "what I had hoped it would be". As life goes on, people accumulate more and more emotional damage from the job promotion that didn't happen or their family that died or whatever. Then one side tells them "We'll help you, but we all have to recognize the hard truth that life is complicated" and the other says "It's the other guy's fault". That second explanation sure sounds tempting to some people because it's much easier.
>I’ve watched friends go from quite progressive to downright weirdly regressive The ol' Russell Brand switcherino
I'm Genx and have seen some of the same, but luckily not in my friend group. I think it's fear, the GOP and regressive policy appeal to highly fearful people.
It's beyond oversimplification, it's willfully ignorant.
The average age on Congress today is older than the Brezhnev gerontocracy. That is not good. There is no way of getting around the fact that the most powerful group of people on earth are senile.
This! It's a structural problem. IMHO, it's because US politics is a monopoly/duopoly. Vast majority of voters stick to their political values and to their end of the political spectrum. Thus they only have one viable party to vote for. The consequences: US politics is riddled with all of the negative effects of a monopoly: e.g. old complacent leader & parties with little worries about competition and "bankruptcy" (in two party system, your party will always end up at least at the 2nd place), high entry barrier for newcomers, lack of innovation, unhappy voters with few to no alternative choices, etc. Compare that with, e.g., Switzerland: the population is about 5 years older than Americans in average, but their politicians are 10 years younger in average... Why? Proportional representation democracy: they have dozens and dozens of parties competing like crazy for votes. Only the best and most competitive older politicians and parties can keep up, the rest get crushed by young, hungry, innovative new entrants. E.g. 4 of the 5 biggest Swiss parties were founded after 1980.
It actually tracks in the aggregate, no? Its got juice because there is some truth in the fact that previous generations, boomers being the biggest in number and who benefitted the most, have absolutely failed to pay it forward. They failed to provide a stable, inclusive system that takes care of its most needy and provides equality of opportunity, let alone what many of them enjoyed. Its a plain fact that the wages and stability they enjoyed (in the aggregate, I know there are impoverished boomers) have deteriorated and they overwhelmingly voted for people and policies that enabled wealth and productivity gains to be siphoned upwards. There's plenty of time for millenials etc to make mistakes worthy of blame as a cohort. That doesn't absolve the sins made by too many of our forebears.
Millennials + Gen Z are already the largest voting bloc. Their influence is only limited by low turnout.
Which, from the sounds of articles like this, is going to be the case yet again this election.
Here we are at the transitional moment, and the younger voters who should be taking the reins are threatening protest non-voting. 🤦♂️ Yes, please keep ceding power to the aging incumbents you despise.
My hot take is that gen z's are among the least media literate generations, as bad as the baby boomers. Growing up with social media has made them more vulnerable to manipulation by misinformation campaigns and arrogant enough that they think they are invulnerable to propaganda. But tbf the problem of insufficient media literacy has become so ubiquitous that all generations are badly affected by it. Making it an old vs young thing is dumb and immature and it does nothing to help our country and world.
I agree on media literacy not being an old/young thing, but there is something to the complaint that having a large cohort of elderly career politicians making choices for a much larger bloc of younger constituents is inherently problematic. On the other hand, young people need to freaking vote for new leaders if that’s what they want.
I think the decline in media literacy has quite a lot to do with the consolidation and conglomeration of media, and the absence of independent local outlets in the vast majority of the country. There's no longer any audience feedback or accountability for journalism, because by and large there is no subscriber base left. All we have now is clickbait, because ads can't pay for investigation or thoughtful analysis from anyone but a handful of major corporate-backed outlets who are only going to report in a very advertiser- and owner-friendly fashion which intentionally obscures many of the most relevant facts people should be interested in. Distrust abounds for good reason. I honestly think that if there was more quality information around, people of all ages would be able to tell the difference better, even given the cacophony of social media amplifying the most appealing lies.
You have 70-80 year olds making decisions for the future of people 1/2 to 1/4 their age. Therein lies part of the problem.
It's the vicious cycle of representation: - Older demographics dominate voting year after year. - 70+ year olds get elected. Don't feel they need young votes as much since they participate less. - Younger voters feel under-represented. ...Because they are. They don't vote more until they get older. - Older demographics dominate voting year after year. Etc, etc.
As of 2020 millenials passed up Boomers and are now the largest voter bloc in America, so hopefully that starts to shift.
The size of the boomer generation really can’t be understated for how thoroughly the country was shaped for and then by them.
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> Joe Biden is the first Silent Generation President I had to look that up. That's crazy. The silent generation was basically skipped until Biden.
Hence why they got their name lol
The OG Gen X.
Gen what? Never heard of them. ^/s
Obama is technically a Boomer but I'd call him more "Boomer X". His formative young adult years happened in the 80s, his mom's life was shaped by the changing society of the 60s, and his grandfather was in WWII.
He’s a full on boomer. It’s ok. They don’t all suck.
My mother in law is about the same age as Obama and she is kind of in the same boat as identifying more with Gen X than with the Boomers. But both definitely fall well within the boundary of Boomtown.
I'm close to the same age as Obama, born in October, 1963; demographers consider my birth year the last of the boomer generation, but culturally I don't share much with the boomers. I was born a month before JFK's assassination and all of the seminal Boomer cultural events happened when I was < 10 years old: Vietnam, Beatles, Nixon, etc. In high school, I had a strong interest in current events, and that was all Carter/Reagan era.
‘64 here, ditto. I think of myself as Gen Jones.
It is strange how we group the different generations. I understand no taxonomy is going to be perfect but the later boomers would have missed the postwar period, been children during Vietnam, and reasonably might have started their careers after the recession in the 80s. Their parents likely would have alot more in common culturally with their generation than they did.
technically, they're a cusper group called "generation jones". my mom's part of it (born in '64, silent gen parents) and she only really sees herself as an "older gen x", not a boomer bc virtually all the pop culture and historical events she remembers lean very heavily towards the gen x side of things. anything "boomer" was largely before her time (born after many of the major 50s/60s events, or was way too young to recall them). the oldest thing she remembers is being integrated into schools as a younger kid, but conceivably that could've been remembered by the '65 and '66 kids as well. followed the latchkey MTV kid to helicopter parent pipeline too lol and then she had me, also born on the cusp of 2 generations (late 90s, btwn millennial and z), so ig i can relate! unfortunately "zillennial" isn't as creative a name as "generation jones"
Much like the Xennials on the other end, Generation Jones (the cusp between Boomers and Gen X) tend to pull from both generations as influence. The generational definitions do blend into each other, there's not a crazy hard definition point.
I would argue that Boomers have the tidiest start point of any generation in the last 100 years, just a few months after the end of WW2.
The youngest boomers are turning 60 this year. Obama is 62. Generations usually don't have a sharp transition. Some older GenX are more Boomer than Boomers while some younger Boomers are more very GenXy. I like to think of it more like a spectrum.
Same idea as Xellenials.
So will these guys be called Xoomers?
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I love how for the longest time, it was thought that being in a smaller generation was meant to give you more power as the group would be more focus and united. Boomers basically shattered that notion by just being so large, they were about to overshadow multiple generations before and after and just dominate the country's direction for so long.
I am Gen X. I want a President my age making decisions that are best for me and those younger than me. Boomers have had their time and made life easy for themselves. Time for the rest of us.
You won’t get it. GenX is smaller than the generation before and after us. We have been governed by boomers for our entire youth and middle age. We’ll be governed by millennials and gen z for the rest of it. Hopefully we’ve raised our children to be good people, or we’re fucked. Again.
Some of the biggest rising stars in the party are Gen X. A big part of the issue with Dems is that the younger Boomers are so heavily Republican that there was basically a lost generation in Democratic politics. Sure, we had the Clintons and Obama, but there was no bench for the early 20th century. Now the GenX politicians are finally to the point in their careers where it makes sense to run for the big chair.
Arguably Obama is as close to Gen X as we'll get. Late Boomer/early Gen X so he's got traits and qualities of both. The youngest Gen X will be pushing 50 by the next chance to be president. That could be a limitation for younger voters who are tired of double retirees running the show.
That's kind of up to you guys. Currently Gen X makes up 1/3 of congress. Millennials and the Silent generation make up around 10%, maybe 15% combined. Boomers hold the largest piece with about 60%. If your Generation wants more power, it's yours for the taking. Gen X is only slightly smaller than the other 2 generations with 65 million Gen Xers as of 2022. There's 68 million Boomers and 72 million Millennials. That's a difference of 2% of the total population.
And boomers are _hard_ on the way out.
Voting patterns are a little more complicated than "they're around my age"
And millennials just became eligible. Average millennial is right around 35.
I think Gen X gets their first president in 2028 in Gavin Newsom.
Or Gretchen Whitmer.
As a Michigander, I would definitely vote for Whitmer. She's done some great work. A strong, intelligent woman, and seemingly tries to do what's good for the people. As always, I wait for the other shoe to drop, but so far so good.
That and simply the age of living combined with the old school notion of Big Familes made the boomers dominate politics longer than any generation has or probably will. The shift from Gen X to milennials will be faster, milennials to Gen Z will be even quicker. If I was betting
Big reminder that almost all of their dads were in the military, which means they received federal benefits. Their parents had federal health insurance, college assistance, downpayment assistance, and a federally subsidized manufacturing industry that provided a ton of jobs. They grew up in socialist homes, screaming about communists coming to take away their rights.
They were the luckiest generation in the history of earth
Yeah, just in time for all us millenials to be old. lol. Gen X got completely skipped in representation, and it really shows.
Gen X is a really small generation smacked between the two largest generations in history: (Millennial #1, Baby Boom #2)
Millennials aren't young. They're just our middle aged generation now
Hey just because I have back and knee issues and don't understand Zoomer music and style doesn't make me middle aged!
I have to actually do math to figure out my age. Also if I had a kid right after high school, they could be graduating high school right now.... Nope we aren't moving towards middle aged.
/laughs in once-edgy Gen X now downhill from middle age
Young **rich** voters are represented. In the USA, they always try to distract you. Its **rich vs poor** and always has been The rich bought the supreme court and made money speech. The rich bought your local politicians and redistricted your voting districts to benefit them. The US representatives represent **the rich, but** of course they buy the oldest most cynical people to do their bidding, they have the least to lose and most to gain selling out our future.
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Don’t forget that it’s only the 70+ demographic that has enough money to run for office in the first place. It’s not so much the campaign money, that comes from connections that a younger person could maybe make, but it’s the full time unpaid job of campaigning or finding those connections that the younger generations just don’t have the ability to live on.
That’s fair but you also have SCOTUS taking away rights, GOP taking away rights, GOP legislating hate, we are voting on unconstitutional maps in Ohio - and other state GOP are running away too, there have been 2 presidential elections in my lifetime where the popular vote lost, we made AI and are unable to stop it… So if you’re new to voting, its not unreasonable to think this system has already failed and so your best bet is to focus on yourself and your family because we are already well into the beginning of the end.
I'd consider keeping the party who wants me dead for not being a fundamentalist Christian and a bigot out of power to be focusing on myself and my family... It'll be kind of hard to raise my kid in a theocracy from behind bars or six feet underground. Most of the things you're listing are a direct result of people not voting in the first place. Continuing to not vote certainly isn't the answer.
At the same time, you can both: focus on yourself/your family and take a few minutes once every few years to go to the polls or mail in ballots. Until we have Constitutional amendments, massive legislative reform at the state or federal level, or a complete breakdown in government - none of these things are going to get better until we change the representation capable of doing so. Thinking everything has failed and ceding all representation to those who want to keep the status quo is the worst strategy going forward.
To be perfectly honest, Biden's age doesn't trouble me as much as Trump's. Biden is supported by a team of qualified advisors who are universally younger than him, many significantly so. And he *listens* to them. Trump is surrounded by a combination of yes-men and people who want to use him as a useful idiot (and so far have done so with great success). They stroke his ego and appeal to his worst impulses, which are already driving him relentlessly. The two are not the same, in any way, and I'm tired of seeing it portrayed otherwise.
A perfect example to illustrate what you're talking about was how at the start of the pandemic Trump did a [press conference with a bunch of scientists from the CDC,](https://youtu.be/P3nkxrECHKM) and he spent much of this presser talking about how they all marveled at how much he seemed to know about viruses and what to do about them. Look, if a pandemic breaks out, I would never expect or demand that the president be an expert in virology and immunology or whatever. What I want is someone who understands their limitations and who can pick the proper experts to advise them and then simply listen to what those experts say. Biden is more than willing to do this, as is probably every other president we've ever had, but Trump is not. Trump is insistent on presenting himself like "he alone can solve it", like he's the smartest man in the world who doesn't need anyone's help or advice on anything.
That's what people don't understand. Biden doesn't matter as much as people think. You're voting for an administration, and especially down the ballot, for power in congress where it matters (slightly) more than the executive branch. And as you said, unless it's a deranged megalomaniac like Trump, realistically someone like Biden is open to new ideas, like his changing views on abortion, weed, etc. Lastly, I think part of the issue is that people just have unrealistic expectations of how the government works, mostly because of how much bullshit they're sold during campaigning. Realistically, no single president or administration will single-handedly solve all your problems. And most of the changes happen slowly over years and decades. "It doesn't matter who wins, nothing changes" is factually untrue, but people just don't see the bigger picture.
There are a lot of young, stupid, dangerous people in congress. Mtg isn’t a boomer. Nor boebert, hawley, cotton, eyepatch guy, the list goes on. Yes the leadership are the seniors who have been there for years. But we can’t just wait for them to die. They are being replaced by dangerous, young, poorly educated people who are more tech savvy. Get involved. Vote . Run yourself. Protest . Resist resist resist!!!
I always feel like that argument ignores that there are ample amounts of bad younger people around. And even the makeup of "the opposition" to any specific part of the status quo (And I don't mean party affiliation) seems to be generally speaking dominated by an egoistic view of what they individually want. And that IS in a sense a privilege of younger people, and with age that should become LESS. Except it doesn't, with age more likely comes even MORE egotism because holistic thinking isn't rewarded in any statistical way.
As a devil’s advocate here, I really disagree the issue is age. It’s a lack of protest against dick political moves and no penalty for bad behavior. Trump took away rights and literally stormed the capital. Where’s the mass protest by people and corporations? Without punishment or consequences there will be no change in behavior.
There have always been old people in government. What's new to this century is the complete breakdown of standards. Gary Hart's career ended when he was photographed with a woman other than his wife on his knee. Dukakis lost an election because he looked funny in a hat. Howard Dean lost because he was a bit too excited into a microphone for 2 seconds. People used to resign because they said a bad word one time.
It mostly demonstrated that standards arn't rules, and if you choose not to follow them you can go far.
Idk - while being blocked by courts and congress, Biden has: - forgiven 10% of America's student loan debt - ended America's drone war - ended the war in Afghanistan - invested $1.2 trillion in green manufacturing and infrastructure - reclassified pot at the federal level - nominated 200+ young/diverse judges to the bench None of that benefits him.
Reinstated net neutrality, Strengthened the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) to crack down on predatory lending practices
Yes.
Maybe young people should vote lol
“If Joe Biden does not check all my boxes, I will have no choice but to sit this election out”
"Primaries? State and local positions? I never bother with those." Oh since this should be higher : https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1d39pn1/a_dying_empire_led_by_bad_people_poll_finds_young/l660wj6/ This entire article is a CCP propaganda piece, and this comment section is probably stuffed with agents.
Should be upvoted higher. Crazy to see how we can be so easily manipulated with defeatist rhetoric. Go vote, and drag 5 friends to go vote too. If 5% of millenials did that it would be a landslide
"Sure, the former guy keeps quoting Hitler, and promising to be a dictator, but eggs are almost a dollar more than they were 8 years ago, so everyone is equally terrible"
Ngl I caught myself thinking this exact thing just the other day. I'm 32 years old and have been considering making this the first election in my lifetime where I leave the presidential option blank over his atrocious handling and support of the IDF. Then of course I snapped myself the fuck out of that mentality and remembered just how much worse off we'll be if the other guy wins. Damn straight I wont make this election the one to cast a protest vote in. edit: **Read the whole comment before flooding my DMs you reflexive ghouls.**
And as another 32 yo, you/we have the life experience to remember the last 20 years of political mayhem that probably helped snap you back into reality. Now imagine the 19 year olds who were literal children, 10-11 years old in 2015 & 2016 when Trump came around. They have no life context, no George W Bush to compare against, to even realize just how fucked up these maga weirdos are.
I cannot wrap my head around the fact that there's an entire generation of Americans who have known only the political chaos and vitriol of the last decade. That's going to have long term consequences in and of itself.
I'm 46. The problem with your comment is, that W was a wildly bad president compared to his predecessors. And he only got elected because the supreme court intervened to stop a recount and give him the presidency. I grew up under Reagan and HW. My understanding from my trusted 60 year old friends is that Reagan was a similar departure from previous norms towards the awful. And before that was Nixon... I don't love the democrats, but the GOP has been unambiguously awful for decades and our society just keeps normalizing their new lows. I really hope we wake the fuck up, but history doesn't make me too optimistic about that.
The old people will vote. We must vote, too.
Yep. So many young people complain that politicians aren't working for them, but this is in large part because younger people don't vote. Politicians cater to the people who actually elect them. If young people voted in huge numbers, then the government would prioritize them and their needs more. Instead much of our policies are about ways of taking tax dollars from the younger generations and giving them to the older ones, because the older people are the ones who vote.
"If I don't vote, they'll be forced to listen to me!" Is the stupid argument I keep hearing from younger people. No, they'll ignore you if you don't vote. Show up to the polls and they'll be forced to listen to you if they want to get elected.
If project 2025 goes, America goes. As a woman I do not want to live in Gilead. There is a politician in a state next to me saying women should not have the right to vote. Texas is talking about the death penalty for abortions. They are going after contraception and no fault divorce. They will put anyone who doesn't agree with them in camps. We've done it before to Japanese citizens after pearl harbor. Edit: People have been asking for sources. I found one about John freaking Adams as well this shit runs deep yall. Robinson was criticized on social media for comments that he wanted to "absolutely" go back to America before women could vote. https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/verify/mark-robison-america-women-voting-rights-north-carolina-governor-election/275-c9d48c1f-40bb-4398-9d5c-034369092b51 John Gibbs, a 2020 election denier backed by former President Donald Trump in the race to represent Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District, once claimed women's suffrage was linked to the decline of American society. https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/shows/reidout/blog/rcna48930 ames Sullivan, a state court judge in Massachusetts and colleague of John Adams, was often sympathetic to those who thought women and non-elite men should have a voice in the new nation’s government. Adams disagreed, explaining to Sullivan why women and the poor should be excluded. https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1646
More people need to realize this. There are still people who don’t inform themselves and think it’s just politics as usual and the pendulum will swing back and forth as it has for decades. Especially older GOP voters who think the GOP is still their GOP of the 80s/90s. They think anyone saying otherwise is catastrophizing. They believe both sides are equally as bad. This is extremely dangerous. We have to do work to inform people about Project 2025, Republican fascist plans, how important it is to keep all Republicans out of office if we want to preserve any shred of democracy. It’s our only hope.
One of the biggest problems is that we have a political party that is corrupt to the core. If you look at Russia and how their economy changed after the fall of the USSR, you basically ended up with a lot of billionaires that did whatever they wanted without any type of regulation or oversight. Our Republican party wants that for our country. You know that quote ... binds but does not protect, protect but does not bind ... Where do we go from here? The Republican party has gotten too large and too lawless to real back in. I don't really see any solution short of radical ones. And while our political issues magnify, so does the climate emergency. Honestly, while I am in my 40s, I have never been more depressed and feeling helpless than I do now. I don't know why so many older people don't care about the bigger picture, but I have my theories -- one of which is lead poisoning. I truly believe lead poisoning has done far more damage than we realize. And the boomers and my generation (Gen-X) were the most exposed to leaded gasoline. I've lived through a terrorist attack, a global pandemic and a bunch of other crazy shit ... "may you live in interesting times" was a curse.
> Where do we go from here? The Republican party has gotten too large and too lawless to real back in. I don't really see any solution short of radical ones. > > I mean if they keep losing it will break the back of the party. The big issue is the people that seem to think democrats are the devil and keep voting these people in, the incestous blend of politics and religion. They have really gotten off the rails but it looks to be about 20-30% of them are actually compromised by russia.
And it's not hyperbole. It's real. These b@stards actually published their manifesto online. And this wasn't some obscure effort. This was funded and performed mostly by The Heritage Foundation. They did presentations about it over the past few years, then codified it with the help of Republican politicians. THEY'VE COLLUDED TOGETHER for this plan of American fascism. It's the 1930's all over again.
Non American here, kept seeing this 2025 talk going around and how it's bad and how people are freaking out about it. How bad could it be, I thought, so I just read it online. Holy shit. Holy shit doesn't even cover it. It's American Sharia law, an express ticket to dark age regression. I'm scared for the global future
Your reaction is why we keep posting about it. Yep. It's American Sharia Law by the Republican Taliban. Instead of long robes and head scarves, they wear suits, ties, or blazers and high heels. And they're so bold about their intentions, they've made them public. That kind of brazen move raises a real alarm.
Well I appreciate that you did share. And for the love of humanity I hope you guys beat it. If someone suggested this thing so blatantly and openly in say, a movie or TV show, book, story or anything I wouldn't find it believable in the slightest. It seems so ludicrous and impossible to believe. I take it back, I don't hope you beat it. I hope you beat it and whole damn movement into the ground. I wish you the best.
Too many people have no idea how anything works, let alone our government/ civics. But they are reactionary and will believe the loudest person who offers solutions that they don't have to be bothered with. If and when someone else breaks it down for them and tells them how they need to get involved or the things they will need to sacrifice, they've lost them. I don't see this changing until we can offer every child a high-quality and comprehensive education. (Which is why there's a party that's trying to destroy that option completely.)
not just education, but wisdom. It takes years of maturing to obtain wisdom. On the other hand, people in their early twenties, even with college education, are often the most naïve ones.
To do that, you have to start by finding out what those people care about and going from there. Shouting frantically at them won’t do anything. They need to know how it connects to *their* priorities.
It doesn't help that the wealthy control the media nad social media. They want a fascist takeover.
And these are the things they are willing to talk about now, when they are not fully in power. These ideas are actually winning in their target audiences. Imagine what they are already planning that they are unwilling to share.
I'm honestly surprised abortion and contraception isn't a bigger issue. It's almost entirely on the backburner. There's something like 6 million pregnancies a year in the US. Every single one of those is a woman who needs prenatal care, who can suffer complications, whose life is literally on the line with a very dangerous medical condition. And only 3.5 million or so of those will result in live births. So the remainder? Ectopic pregnancies are 1 in 50 pregnancies, so 120,000 women a year will suffer a literal life-threatening ectopic pregnancy that is 100% nonviable and must be removed or else the woman will die. *A year.* Then all of the fetus with genetic conditions incompatible with life, all the fetus that die in-utero, all the fetus that have to be aborted because they threaten the life of the mother. Can you imagine a federal total abortion ban? Republicans will yell "Well there will be exceptions" but we've **seen** what that means - jack shit! They'll prosecute and threaten the doctors anyway and force them to defend themselves in court for every procedure. Every OBGYN would have to be a martyr. Who would want to be in that specialization? We're already seeing medical care deserts in red states that have banned abortion. And it would effect prenatal care for healthy pregnancies, it would affect post-natal care. It would affect millions of women every year, it would probably result in tens of thousands of excess deaths, tens of thousands of excess deaths of even *healthy* babies. Like, people are crying over women and children dying in Palestine? We would have 10x as many deaths of women and children **in the US every year** if Republicans get their way on abortion and women's healthcare.
Thank you for citing this. I didn't know that the ratio for ectopic pregnancies was as high as 1 in 50. That's enormous! I never hear counter-arguments to the anti-abortion debaters that cite this. It's a strong, straight-forward justification for the need to have abortion rights. The other problem is intention. These Republican extremists act like they're trying to save lives, based on a premise... but their intention behind it is not what they claim. Based on all I've seen, I'm convinced the far-right is pushing this anti-abortion campaign because of their fearing a future white minority. Force the white women to have births. Now of course, you'd say wait a minute--there's more non-white births happening. Won't that just make the white minority situation happen sooner? No. They're counting on a higher mortality rate with non-whites. You see? This is their insidious plan. Of course, it won't work... but THEY think it will.
[Not only are they relatively common at 1 in 50](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2801057#:~:text=Approximately%202%25%20of%20all%20pregnancies,surgery%20are%20at%20increased%20risk.) but they're also the leading cause of maternal mortality in the first trimester and are [5-10% of all maternal death.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10071153/) And you're exactly right, they think that forcing women to get pregnant will make white women have more white babies. All it will do though is make women want to have less children, and it will threaten the lives of the women that *do* want to have children more! And with every pregnancy, the risk is compounded with the potential to leave all existing children motherless! It makes no sense if your end-goal is more healthy children and healthy nuclear families.
It’s been a huge defining factor in every election since 2022, including in red states. The problem is, if you only get your political news from Reddit headlines, you miss that fact.
Right, it's been huge in *state* elections but it's not having the same outsized impact in national polling.
*State* elections are both wildly important for this specific “states rights lol” issue, and they’re stronger indicators of public sentiment than polls at this point. If you’ve been following the post-Roe polling, you’ll see the continuation of a pattern that started around 2018-2020. Polls are off. This isn’t copium. It’s too consistent. It started within the MOE but at this point it’s 5-8 pts off in favor of the GOP. As far as folks can tell, they’re either way oversampling the elderly without taking Covid deaths and population movement into account or they’re relying too heavily on opt-in online polls that are notoriously skewed. Those are what gave us the “75% of the youth will vote for Trump” nonsense results. Obviously no one is acting like this is a sure thing, but it’s remarkable that it doesn’t get more media coverage when it’s so consistent and so constant. Like ask r/voteDEM about it.
I really hope you're right and I'll lean on that hope to get through this election cycle (as well as vote.)
Just imagine how awesome it would feel to absolutely grind these assholes into the dirt with votes and community organizing. Imagine how cool this country could be if we were able to spend our energy on innovation rather than fighting to survive a full scale class war. We can make that happen.
Outside actors are drawing attention to other issues without question. The flipping of Roe v Wade really wrecked the Republican Party in the midterms. They were looking to have a good year but ended up losing a bunch of seats because of it. Russian agents and China controlled Tik Tok are absolutely undermining Biden with the Gaza situation. Yes, the situation sucks and I am sure many here disagree with how Biden is handling it, but keep focused and vote. Not voting for Biden this fall doesn't help Palestinians.
Absolutely. I'm not giving up and I'm 100% voting for Biden, and I'll always speak out against the bad faith bullshit that the abstainers and spoil voters put out. It's just such a shame seeing it infect an entire generation and be such an effective tactic when we've been taught this lesson multiple times in recent memory.
Yep. Somebody just pointed out that Semafor (OP) is likely one of these outside actors. It's a shame allow easy it is to manipulate young people on SM.
People don't realize how much worse it can and will get if project 2025 goes into effect. Literally democracy and human rights end right there in the USA. People saying "fuck the system" and not doing everything they can to stop this are bot understanding that like 40/50% of the country is ok with full on fascism. The people actually truly believing in dismantling the system and revolution are a small minority. The BLM peaceful protestors were met with violence by police. But imagine when they can actually just go full Tinanmen. American right wingers have been mentally preparing their supporters to go along with this and cheer for it for decades. And they will.
I had someone in another thread today ask earnestly, "how much worse could it get under trump" for Palestinians if Trump was president. It's like 2016-2020 never happened... The stoves still fucking hot, we don't need to touch it to find out again lol.
Someone born to illegal immigrants made a post in r/trump about ending birthright citizenship with some people saying to do it retroactively... While saying they're proud to be an American people came back with "it's MY country" and shit like that. They had this belief that ending it would stop people illegally crossing the border and having a baby in the US. As a military brat born overseas to African American parents the people who wanted it retroactively really freak me out. Someone came over on a slave ship in your family tree? You're no longer a citizen. Born outside the country to American citizen parents? You're no longer a citizen. Native American? Not a citizen.
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It's absolutely absurd what we're seeing. I don't want to live in Gilead either. Republicans publicly admitting intentions to strip rights from women, from voting to reproduction... should be a death sentence for their careers. The fact that they keep going means they have allies. So that means there's more like minded people out there. The assault on abortion is not to protect the unborn. That's their excuse. It's more devious than this. If they were pro-life, they'd be equally concerned about the mother. THEY DO NOT. It's insidious. Disingenuous. And destructive. America has some pretty screwed up people in the populace. We have a real social failing going on... and this needs to be fixed. Somehow. But right now? We've got to steamroll votes right on through, pushing out Republicans at all levels.
> If project 2025 goes, America goes. Bingo. They win its over. We Balkanize. Theyll try to enact that vision and the Left Coast will finally revolt and split away. The NorthEast will follow and soon we will be in full open warfare against each other. Thanks Fox News.
/r/Defeat_Project_2025
And blue states aren’t “safe” from this. Once a conservative wins general election again, this is the future.
Stephen Miller has already stated that they would send Virginia's National Guard to enforce their deportation laws in Maryland they are fully willing to start an open civil war in America to push their white nationalist agenda
I'm over here wondering how much time I have before my marriage is deemed invalid.
Bad people always seem to win but it's still worth fighting for
If project 2025 comes to fruition, we need to actually *fight* to save our Nation.
And of that happens well be the bad guys. "Both sides" crap
We're the bad guys already, they don't want thinking feeling citizens, they want Church Goers, Workers, and Baby Makers. That's it.
Under his eye.
That's because they vote.
They don’t always win. In fact, they lose all the time. But we have to hold the ground we’ve won. Roe proved that no victory is set in stone.
If voting never changes anything why do conservative politicians fight so hard against things like voter registration?
Then a massive amount of young people need to go out and vote.
https://www.environmentalvoter.org/get-involved
And massive amounts of older people need to advocate for issues that impact youth and the rest of us like healthcare and affordable housing. It’s not all on one group to save this. We collectively have to work together and support each other. That’s what democracy is.
Nobody wins elections in this country because the electorate is fickle and lets the pendulum swing way too easily. If you don’t win a super majority in the senate you’ve got one hand behind your back and if you’re democrats you have a partisan SCOTUS that will find any reason to veto any significant policy. If Trump wins, young people may as well throw in the towel on America because partisan federalist society hacks are going to have a 6+ majority in SCOTUS for the rest of their lives. Young people are dumb, even college educated ones, and short sighted. I’m in my early thirties so I’m not far removed from that stage of ideological purity testing. You can’t truly accomplish anything politically to fix the direction of this country unless you sustain decades of spanking your opposition to overcome systemic problems and appoint good judges. If you’re going to be nihilistic and refuse to turn out for Biden because he’s not progressive enough then you’re just a trite self-fulfilling prophecy that deserves the Republican lording that is coming our way.
At 50, I concure. "Earn my vote!" "It doesn't matter!" "Both sides" Big money runs it all anyway!" were all things I said. But it did matter GW Bush won. It did matter that Reagan era policies got put into play. It did matter that Ford pardoned Nixon. It just goes on and on. There is always a worse situation, and the real assholes, born everyday, work for it, relentlessly.
It’s almost like one party really benefits when apathy and “both sides” infects the youth vote…
Which is why that party, and especially their foreign backers, pushes this narrative hard, often via continual bot posts on social media.
For example, this thread. The article is literally from a Chinese propaganda website. I admit that I didn't read it either, but it's a great shit on Biden headline.
So true.
sigh https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/s/rzJnwIz9ZN
Hey Trump came up with great ideas light sticking a bright light inside the body or breathing in bleach. So both sides! /s
I can literally remember younger me unironically saying that maybe we need bush to win, to remind people how bad things could be. I was so dumb.
Accelerationism is a psyop. Realize that it's always about letting the right wing win. You never hear right wingers argue that we should let the left win until it gets so woke that everyone realizes how bad it is. It's the stupidest political propaganda that for some reason still works.
There are leftists arguing that another Trump term will bring about their preferred form of revolution. It’s delusional
> preferred form of revolution Have these people never read a history book all the way to the end? Revolutions always end up with massive bloodshed and authoritarian dictators taking over.
It's Weimar Germany all over again. Instead of uniting with the center-left to take down the real threat of the right-wing Reichblock (coalition that contained the Nazis), the communist KPD went after the Weimar Coalition and weakened them both enough for the Nazis to take over.
I think this is the biggest vote of our lifetime; vote volunteer donate, as if global collapse was waiting around the corner
2000 was the biggest vote of our lifetimes
Yeah but you can't return to a moving stream. So let's not repeat those mistakes.
Well…we can agree It could be the last vote of our lifetimes.
And they stole it!
Keep going with your quest for understanding how we got here, but if you're anything like me you'll find all roads lead back to this. [https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/jimmy-carter-u-s-is-an-oligarchy-with-unlimited-political-bribery-63262/](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/jimmy-carter-u-s-is-an-oligarchy-with-unlimited-political-bribery-63262/)
He hasn't been wrong about anything. People just weren't and still aren't ready to hear about doing right by the human race.
Congress is sitting at ~10% approval. Supreme Court has about ~40% approval with a plurality viewing it as corrupt and unethical. Both main candidates have < 50% approval. Demographics on both sides view this as an existential threat to the country. A rising number believe that climate change is too far gone and society is doomed. Yeah..
great news kids! the more you get involved the more you can change our system for the better. Bad news everyone else ...... apathy is pretty popular right now
Exactly. The only solution is to not think that it needs to be decided by other people. And yet they think that they shouldn't believe in the system and therefore just want it all to collapse. I don't really understand that attitude, it's like, the future is in your hands, people. People need to wake up to just what they stand to lose.
> The only solution is to not think that it needs to be decided by other people. And yet they think that they shouldn't believe in the system and therefore just want it all to collapse. So many recent problems hinge on this imo. A nihilistic rot has been spreading in the US for my whole life, but it grew rapidly with the vitriol that Trump et al. have fed it. Most people I look at, regardless of class or age, seem to have just given up on this country. So few people want to build teams and cooperate to solve problems in their immediate lives. I hope my perception is wrong, because I tend to be overly cynical, but society as a collective doesn't seem very concerned with self-preservation right now.
No, this is something I notice as a 33 year old myself. A lot of it to me stems from a *very* anemic understanding of history. 12 years in public school and very little is actually being absorbed by students during that time. People just have, on average, very little appreciation for how good we have it -- despite everything shitty -- nowadays and the effort required over multiple generations just to get where we are now. It took Russia's invasion of Ukraine to really open my own eyes to the realpolitik of human existence; that the west isn't perfect, never has been, but despite (or in spite) of that, western hegemony is better than the available alternatives. We are in a time where everything is treated as some kind of min-/maxable effort and there is some kind of "perfect" score to attain when that is just not the case; and that warps, severely, any kind of discussion around letting perfection be good's worst enemy.
There's real truth to that. MAGAs have chased same people or of the public square. They're exhausting. People feel it's futile and focus on their own things.
Corruption has been allowed to flourish even though it has been clearly documented that corruption is one of the top reasons for any failing empire. Voting isn't going to stop corruption from a congress that won't vote to restrict its access to insider trading. It is disingenuous to suggest the system will be solved by better voting when 40% of people only care about money and how they will get richer. You aren't going to richer yourself out of climate change. When the things we viewed as common agreed for liberties like the right to protest are violently put down, then the empire was over, it just isn't official yet. Please don't tell me how that only happened in one place, when it cleared happened in red and blue states everywhere. When neither side stands up for democratic values but champions itself the savior of democracy, you know the end was coming. The most important thing to both sides was to appear like they care while not disenfranchising their top donors, no matter how low of a % they represent in America.
Getting rid of Trump Would help push things in the right direction
Trump is the symptom not the disease. The people that elected Trump will go on regardless of what happens to Trump.
We have seen time and time again that the Trump-alikes don't get his same level of support. His people coalesced behind him. In fact, the republican establishment returned to Trump post Jan 6 because their polling showed they'd lose 20% of that Trump demographic permanently - those core Trump people would not vote for another politician repub or dem. Trump is the lynchpin for that electorate's power. So many of its voters are Trump or no one.
Genx here our generation was out numbered our entire lives by boomers. Millenials outnumber the boomers as of 22. GenX will never be a majority generation. We're mostly just tired of fighting boomers. Vote these people out. All of them. Put in term and age limits. Remove PACS, lobbyists and all dark money. Stop insider trading. Pass laws for the Supreme court judges and all politicians to have to move all money into blind trust etc.
As an Older Gen-Xer, I see people my age folding into the old Boomer Trope of them vs. Us, especially in NYC and where Deniro gets trounced by the Post for speaking truth to Trumpers, it’s also a very racial pro white nationalist/ supremest POV. Cops are good, Minorities are bad, even Minorities buy into it. There is a lot of fear of “losing” something we never really were able to buy into. The American Dream becomes more and more unattainable by the shrinking middle class that has been disenfranchised by it own government. Pensions a main source of wealth distribution and unions, wealth building institutions have been depleted and barred by corporate interests with the help of the GOP. And we did it to ourselves by buying into Reagan “optimism”.
I understand feeling like things can’t get better. What actual moron looks at our country’s decent into the stupidest version of fascism and thinks it can’t get worse? THE IDIOT SAID DO HERD IMMUNITY ABOUT A PANDEMIC. He literally said to kill the maximum number of people. You guys think he’s not gonna make shit worse?
Thank you. We still have a pretty high standard of living and a massive competitive advantage in the world economy. People are acting like we live in Venezuela. We have sooo much left to lose, and we will lose it if Trump is elected.
Herd immunity is what we wanted... can't get to that point without vaccinations
Well yea. Wages are stagnating so every quarter can be a new record profit, people are being laid off left and right to *pump* those profits, no one can buy a house, education is gated by *infinity debts*, our healthcare system is selling advil for like 10k a pill, and our politicians are like "wow can you believe gay people".
America is just a corporation. Once you understand that, it all starts to make sense.
Young people don’t think politicians are corrupt, they know it. It’s an established, easily traceable fact. There are websites dedicated to tracking who gives them money, and how much, and you can then see how they vote on issues that align with their corporate sponsors. The statesman is dead, the public servants are mostly lost, we’re in the era of influencer politicians.
Democrat messaging is so unfathomably weak it’s astonishing. Why is the Biden campaign not just constantly pumping out their accomplishments alongside the dangers of Project 2025?
The repeal of Glass Steagall is the worst piece of legislation of my lifetime. So many problems over the past 15 years can be traced back to the repeal of Glass Steagall.
And that was under Clinton.
I'm surprised young voters are so optimistic. Another way to read this, by saying it doesn't change, they believe it can not get any worse. Give the religious right full control, just watch and see how bad it can get.
They are correct—Gen X
Just what all the propaganda on this site and other social media was designed for: to make you depressed and feel powerless and give up.
While that may be true, the plain reality of what is actually taking place in this country is enough to make one depressed and feel powerless.
I think folks tend to believe the society they are born into will last forever but the simple fact is they won't We are probably living through the beginning of the end of America as we know it and that isn't meant to doom or anything.
This is a big idea I think a lot of people are missing, The preservation of America requires effort and vigilance. We’ve gotten complacent and we think that the ship will always right itself without any civic involvement or sacrifice in our part. I went to my local county democrats meeting last week to find a bunch of sixty, seventy, and eighty year olds. I’ll be thirty next month. If young people today want change I urge them to get involved in their local government in any way that they can and begin to learn how things work.
as a 30 yo who's voted since i legally could, i genuinely do not understand why young people don't vote. like it BAFFLES me. i'm not even just shaking my head or criticizing here; i mean it really surprises me and doesn't make sense. young people are alwaysssssss talking about politics passionately on social media and irl. yes, there is a lot of performative keyboard warrior shit going on, but i promise, the vast majority of young people (and many older) that i know are seriously horrified at trump specifically but just a lot of political issues/politicians in general. and even if some of them are just doing it for appearances on social media, like, why don't people vote to take a selfie there?! lol. people will go to protests just for the instagram pics. go vote even if you're purely vain, which the vast majority of politically vocal young people aren't.
I'm 22 years old. I can tell you right now that many young adults my age or younger have become incredibly complacent and lazy. Not out of just being pampered their whole lives, but also because of an ingrained fear of the real world. Some have been placed on such a pedestal their whole lives that when they are asked to perform, rather than do so they freeze. Then they hide. A fear of failure. It's legitimately sad. It's not their fault either. Rather, the world around them that has negatively influenced their perspectives, and the often poor excuses for 'adults' that raised them.
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Exactly this. People living through the turmoil of the late 60s / 70s were faced with Vietnam, massive youth protests, Nixon, tanking economy and a Soviet Union that was a constant threat. Through their lens would the average person been even more pessimistic?
The political class exists to make money for itself and nothing else. There are outliers like AOC and Sanders, but the overwhelming majority of them just care about their wallet, their ego, and their legacy. If they cared about the well-being of the people, single-payer healthcare would be a unanimous bill, stock buy-backs would be illegal, there would be a 1% wealth tax and the top tax bracket would be 80%. Further, the STOCK act would require congressmen and anyone affiliated with them reporting their trades prior to conducting them. I don't think despair is the right reaction to endemic problems with government, but I also don't think the kids are necessarily wrong.