Fight Apathy. Or Don’t.
A recent poll has shown that people in our demographic are leaning left. Well, quite honestly, this is no shocker. We learned in poli sci 101 that as people get older they tend to get more conservative, so it’s no shocker that people aged 17-29 are SLIGHTLY more liberal than the general population. This article, if briefly glanced at, will freak out all conservatives, and especially the hosts of the young, hip shows on Fox Noise (sidebar: can someone tell me how that “conservative” answer to The Daily Show panned out?). However, if any attention is paid, it doesn’t really say anything.
First off, only 28% of those polled claim to be “liberal.” Wow, sounds like the title of your article is totally accurate, New York Times (Young Americans are Leaning Left…). I am hoping this is due to the unfortunate perception of many that liberal is a bad word, and that they would’ve been more comfortable with a different phrase. The results from the poll do show that young Americans are more likely to hold a liberal view than the general population on many issues, but only by a small margin, and it is still much lower than I am comfortable with.
I’m obviously happy to hear that young people are more likely to favor gay marriage and the legalization of marijuana (that was a plug for people to mock my generation yet again). The problem is that we don’t seem to do anything about what we believe. This poll (conducted by New York Times/CBS News/MTV) doesn’t say how likely the group is to join a grassroots movement, participate in a protest or rally, or even, at the very least, how likely they are to vote. While some are “enthusiastic” about some candidates (Obama and Hillary were pretty much the only ones, actually), experience tells most that this won’t translate to the polls. I hate to sound so cynical. I want to believe that people my age will come out in droves to the polls and finally show those fat cats in Washington that young people matter. I have a strong hope that the distaste for Bush will at least motivate people to vote, even if they don’t join Team Obama and pester me with annoying calls every night. I think young people could have a powerful voice, but I am worried about how much disgust it will take to cause us to yell.
Unfortunately, with this post, I am preaching to the choir. We are all reading a blog aimed at people our age. A political blog. So if you read this post, you are already more motivated than most of those polled. And probably more liberal. So get your friends interested. Spread the word. Talk about universal health care and equal rights and environmentalism. Bring up the lies, the endless string of lies this administration has been feeding us for over 6 years. The next time someone mentions freedom of speech, talk about the problem with media in America. There is plenty of fuel for outrage. If we make people pay attention, we could REALLY freak out those conservatives.