This is my first diary on DailyKos. I’ve been a lurker here since 2006. As a disclaimer, I’m not an American. I am a citizen of the EU with friends in the US and a keen interest in US politics.
I want to share my views and experience with young voters (mainly non-voters) in the US, my friends.
One example I want to focus on is one of my best friends (the internet age allows for relationships to develop even without constant personal contact). He’s a 31 year old white male living in New York State, in the 1st congressional district on Long Island.
Over the years, I’ve tried to get him to vote and to take politics seriously. When I bring up the subject of politics, he tends to get agitated and angry. A couple of years ago I tried to talk up the benefits of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), but I didn’t get very far. I told him that the law allows him to get insurance up to age 26 through his parents. I told him about the subsidies available to him, etc. It just didn’t register. Another time I tried to get him to go out and vote, since NY-1 is (or used to be) a competitive district. It used to be represented by a democrat, Tim Bishop. Now it’s represented by Republican Lee Zeldin. It also swung pretty hard towards Trump in 2016, after voting for Obama twice.
I wanted him to go out and vote, it would be a minor use of his time and he could make a difference in a swing district. The response I got was apathy. “My vote won’t matter anyway”, “They’re all the same”, things like that. I tried to argue that his vote does matter, that if everyone thought the way he did, nobody would vote at all. And I hit a brick wall. He just wouldn’t do it.
In addition, he hates to discuss politics, which is something I love to do. I don’t take opposing arguments personally, but he does. So I’ve stopped even trying to talk to him about it, because the last thing I want to do is upset him further. For the record, he’s not a republican or a democrat and his political positions are pretty idiosyncratic. He dislikes both President Obama and Trump. It’s sort of a “a pox on both your houses” situation.
I can understand his frustration. He’s stuck in a dead-end job at Target, he can’t even move out of his family home because he can’t afford it and he’s taking care of his grandmother, who has dementia. He was hoping to attend a community college, but those plans fell through. So now he’s just living paycheck to paycheck and presumably has bigger things to worry about than who represents NY-1.
Personally, I was raised by a single mother who has worked in politics and government her whole adult life. As a kid, she would take me to her office in the parliament and explain things, like legislative procedures and the like. So I developed an affinity for politics at a young age, and it’s stayed with me ever since. I’ve voted in every election and referendum since I turned 18. I consider it my civic duty.
Youth participation in US elections has always been low, and sometimes I wonder why that is. There’s plenty of theories to go around, but based on my (admittedly limited) experience, it seems to be a combination of a lack of messaging to younger people combined with a sense of apathy and hopelessness.
If my friend hadn’t spent his entire life in financial distress, listening to politicians promising to make things better only to sink further into despair, he might be more motivated and civic minded.
As has been pointed out, the recovery from the “great recession” has seen the wealthy get back on their feet and profit massively, while the working class is stagnating at best. My friend, as a millennial like myself, has felt this most acutely. As such, it’s no wonder that he’s basically given up hope for a brighter future and decided that politics is just a game the rich play to get a bigger slice of the pie for themselves.
As far as remedies go, I’m almost at a loss. I know the democrats have put forth ambitious plans for the middle and working class, but it doesn’t seem to be resonating. For people who have spent over a decade and most of their adult lives living in the shadow of the 2008 financial meltdown, it’s hard to trust any politician or political party. At the same time I realize that it was the republicans who tanked President Obama’s jobs plan and conservative democrats who forced the Recovery Act to be far short of what it needed to be. But try explaining that to people like my friend. You’ll hit a brick wall, the same way I did.
I hope the next democratic administration (and hopefully a democratic House and Senate) can pass meaningful reforms aimed at reducing income inequality and truly helping younger Americans who have lost hope and faith in the system.