Vote? Why bother say my 20-something grandchildren
With recent polls showing 85 percent of the country thinks the US is on the wrong track, what bothers me the most is the attitude of some of my grandchildren who are in their mid-twenties. One is a survivor of a school shooting, I wonder about that generation's influence in the upcoming elections. ""If only Bernie had won," or "I voted for Hillary, but look where it got us" is their hangover from the elections in which they did vote. They are facing years of student debt as they seek even higher education. They see more gun violence and more homeless on the streets below their family's urban apartment. They live in a blue state, not yet impacted by the worst hit to the control of their future when they see Roe v Wade being overturned elsewhere. They will see attempts to bring this policy to their own state. They see mass shootings by disturbed individuals using legally bought automatic weapons of war. They welcome recent gun safety legislation but know the threat to their classrooms and large gatherings is inadequately addressed by recent Congressional action. Their top agenda item is global warming, and they fear the planet they will inhabit has serious repercussions for the quality of their future lives. They see a Supreme Court kneecapping the ability of the EPA to do much about it. Dreams of buying a house of their own have been set back for years by higher interest rates and inflation. The guy in the White House is nearly their grandmother's age. His heart may be in the right place, but he is just not their guy, and he is incapable of inspiring them. Their malaise is deeply understandable. Their faith in democracy has been shattered. Why even vote. Nothing will change".
The answer I have seems to fall on deaf ears. Vote, I say. The only argument I can make to motivate them is if you do not vote, it will only get worse. That is hardly inspiring. Consider the alternative, I argue. Non-voting will further empower a political party enamored with a past president wannabe dictator whose attempted coup failed, a clear threat to our democratic form of government. They should be concerned about a political party whose platform and support represent a minority opinion on issues important to their generation. However, they hear from pundits that political party is likely to regain the House., There is a Senate that will continue to be paralyzed by inaction it is so closely divided, We have a Supreme Court lopsided ideologically with decisions that fly in the face of the 20-somethings' interests and priorities. They still see little hope.
Compromise, their mother tells them. She knows from experience as a gender equality activist you cannot have it all at one time. I agree. Sometimes it's step by step, and sometimes a step backward. That's the way democracy works. They look at us with disbelief. They say they must continue our fight to get what they want; no half a loaf for them. I, their grandmother, born as World War II was beginning, have seen it all. I am a political science major in love with American democracy that lived through the assassinations of the 1960s, McCarthyism, Vietnam civil turmoil, racial and civil rights strife, too many recessions and stock market crashes, and married over 50 years to a refugee (their grandfather) from a communist dictatorship whose knew the alternative to democracy up close and personal. Even after the bleakest days, we found things got a little better. Soon your generation, my grandchildren, will be in charge, and what you want you to have a chance to get if we still have a democracy. So vote.
Most Americans say nation is on wrong track k, poll says | abc10.com
