America’s youth are disaffected and the impact of their disaffection has had and will continue to have a deleterious impact on American democracy. Historically, new generations have felt compelled to revolutionize America for the better and have often done so. But, given how close we are to full-blown Fascism and the death of democracy, the task of our 18 – 30 year-olds is more formidable than that of any of their predecessors’ because it consists of preventing America from committing the suicide the founders foretold.
These lyrics in one of my favorite songs, by one of my favorite singers, Whitney Houston, always move me: I believe the children are our future; teach them well and let them lead the way.
The principal reasons America’s youth are disenchanted, even cynical, is that they have been misled, miseducated, and undereducated by “adult” leaders. The oldest among the 18-30 year-old generation were about ten-years-old when Trump began his ascendency using the race of a Black American, Barack Obama. They were about 20-years-old in 2016, their first opportunity to vote, when Trump, whose defining philosophy is commensurate with that of the perpetrators of the Civil War — which is diametrically opposed to the principles comprised in America’s founding documents — was elected president. And they were about 30 years of age when — despite having committed the historically unpardonable crime of treason on January 6, 2021 – America elected Trump president a second time.
Both major parties have bombarded the youth with variations of the Temptation’s refrain: vote for me and I will set you free. But notwithstanding a resounding democratic victory in 2020, the Democrats — reflecting weakness and ineptitude — were not able to capitalize on that outcome and stave off Trump’s return to political supremacy in 2024 — weakness. Moreover, patriotic Republican leaders have not maintained control of their own party – Trump’s Radical Right Extremists have total dominance.
Expect for Trump’s extended family, his inner cabal, and plutocrats, the people in the congressional seats — Republicans and Democrats – have been the only consistent winners of late because they have been reelected in each election at a 95+% rate.
We may be the last generations living in a Democracy, faulty or not. At the pace Trump’s Radical Right Extremists, as opposed to patriotic Republicans, are driving the country, the next generations will be living under Fascism and in slavery to Plutocrats.
Professional Politicians will not adopt and carry into execution measures not best calculated for their own good without the intervention of a coercive force. (From George Washington)
Totaling 67.3 million, the 18-30 year-old grouping, the largest component among America’s voter eligible populations, is a most powerful, but untapped, coercive force, and lean more heavily toward the Democratic Party. In comparison, there are 55 million citizens in the 65 and over category, but the elders vote in high rates.
The 18-30 year-olds have not been exercising their civic responsibility – their voting record has long been appalling. In 2022, 52 million did not vote; only 28% voted in 2018 and only 23% voted in 2014. In both North Carolina and Virginia in 2022, 77% did not vote. (SOURCE: April 2023 CIRCLE, data aggregated by Catalist)
Youth-influencers must relentlessly, passionately, and with “brutal” honesty try to teach them that betterment of their nation can be effected by them as America’s numerically most powerful voter-eligible grouping; that if America stagnates, they share much of the onus; that no supreme savior — another Martin Luther King — will rise up, take charge and fix everything; and that the omnipotent hands, as specified in the Constitution, are only the hands of the people.
To be effective, leaders have to go beyond speeches, lectures, and sermons and emphasize positive perseverant action steps we all must take before and after elections. The youth must understanding that if they want a better nation, they must make it so; and that the first act is to vote consistently in every election – in particular to vote in the 2026 midterms, the most significant election in American history. In addition, youngsters should disabuse everybody they know of the dangerous misconception that their votes don’t matter. A mere 112,000 votes, 0.03% of the American population put Trump in 2016 office, and has brought this country to within a hair’s breadth of full-blown Fascism.
COMPELLING FACTS: Nearly 80% of the new members of the electorate are from minority groups, lean more heavily toward the Democratic Party, and tend to be younger. If all 18 to 30 year-olds fulfilled their enfranchisement responsibility, Fascism, tyranny, brutal economic disparities, injustice, and unfair laws would be impossible, and this nation would become the America the founders defined.
