Poll: Obama Millennials Want to Leave the America They Created
Posted: July 1, 2015 Filed under: Health and Social Issues, Mediasphere, Politics, U.S. News | Tags: Barack Obama, BEN SHAPIRO, Citizenship, Decline, Democracy, Democratic Party (United States), Don Lemon, Generation Y, Hope and Change, Independence Day (United States), Millennials, Piers Morgan, President Obama, Progressivism, United States, United States Census Bureau, United States Department of the Treasury 1 Comment
Ben Shapiro writes: A new poll from TransferWise shows that 35 percent of those born in the United States would consider ditching their home country to live elsewhere; that number skyrockets among those aged 18-34, the so-called millennials, 55 percent of whom 
said they would think of taking off if given the chance.
“Most of those millennials cite economics as a chief factor in their desire to leave: 43 percent of men and 38 percent of women said they’d leave if they could get paid more in another country.”
The rationales for staying in America, articulated by Americans, are particularly weak: 59 percent say they would stay because “it is home,” another 58 percent say they would stay thanks to romantic and family ties – and then the stats drop precipitously, with just 22 percent stating they would stay for 
the democratic society, 17 percent for the culture, 10 percent for the good future for children, 5 percent for wealth, 3 percent for low crime, and 2 percent for low taxes.
All of which makes sense, given that America has been moving in the wrong direction with regard to preservation of democratic society, a common culture, a good future for children, wealth, low crime, or low taxes. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Battle of Generations: ‘Bitter Boomer vs Millennial’ FBN’s Charlie Gasparino and National Review Reporter Jillian Melchior
Posted: June 11, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere, Politics | Tags: Baby boomer, Charlie Gasparino, Dagen McDowell, Fox Business Network, Fox News Channel, Generation Y, Jillian Melchior, Jockstrap, Millennial, Neil Cavuto Leave a commentFBN’s Charlie Gasparino and National Review Reporter Jillian Melchior battle it out over the millennial and boomer generations.
Watch Charlie Gasparino and Neil Cavuto talk about Lifestyle Budget on Cavuto.
New Apple Watch Allows Wearers to Start and Stop the Flow of Time
Posted: September 9, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Humor, Mediasphere | Tags: Apple, Apple Watch, Generation Y, iPad, iPhone, iWatch, Social media, Tim Cook, Watch, Wearable technology 2 Comments
Tim Cook announced Tuesday the release of Apple’s long-rumored watch, the latest in wearable technology.
Here are some features of the new device:
- 13-megapixel camera enables users to take crystal-clear pictures of wrist
- Allows wearers to start and stop the flow of time
- Discreet, but not so discreet that anyone would mistake it for a regular watch
- Comes in a variety of colors and styles to express your personal submission to the planet’s dominant tech company
- Adjustable ticking volume
- All the convenience of a traditional watch that needs to be charged every 12 hours
- Built-in thinkpiece regarding the increased connectivity yet simultaneous isolation of the millennial generation
- Small size and intricate circuitry able to drive twice as many Chinese workers to suicide as iPhone
- Makes it easier for muggers to see whether or not you’re carrying an expensive electronic device
- Another screen to throw into your current rotation of things you look at
‘Liberals Want to See Themselves as Punks. They Aren’t. They Are Sad Conformists’
Posted: July 29, 2014 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment, History, Politics, Think Tank | Tags: Anarcho-Capitalism, Bachman–Turner Overdrive, Capitalism, CBGB, Conformism, Foghat, Generation Y, Hillary Clinton, Libertarian, Marxism, Progressivism, Pundit Planet, Punk rock, Socialism, The Ramones Leave a comment
In case you missed Kurt Schlichter‘s hilarious rant: “Conservatism Is The New Punk Rock” – pundit from another planet
Conservatism Is The New Punk Rock
Posted: July 28, 2014 Filed under: Humor, Politics | Tags: Bachman–Turner Overdrive, CBGB, Cold War, Conservatism, Generation Y, Liberalism, Millennial, Ramone, Ramones, Roger Daltrey, Styx, United States 5 Comments
For TownHall.com, Kurt Schlichter writes: Conservatism is the Ramones at CBGB – loud, fast and alive. In contrast, liberalism is the headliner at a state fair concert. It’s Foghat, serenading its anesthetized fans as America slow rides into decline.
“Liberals want to see themselves as punks. They aren’t. They are sad conformists.”
Back in the 70s, the Ramones put a steel-toed boot into the behind of a fat, flabby rock ‘n roll world that has lost its way. That’s what conservatives are doing today to American politics and culture. And 
the dinosaur rockers of the status quo hate it.
[Check out Kurt Schlichter’s book “Conservative Insurgency” at Amazon.com]
“Everything about liberalism is stodgy, everything is old, everything is about control.”
But some things have changed. Back in the 70’s, it was alienated young people leading the way, yet today’s Millennials support the very liberal status quo that keeps them down. What’s pathetic is that they are so eagerly complicit in their own serfdom.
Dead-end jobs, innovations like Uber sacrificed to protect established Democrat corporatist allies, and tons of student debt for their degrees in Feminist Interpretive 
Dance – you Millennials have been, and will be, fooled again. And again and again.
I want to make clear for the record that The Who rocks, though many liberals are likely offended by Roger Daltrey’s shamelessly heteronormative persona.
Look at ancient Hillary Clinton, that improbable Millennial heroine. She’s the Bachman Turner Overdrive of American politics, out there literally taking care of business – especially the businesses who take care of her by paying her hundreds of thousands a pop to come talk to them. Read the rest of this entry »
Why the Millennials are Doing So Poorly
Posted: June 9, 2014 Filed under: Education, Think Tank | Tags: Cold War, Generation Y, Gettysburg Address, Mark Bauerlein, Puritan, The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future(Or Don't Trust Anyone Under 30), United States, World War II Leave a commentFor mindingthecampus.com, Mark Bauerlein writes: The thesis of my 2008 book, “The Dumbest Generation”, was that digital tools and media have become so prominent in teens’ and 20-somethings’ thoughts and acts that their intellectual and civic capacities are bound to deteriorate. While devices and social networks allow the possibility of 
intellectual and civic engagement, I argued, they mean something else entirely for the young, in a word, contact with one another, anywhere and anytime. Because of the anti-intellectual nature of peer pressure, the more they communicate with one another, the less they acquire historical knowledge and cultural literacy (of the non-youth culture kind), both of which are essential to responsible citizenship.
[Order Mark Bauerlein’s book “The Dumbest Generation” from Amazon.com
Moreover, I said, the lessons in school that might counteract digital youth culture were happening less and less. In colleges, for instance, U.S. history general 
education requirements have given way to some version of a “History, Society, Culture” umbrella which covers copious identity and diversity offerings, in part because my colleagues have lost faith in American greatness and feel that it would be chauvinistic and authoritarian to impose a core tradition of events, figures, texts, and values upon the rising generation. In high school, too, instruction in the Puritans, the Founding and Founders, natural rights, World War II, the Cold War, and other accomplishments of the nation has diminished, and when they are taught, the manner of presentation is often skeptical and critical, highlighting the sins and victims of the past. Students leave school feeling little pride in their country. The Gettysburg Address is just a syllabus assignment, that’s all. Youths complete their homework as quickly as possible, then get back to reading and writing the 3,500 text messages they rack up each month.
Pew: Democrats Losing Millennials
Posted: April 15, 2014 Filed under: Mediasphere, Politics, U.S. News | Tags: Baby boomer, Barack Obama, Democratic, Democrats, Generation Y, Hurricane Katrina, Millennial, Pew Research Center 2 Comments
Breitbart.com‘s Chriss W. Street reports: Barack Obama may be the Republicans’ best friend when it comes to educating 18-33-year olds of the Millennial Generation about the downside of voting for the Democrats’ economic policies. According to a report from the Pew Research Center for Social and Demographic Trends, the 73.7 million Millennialsare “unattached to organized politics and religion, linked by social media, burdened by debt, distrustful of people, in no rush to marry— and optimistic about the future.”
This growing rejection of the Democrat Party will undoubtedly have consequences in the coming mid-term and presidential elections.
Millennials in 2008 were all about the Democratic Party, with only 38% identifying themselves as political independents. Millennials associated Republicans with “a wave of disappointments and embarrassments: Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, congressional corruption scandals, the mortgage crisis.” Millennials were extraordinarily motivated to turn out and vote in 2008 and even more motivated in 2012.
But 50% of Millennials now describe themselves as political independents, “near the highest levels of political disaffiliation recorded for any generation in the quarter-century,” according to the latest Pew Research poll. This comes despite 43% of Millennials and about half of their newborns being Hispanic, Asian, and black, ethnic groups that have strongly favored Democrats in the past. Read the rest of this entry »
Kirsten Powers: Millennial Isn’t Liberal
Posted: March 19, 2014 Filed under: Mediasphere, Politics, War Room | Tags: Barack Obama, Democratic, Facebook, Generation Y, Kirsten Powers, Millennial, SodaStream, USA TODAY 1 CommentThe generation making their own soda and designing their own shoes is voting Independent.
For USA Today, Kirsten Powers writes: Bad news for Democrats: It seems Millennials are special little snowflakes after all.
A new report by the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way highlights the political complexity of a generation raised to believe they were utterly unique. When it comes to politics, they do it their way. Which could make the cohort that turned out en masse for President Obama unpredictable as voters.
Third Way focused on how Millennials’ experience as the first generation raised in an information-on-demand culture has shaped them. They are not “adaptors.” They have only known a world full of endless choices, not a life where you make do with what is available.
Third Way reported, “Living in an à la carte world with unlimited options, Millennials don’t feel they have to choose between two limited choices.” For their elders, it was Coke or Pepsi. But Millennials create their perfectly flavored soft drink with a Soda Stream. They design their own shoes on the Internet. They buy just the songs they like.
The Most Cynical Generation
Posted: March 14, 2014 Filed under: Education, Think Tank, U.S. News, White House | Tags: Baby boomer, BarackObama, Generation Y, Jonah Goldberg, Pew Research Center, Twitter, Youth 1 Comment
Note: I like how Jonah cautions about the limits of generational stereotyping, while having some fun with…generational stereotyping. There is fun to be had.
Polling: the scourge of journalism these days. The media’s increasing dependence on polling data contributes to the echo chamber. A poll is taken in America every ten seconds, it seems. Wait, I have an idea. I propose we take a poll on how Americans feel about polls! Look below for our poll, and cast your vote. But first, here’s an intro to Jonah’s article:
Jonah Goldberg writes: In case you hadn’t heard, young people these days — a.k.a “the Millennials” — are the most cynical and distrusting generation ever recorded. Only 19 percent think most people can be trusted. According to a big study from the Pew Research Center, they are less attached to marriage, religion, and political institutions than Gen Xers, Baby Boomers, and the other demographic flavors journalists love to use. They like their friends, their digital “social networks,” and their toys, and that’s about it. Not even a majority will call themselves “patriotic.” Probably more dismaying for liberals: Of any living generation, they are the least likely to call themselves environmentalists.
“Honor, glory, and respect are earned individually, not collectively.”
Now, I should say that I often find generational stereotyping pretty annoying. For instance, there was no “greatest generation.” Sure, there were a bunch of great Americans who stormed the beaches of Normandy. But is some guy who was in jail in 1943 for petty larceny deserving of special respect because he was born around the same time as a guy who won the Medal of Honor during WWII?
Report Card: Only 29% say President Bambi Has Nation Headed in Right Direction
Posted: February 10, 2014 Filed under: Economics, Politics, White House | Tags: Barack Obama, Generation Y, John Zogby, Paul Bedard, United States, Washington Examiner, Washington Secrets, White House 1 Comment
Paul Bedard writes: Pollster John Zogby reports in our weekly White House report card that President Obama’s numbers are mixed, both in approval rating and right-direction, wrong-direction.
[Check out Zogby’s book: First Globals Understanding, Managing, & Unleashing the Potential of Our Millennial Generation at Amazon]
“I am a numbers guy and the numbers are mixed. Troubling for Obama is that so few Americans feel the U.S. is headed in the right direction (29 percent average) and that the stock market is falling. This could be the inevitable correction and the obvious impact of the Fed‘s tapering.
Obama Is Losing the Millennials
Posted: January 21, 2014 Filed under: Politics, White House | Tags: Barack Obama, Generation Y, Harvard Institute of Politics, Michael Barone, Millennial, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Percentage point, Washington Examiner 2 Comments
Young voters are unhappy with Obamacare, college costs, lack of jobs
Michael Barone writes: What do young Americans want? Something different from what they’ve been getting from the president they voted for by such large margins.
Evidence comes in from various polls. Voters under 30, the Millennial generation, produced numbers for Barack Obama 13 percentage points above the national average in 2008 and nine points above in 2012.
But in recent polls, Obama’s approval among those under 30 has been higher than the national average by only one percentage point (Quinnipiac), two points (ABC/Washington Post) and three points (YouGov/Economist).
Those differences are statistically significant. And that’s politically significant, since a higher percentage of Millennials than of the general population are Hispanic or black.
Millennial Communists
Posted: January 10, 2014 Filed under: Education, Mediasphere, Politics, Think Tank | Tags: Communism, Generation Y, Jonah Goldberg, Marx, Marxism, National Review, National Review Online, NRO, Oscar Wilde, Rolling Stone, Socialism 3 Comments
To the young and idealistic, this time is always different.
Jonah Goldberg writes: ‘In America,” Oscar Wilde quipped, “the young are always ready to give to those who are older than themselves the full benefits of their inexperience.” And they often do it in the pages of Rolling Stone.
Last week, the magazine posted a mini-manifesto titled “Five Economic Reforms Millennials Should Be Fighting For.” After confirming that it wasn’t a parody, conservative critics launched a brutal assault on its author, Jesse A. Myerson.
Myerson’s essay captures nearly everything the unconverted despise about left-wing youth culture, starting with the assumption that being authentically young requires being theatrically left-wing.
Free-Speech Wars: You Are What You Say, Not What You Do
Posted: December 27, 2013 Filed under: Health and Social Issues, Think Tank, U.S. News | Tags: David French, Generation Y, Huffington Post, Jennifer Lawrence, Joan Rivers, Millennial, Social media, Steve Martin 1 Comment
David French writes: I appreciate Michael’s post about the latest Huffpo-reported controversies involving Steve Martin, Joan Rivers, Jennifer Lawrence, and many, many others. Peruse the pages of lefty news outlets like the Huffington Post and you’ll routinely run across headlines like, ”[Insert Celebrity Name] said WHAT?!?” or “[Insert previously unknown individual] fired for insensitive remarks.” Even the conservative press can sometimes feel like an engine of perpetual outrage over hateful or insensitive comments.
These “two minutes hates” are deeply corrosive to our free-speech culture, but they’re also the inevitable outgrowth of succeeding generations that increasingly define virtue not through actions but through attitudes. In other words, watch what I say. What I do is irrelevant. You’re a bad person if you say the wrong things, no matter what you might do for your family or your fellow man. A lifetime of good works can be rendered irrelevant by a single thoughtless tweet.
But what else can we expect when we live lives of increasing narcissism and when youth (the audience most fired up by social media) retreat from engagement with the real world? For years now, we’ve heard that Millennials were special – “Generation We” — the generation that was most concerned with social justice and helping others. Others said no, describing experience with a generation that was constantly managing its own image on social media, immersed in tweets and “likes” and selfies — all while expecting great returns for little work. But what do the data say? Is it Generation We or Generation Me? Here’s Jean Twenge writing in The Atlantic:
In my 2006 book Generation Me, I presented data showing generational increases in self-esteem, assertiveness, self-importance, narcissism, and high expectations, based on surveys of 1.2 million young people, some dating back to the 1920s. These analyses indicated a clear cultural shift toward individualism and focusing on the self. But perhaps both views were correct — maybe Millennials’ greater self-importance found expression in helping others and caring about larger social causes.
Will Young Voters Abandon Democrats? Don’t Hold Your Breath
Posted: December 6, 2013 Filed under: Politics, U.S. News | Tags: Barack Obama, Democratic, Generation Y, George W. Bush, Millennial, Obama, United States presidential approval rating, Youth vote 2 Comments
Dan Joseph writes: Recent polls show President Obama’s popularity plummeting among young voters. A Quinnipiac poll conducted in November shows that Obama’s approval rating among 18-29 years olds has fallen to a staggering 36 percent. This stunning drop among a demographic that gave Obama 66 percent of their vote in 2008, helping him coast to the presidency, has conservatives in a triumphant mood.
In light of these polling results many conservatives have concluded that young voters have finally witnessed the dangers of big government liberalism first-hand, and are now rethinking their allegiance to the Democratic Party.
But this rosy reading of polls is a mistake. A mistake that conservatives have made before.
In 2011, there was a similar, if less pronounced drop in support for Obama among young voters. Many Conservatives were convinced that Millennials were finally waking up from their snake-oil induced “Hope and Change” coma, and that they would undoubtedly abandon Obama in the 2012 election.
Yet, Obama ended up winning 60 percent of the 18-29 demographic. It was a slight drop from his 2008 numbers, but still a historically dominant performance.
Why Millennials Can’t Grow Up
Posted: December 4, 2013 Filed under: Health and Social Issues, Think Tank, U.S. News | Tags: American College Counseling Association, Amy, Facebook, Generation Y, Helicopter parent, Millennial, Part-time, Student 3 Comments
Rates of depression are soaring among millennials in college. Photo by Jupiter Images/Thinkstock/Getty Images
Millennial narcissism: Helicopter parents are college students’ bigger problem.
Amy (not her real name) sat in my office and wiped her streaming tears on her sleeve, refusing the scratchy tissues I’d offered. “I’m thinking about just applying for a Ph.D. program after I graduate because I have no idea what I want to do.” Amy had mild depression growing up, and it worsened during freshman year of college when she moved from her parents’ house to her dorm. It became increasingly difficult to balance school, socializing, laundry, and a part-time job. She finally had to dump the part-time job, was still unable to do laundry, and often stayed up until 2 a.m. trying to complete homework because she didn’t know how to manage her time without her parents keeping track of her schedule.
I suggested finding a job after graduation, even if it’s only temporary. She cried harder at this idea. “So, becoming an adult is just really scary for you?” I asked. “Yes,” she sniffled. Amy is 30 years old.
Her case is becoming the norm for twenty- to thirtysomethings I see in my office as a psychotherapist. I’ve had at least 100 college and grad students like Amy crying on my couch because breaching adulthood is too overwhelming.
In 2000, psychologist Jeff Arnet coined the term “emerging adolescence” to describe extended adolescence that delays adulthood. People in their 20s no longer view themselves as adults. There are various plausible reasons fo this, including longer life spans, helicopter parenting, and fewer high paying jobs that allow new college grads to be financially independent at a young age.
GENERATION SCREWED: Young People Finally Come To Their Senses About Obama
Posted: December 4, 2013 Filed under: Art & Culture, Breaking News, Politics, White House | Tags: Barack Obama, Generation Y, Harvard University, MySpace, National Journal, Obama, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, United States 5 Comments
Most young adults would vote to recall the president
(CLEARLY, THEY’RE ALL RACISTS)
Teresa Mull reports: Obama doesn’t even have youth on his side anymore.
America’s youngest adults, the voting block who elected the diverse, hip, hopeful Barry O. the first time around, have become disenchanted with the president’s lies and plain bad policy. Even the young guns, who are assumed to be ignorant, naive, and imprudent, are proving we’re not so easily duped. We’ve seen right through the Obama Administration’s healthcare folly.
The National Journal reports:
Young Americans are turning against Barack Obama and Obamacare, according to a new survey of millennials, people between the ages of 18 and 29 who are vital to the fortunes of the president and his signature healthcare law.
The most startling finding of Harvard University’s Institute of Politics: A majority of Americans under age 25–the youngest millennials–would favor throwing Obama out of office.
According to the study, which is part of a 13-year study of the attitudes of young adults, “Obama’s approval rating among young Americans is just 41 percent, down 11 points from a year ago. While 55 percent said they voted for Obama in 2012, only 46 percent said they would do so again.” 47 percent said they would recall him, and, “The recall-Obama figure was even higher among the youngest millennials, ages 18 to 24, at 52 percent.” Read the rest of this entry »
Poll: 52% of Young Adults Want Obama Recalled, 57% Oppose ObamaCare
Posted: December 4, 2013 Filed under: Health and Social Issues, Mediasphere, Politics, White House | Tags: Barack Obama, Generation Y, Millennials, Obama, Obamacare, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Twitter, United States Congress 10 Comments
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
John Nolte reports: A stunning new poll of young adults aged 18 to 29 shows that in large numbers, they have turned against President Obama and ObamaCare.
Among the youngest in this group, those aged 18-24, a full 52% support a recall effort that would throw Obama out of office. The number is only a little better among 18-29 year-olds, 47%. Individual members of Congress actually fare a little better with 45% of Millennials favoring a recall. A majority do, however, favor recalling Congress as a whole.
Since his reelection, Obama’s overall approval with young adults has plummeted 11 points to just 41%; which puts it in line with the rest of the country.
ObamaCare is even less popular with this group. Fifty-seven percent disapprove of ObamaCare, with only 38% approving.
[BOOKS] P.J. O’Rourke on the Baby Boom: the Aftermath
Posted: December 1, 2013 Filed under: Art & Culture, History, Humor, Reading Room | Tags: Baby Boom, Baby boomer, Coming of age, Generation X, Generation Y, Jason Bellini, Lost Generation, The Wall Street Journal, United States 3 Comments
Here we are in the baby boom cosmos. What have we wrought?
P.J. O’Rourke writes: The Baby Boom generation spans eighteen years. Already, the earliest boomers have reached retirement age. Many are getting more conservative as they get older. WSJ’s Jason Bellini reports.
We are the generation that changed everything. Of all the eras and epochs of Americans, ours is the one that made the biggest impression—on ourselves. That’s an important accomplishment, because we’re the generation that created the self, made the firmament of the self, divided the light of the self from the darkness of the self, and said, “Let there be self.” If you were born between 1946 and 1964, you may have noticed this yourself.
That’s not to say we’re a selfish generation. Selfish means “too concerned with the self,” and we’re not. Self isn’t something we’re just, you know, concerned with. We are self.
Maybe Pain Will Teach You Millenials Not To Vote For Your Own Serfdom
Posted: November 5, 2013 Filed under: Economics, Education, Politics | Tags: Barack Obama, Barack Obama presidential campaign 2008, Democratic, Generation Y, Liberalism, Mumford & Sons, United States 3 Comments
Thanks again, suckers. Now get off my lawn.
Kurt Schlichter writes: You Millenials voted for Obama by a margin of 28 percent, which will make it a lot easier for me to accept the benefits you will be paying for. We warned you that liberalism was a scam designed to take the fruits of your labor and transfer it to us, the older, established generation. Oh, and also to the couch-dwelling, Democrat-voting losers who live off of food stamps and order junk from QVC with their Obamaphones.
You didn’t listen to us. Maybe you’ll listen to pain.
Next Wave of Promising Young Republican Voters: Millennials Who Hate Obamacare
Posted: October 24, 2013 Filed under: Politics, U.S. News, White House | Tags: Alex Castellanos, Barack Obama, Generation Y, GOP, Jon Stewart, Millennial, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Pew Research Center, Republican 1 Comment
Republicans need young voters, Obama just handed it to them
Alex Roarty writes: Republicans are searching for an in with Millennials, and they think Obamacare’s glitchy rollout is it.
Next to minorities, there’s no larger voting bloc more resistant to the Republican Party. (President Obama won 18 to 29 year olds by at least 23 points in both of his campaigns.) GOP leaders feared the party’s positions on social issues like gay marriage and immigration had alienated a generation of voters.
But then the Affordable Care Act’s online exchanges went live, or tried to, on Oct. 1. Now, with everyone from comedian Jon Stewart to the satirical Onion web site mocking the program’s rollout, Republicans see a chance to convince young voters that big-government solutions favored by Democrats don’t work.
It’s an argument resting on an assumption about young people: Even if they possess an overall liberal bent, youths reserve enough skepticism for big government – and big institutions generally – to make them receptive to the GOP’s message. The heart of a fiscal conservative, they hope, lies inside every Millennial.
The Old ‘New Left’ Ponders: Hey, Like, Why Aren’t Those New, Millennial Liberals Protesting the Shutdown?
Posted: October 1, 2013 Filed under: History, Politics, Think Tank | Tags: Barack Obama, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Generation Y, Mitt Romney, Peter Beinart, Ronald Reagan, United States Leave a comment
MICHAEL KAZIN wonders: Is a new, young left really on the rise? A few weeks ago, Peter Beinart wrote a long online essay which argued strongly in the affirmative. It drew a lot of attention—20,000 “Likes” and almost 5,000 tweets, at last count. And it made a lot of the progressives who read it feel better about politics than at any time since Mitt Romney learned 47 percent was actually the percentage of his popular vote.
Beinart cobbled together an impressive set of poll results to show that Millennials (Americans under 30) swing left on a broad range of issues—from such obvious ones as same-sex marriage, immigration reform, and military intervention abroad to more surprising ones, like favoring labor unions and preferring a bigger welfare state to a smaller and cheaper version. They also embrace the message of Occupy and even prefer socialism to capitalism, although no pollster seems to have asked them to define those famously slippery terms.
Given their views, large numbers of Millennials should be protesting vigorously as the House GOP holds the state and the economy hostage to an agenda straight out of a Rush Limbaugh show. They should be surrounding the Capitol to defend Obamacare and blast the Republicans for denying food stamps to millions of poor people. They should be clogging the phone lines to Congress to announce a grand mobilization to overturn the GOP majority in 2014. It’s our government, they ought to declare. Boehner, Cantor, and their band of militants have no right to bankrupt or shut it down.
Alas, the only Americans who seem upset enough to organize, at least in large enough numbers for the media to notice, belong to the Tea Party—most of whose zealots are old enough to have voted for Ronald Reagan. Where’s that new left when we need it?
Like many pundits, Beinart assumes that decisive shifts in public opinion will result in changes in national policy. He predicts that whomever wins the Democratic nomination in 2016 will have to embrace “youthful, anti-corporate passion” if she or he hopes to win the White House. However, a movement and those politicians who support it need to mobilize the people who share those opinions or their opponents can win the day. A majority of Americans actually hold a positive view of labor unions. But that hasn’t stopped big employers like Wal-Mart and their GOP enablers from blocking attempts to organize workers and increase the minimum wage.
The inertia of progressives—young or old—isn’t hard to explain. Few are enthusiastic about the Affordable Care Act. Read the rest of this entry »
Why young voters should and probably will vote against Obama
Posted: September 27, 2012 Filed under: Mediasphere | Tags: Barack Obama, Generation Y, Inaugural address of John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Youth vote Leave a comment“Ask not what your country can do for you,” John F. Kennedy famously counseled. “Ask what you can do for your country.” When it comes to the youth vote, 
Barack Obama’s actions over the past four years suggests he has modified the last half of that quote to read, “Ask again what you can do for me.”
…In the three and one half years that he has been in office, the number of 16-to 24-year-olds who were gainfully employed has shrunk from 56% down to 48.9%. In the last 12-month period, unemployment among Millenials as a whole has never been lower than 16% and in the recent months has been headed back up toward 17%…
More via >> Howard Portnoy >> The Greenroom.
pundit from another planet 