Baby boomers Ruined America: Why Blaming Millennials is Misguided — and Annoying

[tabbycat31]

68. I could be either gen x or millennial depending on who you ask

(Born in 1980) but as the oldest (and very sheltered) child of the family, I identify much more with my younger peers. I didn't know who Nirvana was until Kurt Cobain died (I found out on an 8th grade field trip). I was 7 months old when Reagan was elected and a 3rd grader when he left office so I am not one to remember his administration. I'm not old enough to have voted for (Bill) Clinton. My first presidential election was Bush/Gore.

I know very few people under 40 who have the 'I got mine' mentality.

The reason that younger people don't have most of the powers that be paying attention to their issues is that they don't vote in large enough numbers, especially compared to their older peers. I haven't done a study, but I will put my money down saying that politicians pander more to seniors than they do to young voters. Seniors vote in large numbers and they know it. Save for Elizabeth Warren, how many senators do you see talking about student loan debt?

ANd in addition, most younger people don't feel that the 'entitlements' (I hate to use this word) that their elders have (SS, Medicare, etc) will be around for them when the time comes so they're at most apathetic about them (I've been guilty of this myself) and at worst seeing it as seniors robbing their paycheck.

With local elections it can be even harder, even though that's where we're needed the most. Many people only pay attention to those at the top of the ballot, and when local elections are not held with November elections (my state moved forward and many locals have been moved to November) the turnout is even lower. I'm actually contemplating running for town council myself and if I ran in 2 years and won, I'd be the youngest to serve in this town (I'll be 36).

What's really needed is a new generation of politicians that are not boomers. Right now the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in 2016 is a boomer (born 1947). And the two challengers that DU mentions the most to her are a boomer (1949) and a silent (1941). I'd LOVE to see some younger blood in the race. (The GOP field is all over the place so I'm not mentioning it). (I didn't mention names but any regular should know. Years of birth were off their wiki pages--- while wiki's not always accurate DOB should be). Can we at the very least have a Democrat born in the 50s to run?

Of the current House (as of January 2013) only 33 are under 40. Only 1 senator is under 40 (he is now 41 so that makes none in the senate). The youngest member of the House was born in 1983 and Senate 1973, both Democrats). In previous generations, people did get elected under the age of 40 (both my current and former congressman are both in their 60s and were initially elected in their 30s). According to Wiki (again take it with a grain of salt) there are 16 members of the House born in the 30s (4 in the 20s) and 7 in the 80s. I think that by 34 (the oldest of those born in the 80s) you are perfectly capable of serving in Congress.