Reply #9: More about Gen-X and Lead or Leave. L.A, Times 1995 .

[madfloridian]

http://articles.latimes.com/print/1995-09-03/magazine/tm-41681_1_political-agenda-lead-mtv-vote

"To Nelson and Cowan, the federal debt symbolized the bankrupt politics of Washington. They also considered the debt a unifying force among their peers. Whatever differences exist among members of this cohort, they all would have to pay for the government's borrowing of today. Economists, naturally, disagree over the problems posed by the national debt and the need for severe deficit relief. But partisans on all sides concur that how the debt is reduced is an all-important part of any fiscal debate. Yet the Lead . . . or Leave pledge did not specify how the debt should be shrunk. Tax hikes? Military cuts? Social Security cuts? The message was: Just do it. This was politics without politics. No hard choices. A gimmick.

But it worked--to an extent. Nelson and Cowan, sassy and articulate, easily gained media notice as Gen Xers angry about one of the more esoteric, mind-numbing topics on the national scene. Defeated Democratic presidential candidate Paul E. Tsongas of Massachusetts and retiring Republican Sen. Warren B. Rudman of New Hampshire, who were organizing their own anti-debt organization, endorsed the pair's endeavor. Nelson and Cowan collected 100 signatures on the pledge from congressional candidates, and also managed to get Perot's.

..."About 20 who took the pledge--mainly Republicans and conservative Democrats--won their elections. More important than these unimpressive electoral results was that Nelson and Cowan, through their many appearances on MTV and other media, were lending a youthful face to anti-debt politics--territory previously dominated by rich old guys like Perot and former Commerce Secretary Pete Peterson, who each contributed to Lead . . . or Leave. Nelson and Cowan's hyperbolic attacks on Social Security jibed nicely with the assaults waged by Peterson, now an investment banker, and others who want to privatize the retirement system. (Perot and Peterson declined to be interviewed for this article.) Here was a self-styled youth movement with corporate connections. In three years, Nelson and Cowan raised $1.3 million, according to Cowan, with two-thirds of it from foundations, corporations and wealthy individuals.

The pair developed Lead . . . or Leave into an organization with a loose membership. Anyone who wrote to it in support was considered a member, and the group's database bulged with the names of tens of thousands. (Cowan says it peaked at 100,000. However, Andrew Weinstein, the group's communications director last year, disagrees and estimates the figure to be 30,000 to 40,000, with a third of those truly interested in steady participation.) They held rallies at campuses. Student governments at scores of colleges decided to affiliate and work with Lead . . . or Leave. Nelson and Cowan claimed they represented more than 1 million young people. "