What Washington doesn't get about young Americans -- according to 22 college students and recent grads

[LearnedHand]

https://www.notus.org/perspectives/what-washington-doesnt-get-about-young-americans-according-to-22-college-students-and-recent-grads

I subscribe to the NOTUS newsletter. The introduction to the project below is from that newsletter, while the URL goes directly to the 22 short essays. Some of them are lighter weight and some are very profound. I’m glad they took the time to write these essays. Here’s hoping people will listen.

It’s a long-standing allegation that Washington is a gerontocracy — a place where disproportionate power is wielded by people who, because of their age, struggle to understand the lives and views of young Americans. Maybe our latest NOTUS Perspectives forum can help bridge that divide: We asked 22 college students and recent graduates from across the country to write short pieces identifying one political or social trend among young people that Washington badly misunderstands. Their compelling and, in many cases, surprising answers are here …

[leftstreet]

1. DURec

That was worth the read!

Thanks for posting

[LearnedHand]

3. I'm so much more aligned with the way Gen Z thinks than with those in Congress

Last edited Sun Mar 22, 2026, 03:01 PM - Edit history (1)

Even though I’m older. I hate the NEOliberalism, I’m disgusted with the two-party system, I agree with much of what they identified as foundational issues.

[leftstreet]

4. The very first entry was thought provoking

I'm going to just post the snips, and hopefully that's within the 3 paragraph copy write rule

For my generation, a constant adrenaline-fueled need for speed isn’t a preference, it’s the norm. Groceries arrive in 30 minutes. Breaking news alerts vibrate in our pockets the moment something happens. Our world moves fast, and our attention even faster.

Washington is the opposite. It has been built to operate on a rhythm from a different era, something that, for minds used to instant gratification, is hard to grasp or accept. Even as lawmakers embrace social media and speak in tweets and sound bites, the structure underneath often feels slow and procedural.

My generation understands that not everything can be solved instantly. But what feels foreign, even disorienting, is watching problems linger for decades without visible progress. The disconnect is not simply ideological; it is temporal. Washington measures time in terms, sessions and administrations. My generation measures it in notifications, updates and immediate feedback. It is not that we expect democracy to function like Amazon Prime, but we wonder: In a nation that can act in seconds, why does progress sometimes feel like sitting in traffic?

Emma Rowland is a student at the University of Oklahoma

What an interesting observation

[GoodRaisin]

9. Yeah, I agree with Emma

and I’m old.

[cachukis]

2. Very interesting.

These are college students working within a system of privilege. Not saying they come from privilege, but have the hope of entering into the system of privilege that comes with an education.

What it seems to me, is a naivete that the system is rigged against them. We will not escape a two party system as long as the money controls it.
Many argue that labels and identity politics is not for them. Happy for their independence.

Hoping they are able to apply their insights into practice.

[LearnedHand]

5. From Madelyn Rowley's essay

Washington seems to think that pronouns matter more to us than peace does. For years, legacy politicians — especially Democrats — have cloaked institutional violence with an agenda of “inclusivity.” They seem to think that young people will forget about the mass shootings and federal agents in their streets the second the White House hangs a Pride flag from its balcony. This is called pinkwashing, and we’re not buying it.

Young Americans aren’t unintelligent. We’re not looking for a military with diverse representation; we’re looking for an end to the seemingly never-ending, state-sponsored warfare that tears apart the lives of millions at home and abroad. We’re not hoping for a female president as much as we’re hoping for any president who shows real solidarity with working-class Americans and their legitimate fears. We don’t need our law enforcement undergoing training to be more respectful of their coworkers’ identities; we need them to stop shooting us.

As a queer journalist, speech matters a great deal to me. Of course I appreciate legislative efforts that seek, in good faith, to correct histories of verbal and systemic injustice. But inclusive rhetoric overlaid on imperialism is no more than a Band-Aid on a bullet wound.

[msongs]

6. there are dozens of cheap cell phone brands besides iPhones boys and girls.....

many of which are just as functional. but brand snobbery keeps people buying the status models

[LearnedHand]

8. People choose NOT to use Android phones

But it’s not not snobbery; it’s a deliberate choice between two evils. I’d rather use the iOS phones than give Google a dime or my data.

Also, if you read closely, they weren’t necessarily talking about phones but computers too. Manufacturers are falling all over themselves to produce AI-native machines, whatever that means, and the energy-hogging data centers drive up utility costs for everyone.

[W_HAMILTON]

7. We aren't a two party system, we are tens of millions of individual voters...

...that caucus together to form a majority needed to govern.

The only way this wouldn't be the case is if we were a one party system.

[JI7]

11. Yes. even in multi party systems they need to form coalitions

to get a majority and hold power.

I didn't click the link but read what people posted and the complaints aren't any different than what people are always complaining about.

[Solly Mack]

10. K&R

[JI7]

12. A large number of young Americans voted for Trump