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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Democrats are about to blow it: This election is about new millennials, not aging baby boomers
Dems are misreading the electorate. Play 2016 like a transformative election, and the winner could be next ReaganThis campaign is about a political revolution, Bernie Sanders says on the campaign trail, to not only elect the president, but to transform this country. Hillary Clinton replies that thats a pipe dream and points to how hard it is to make even incremental progress against an intransigent Republican Congress.
But while Clinton has good reasons for this rejoinder, she may be misreading the political landscape, and would do better politically by stealing Bernie Sanders ideas. Both numbers and recent history show that if the next president paints a big enough vision on the campaign trail, he or she could become as influential as Ronald Reagan. Heres how.
The politics of selfishness
In 1978, Stanford Research Institute was charting the effect that the baby boomers were having on American society. Businesses were struggling to market to a generation that cared less about status and more about personal expression. This was the Me Decade, obsessed with human potential and self-actualization, and in California, Ronald Reagan was watching this change firsthand. Arnold Mitchell and his colleagues at SRI hit on a new market research method to get a handle on what was going on, which they called VALS, for Values and LifeStyle. Instead of using traditional demographics, they targeted people psychographically, based in significant part on Abraham Maslows hierarchy of needs, which put self-actualization at the pinnacle of human experience. The research found something stunning: There was a large and growing group that hadnt been understood before, which they called the Inner Directeds. These people cut across traditional demographic lines, and what they had in common was their desire to live life on their own terms.
Reagan took advantage of this group in the 1980 election. Boomers hated government and had railed against it since the Vietnam War. Government is not the solution to our problem, Reagan told them, government is the problem. You shouldnt have to conform to government mandates, you should be free. Instead, Reagan put business at the center of American culture. It was business, he argued, that could best fulfill the needs of the individual, efficiently, cheaply, and with great abundance and variety, helping them to express themselves and their uniqueness. The consumer was king. Boomers responded by voting for Reagan in huge numbers, in both the 18-26 and 27-38 age brackets. The sudden loss of young voters rocked the Democratic party to its core.
http://www.salon.com/2016/03/07/the_democrats_are_about_to_blow_it_this_election_is_about_new_millennials_not_aging_baby_boomers/
First Speaker
(4,858 posts)...the whole I-am-God's-Instrument-on-Earth bit would turn off Millennials too much...I hope!
napi21
(45,806 posts)it doesn't look like THEY are actually voting! That's always been the problem as far back I can remember. It's the older people who actually VOTE! I WISH it would be different this year, but so far, in the primaries it doesn't look like it's any different.
redstateblues
(10,565 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)We're citizens, lots of voting citizens, and as a group we're not getting out of anybody's way. Millennials will be facing age discrimination themselves before we're gone.
LOL, in fact I just read earlier some wishful thinking here on DU about how boomers were now dying off, so this is apparently some new disgruntled meme about "Bernie obstruction" -- we drop dead. (But the old fart doesn't. ) I didn't advise that person to hold his or her breath and see who's gone first, but the thought crossed my mind.
As for the "millennials," people who don't vote are doomed to learn over years why they really should have. Young people shouldn't be thinking mom and dad will be handling this for them until they feel like it, and that may be part of the problem. A whole play-date generation has grown up now who didn't cross the street by themselves until they were in their teens.
yuiyoshida
(41,869 posts)WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT Lets BLAME the messenger okay??
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)If it's to decry, then decry. The whole thing is silly and reaching anyway, the point being the initial message that we are somehow liabilities to the nation and should get out of the way.
yuiyoshida
(41,869 posts)I Post a lot of stories, if I didn't post them, well damn, You wouldn't have to complain about them. I am going to Post what I think is relevant, and if you don't want to read them, than don't. Post your own Stories...
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)attack on half the people on this forum you should damn well expect to be called on it.
yuiyoshida
(41,869 posts)and either read my stuff or don't.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)do you? You posted for response, you got it. If you want a bunch of kids to verbally slap you on the shoulder and tell you you nailed it with this one, maan!, go find a group of kids.
yuiyoshida
(41,869 posts)Javaman
(62,534 posts)they are exhausting.
Bubzer
(4,211 posts)I think you need a good long introspection before posting again... maan!
Ed Suspicious
(8,879 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)With exceptions for the exceptions, half of them are too busy taking selfies to vote and half the rest don't even have that excuse. Most are still in adolescence, with all the bigotry against adults and fealty to "My Group" that means, and the most generous excuse you can make for the whole lot is that they haven't yet attained mature brain development.
It's very different for we older wise ones who have been experiencing and learning from life, working, supporting ourselves and them, and *voting* for decades - and still are. Which is why the whole notion that we should get out of their way so they can fix the contry sent my eyebrows flying for my hairline.
(Again, if you're young and you vote, I'm not talking about you.)
brush
(53,968 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)PasadenaTrudy
(3,998 posts)Bucky
(54,087 posts)Sorry, but actions have consequences. If you bring bad news, there will be only be bad news. I'm pretty sure all the world's ills can be cured by simply getting rid of the messengers.
First they came for the messengers, but I wasn't a telegraph boy, and so I said nothing... [p align="center"]
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)"Young people shouldn't be thinking mom and dad will be handling this for them until they feel like it, and that may be part of the problem. A whole play-date generation has grown up now who didn't cross the street by themselves until they were in their teens."
Insanely ageist generalization. A whole generation unable to cross the street? Ageist crapola deluxe.
Bubzer
(4,211 posts)Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Mrs. Clinton should team-up with Sanders and move a lot closer to his policies.
That would take sitting down together, adult discussion and no more shouting, shallow debate, one-liners for twitter.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)in looking at what they would each be likely to accomplish as president under all the likely scenarios, experts do not feel there is a great deal of difference.
I also don't think they would have any real difficulty working together to win the election. Bernie has worked and voted with the Democratic Party for 25 years, and there is not and never has been any shouting. Don't be fooled by the artificial environment of a debate; it's like an exceptionally long campaign commercial. They are both actually dignified, very high-functioning adults.
And above all, the anti-government plans of the forces massed on the right appall both of them terribly.
Rex
(65,616 posts)And here you are complaining about them the most. Go figure.
LisaM
(27,848 posts)Was the LOWEST PERCENTAGE since 1932. And there was a brand new system (wards) for City Council on the ballot with all kinds of ramifications to the neighborhoods.
xmas74
(29,676 posts)with no one interested in what Gen Xers, like myself, care about. Then again, we tend to get the shaft on a regular basis.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)An analysis or editorial of a demographic is not "ageist crap," it's simply analysis and editorial.
Unless of course, one believes any mention of age regardless of context is "ageist crap." Should that actually be the case however, the buffoons and half-wits really do win...
"A whole play-date generation has grown up now who didn't cross the street by themselves until they were in their teens..."
Seems you yourself are guilty of precisely what you indict others for: ageist crap (space provided free of charge for distinction lacking relevant difference below).
BuelahWitch
(9,083 posts)They're coming out in droves! My state (KS) had one of the highest turnouts ever for their caucus, and that includes 2008. I don't think that's Boomers and X-ers.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Aging baby boomers can be just as transformative as millenials - with Bernie Sanders being a case in point.
Zen Democrat
(5,901 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)Older people can be transformational.
Skittles
(153,261 posts)snooper2
(30,151 posts)Oh, and maybe one who had video games as a kid or young adult...
And one knows how email actually works...like, technically, how it works
Can we just keep Obama Please!
Zen Democrat
(5,901 posts)FreakinDJ
(17,644 posts)millennials have been complaining about being excluded since before the debates or primaries started
Rebkeh
(2,450 posts)Every now and then Salon puts out good stuff but it's too damn hard to swim through the muck to get it. especially when it doesn't happen often enough, I gave up on them so, thanks for posting this.
I wish the older generation would wake up to this point: it's a different economy, stupid. He nailed it.
yuiyoshida
(41,869 posts)Its fun to come across a gem like this... thanks to TWITTER!
jpak
(41,760 posts)Hydra
(14,459 posts)It may even be TOO basic and not rooted in the real reasons things are happening, but I love the hierarchy of needs portion. The people the Clintons try to appeal to already have all of their basic needs met if they want more freedom and less taxes. People like me are struggling on the bottom level of the hierarchy just trying to stay working, housed and enough food.
"Instead, they(Millennials) tend to see themselves as empowered but also a part of a collective, a social fabric, individual but cooperative, and because of this they value tolerance and equality."
I don't feel terribly empowered, but I do feel like society should be inclusive, cooperative, and beneficial to all.
Major Hogwash
(17,656 posts)You are fabulous!!
You go, girl.
yuiyoshida
(41,869 posts)Major Hogwash
(17,656 posts)I'm so shy . . . . not!
yuiyoshida
(41,869 posts)Wednesdays
(17,462 posts)Oh, and yoroshiku desu.
yuiyoshida
(41,869 posts)Skittles
(153,261 posts)gawd, he made GREED AND IDIOCY fashionable
yuiyoshida
(41,869 posts)demi god to some in the Republican party...
Skittles
(153,261 posts)same with that nitwit Dubya
yuiyoshida
(41,869 posts)xray peepers, YES INDEED!
Skittles
(153,261 posts)you need to give a f*** about someone other than yourself - people voted for greed, oh yes they did
Boomerproud
(7,976 posts)I'll be 60 in April (so I was 24 when the Reagan Regression happened) and I still don't understand what went so terribly wrong. My mother's caregiver asked me the other day who I was voting for this year and I honestly said "For the first time in my life I may sit it out." She snapped "Well, that's a vote for Hillary!" No one seems to understand my dismay and feelings of hopelessness.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)yuiyoshida
(41,869 posts)Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)Some years back I tried to engage a prohibitionist in discussion around the next generation of "firearms" and the problems it posed for all sides in the debate over guns. What if...
Jane Fonda's blow-drier;
Capt. Kirk's phraser;
Flash Gordon's ray gun
all become reality. Will they be recognized as weapons protected by even the most direhard supporters of the Second; if so, will the Evil AR 15 or AK 47 become the flintlocks of the future? Unfortunately, the discussion descended into another tRumpian Penis contest.
I agree with the others: This is a good post.
Hatchling
(2,323 posts)Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)To this day, straight Democrats who love that monster are trying to polish his image.....they demonstrate in doing so where they actually stand and where they stood back then when it very much mattered.
Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)Rather, the voters who chose John Anderson and voters over age 30 drove the shift (and the oldest Boomers were only 34 in 1980, so they weren't a big part of these older age cohorts.)
FWIW Carter only garnered about half of the Boomer vote when he was elected in '76.
Edited to add links to 1976-1980 vote estimates by age:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1980
http://www.gallup.com/poll/9460/Election-Polls-Vote-Groups-19761980.aspx
Warpy
(111,417 posts)Don't forget, the boomers were born from 1946-1964, a tremendously long time for any cohort. The older boomers, my bunch, were mostly appalled that he fooled so many people and disgusted that he was against so many things we'd fought for, like legal access to abortion.
And yes, no matter whether they were older or younger, they SUCKED.
Democat
(11,617 posts)Obama was a breath of fresh air.
As much as I would support Clinton or Sanders, neither one can offer anything truly new.
The only Republican who can offer anything new is Trump, and what he's offering is the first reality TV president.
Skittles
(153,261 posts)yup
Warpy
(111,417 posts)and usually without breaking a sweat.
I don't give a fart on fire about things like the age, sex, race, religion, or family national origin of any candidate. What I do care about is a candidate's stand on issues that are important to me.
However, both candidates will be too old in 2020. That's about the time for one of the Castro brothers to grab the baton and run with it.
Scout
(8,624 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,405 posts)The only piece of data put forward for how millennials are so different from boomers is this:
"Most boomers were anxious to establish their independence; the data show millennials are not."
That goes to Strategic Business Insight's "The Millennial Generation", which does indeed contain those words, in this context:
You might think from that that "establishing their independence" means 'independence from their parents' - and you'd be right. Here's the other mention of 'independence' in the article:
This is about how fast millennials move out of the family home.
So, no, you shouldn't construct an argument that millennials have a more collective outlook on life based on them staying longer in their parents' homes (which may well be based on economics rather than preference, anyway). Perhaps they are more collective; but the author ought to have looked for some data on that, rather than googling the phrase he wanted to use without thinking about it.
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)EVERYONE, because we need numbers. We all will be screwed by the GOP, so failure is not an option.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Still, it needs sayin'.
JI7
(89,283 posts)Bubzer
(4,211 posts)Obviously I voted to leave it. Someone's got some mighty thin skin to alert on this.
THAN BITCH ABOUT THE AUTHOR, This comes from Salon.com a legit website.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=7665537
REASON FOR ALERT
This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.
ALERTER'S COMMENTS
OP gets called on a story they posed, they respond by telling Hortensis to 'Go bitch about this'.
Telling a woman to 'go bitch about "whatever" is extremely sexist and has no place on DU.
You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Mon Mar 7, 2016, 08:07 AM, and the Jury voted 1-6 to LEAVE IT.
Juror #1 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: Over-the-top
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: As a women, I don't find the word "bitch" used as a synonym for "complain" to be remotely sexist. Dumbest alert I've seen in weeks.
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Jeezus these alerts are getting ridiculous
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.
mountain grammy
(26,663 posts)pretty silly alert, in my opinion. Good post, Yuiyoshida. I'm a boomer and totally not offended, although I wasn't sucked into the Reagan worship like so many I knew at the time. I wanted to flee to Hawaii, far enough away and one of the few states Reagan didn't carry, but I was too broke and about to get much broker. A divorce and 3 jobs marked the Reagan era for me. That and watching friends die.
Like a good friend posted, I'll remain silent about Nancy Reagan's death like she remained silent about so many AIDS deaths.
treestar
(82,383 posts)one person one vote. Your age doesn't make your vote any weaker or stronger than others.
GOLGO 13
(1,681 posts)Thanks for sharing
stevekatz
(152 posts)forever the middle children of history
brush
(53,968 posts)because we don't get the "favorite" treatment that firstborns get, nor the pampering of the "baby" that younger ones get.
Makes learn to depend on ourselves.
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)Not as greedy as our predecessors, but we grew up with the internet still in its infancy, so we're not as connected or as socially conscious as a whole, because we didn't get to see all of society's warts. We knew something was wrong, but we were so insulated by corporate-controlled media that we only got the perspectives the rulers wanted us to get. Only now are we finding out everything that was always wrong, but was kept from us in our schools, our TV and newspapers, thanks to social media.
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)...spare a segment of history for us Gen-Xers, why don't ya?
xmas74
(29,676 posts)Stuck in the middle and no one really cares what we think either way.
Even with the recession everyone talked about the Boomers and the Millennials. A few reports I've read said that some think Gen X might be the most screwed over in the end because it all hit at a time when we should be securing our careers, growing our families and growing our wealth yet many were unemployed or underemployed and couldn't afford to invest or buy homes.
Orrex
(63,260 posts)Tired, redundant analysis of a well-known and long-standing phenomenon, dressed up with a WE'RE DOOMED headline to grab eyeballs.
I don't fault the OP, but it's a greasy tactic by Salon.com
Zing Zing Zingbah
(6,496 posts)Yes, we still do exist.
cemaphonic
(4,138 posts)Not this time around though. Cruz and Rubio are both Xers
Rex
(65,616 posts)The original Latch Key Kids. America and the disposable generation.
0rganism
(23,984 posts)to me, the essence of GenX is represented best by Kurt Cobain -- a human being of great energy and talent but dismal lack of any hopeful vision which contributed both to his uniqueness and eventually to his own self-destruction.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Like Obama, we have been quietly transformative.
I believe that.
Rex
(65,616 posts)But then again, we've had to be that way so we learned early.
Rex
(65,616 posts)We could say the same thing about the Boomers and Jim Morrison.
0rganism
(23,984 posts)i look in the mirror and see hints of Cobain. i see it in the faces of co-workers, friends, associates of various stripes: it's a kind of energetic world-weariness and self-neglect. but maybe that's just what i've learned to tune in to.
Rex
(65,616 posts)Not that I am saying he wasn't a huge cultural influence, I am comparing him to the frontman for the Doors. I don't really see anyone there much and that is my point. We are like a blackhole in some ways to the rest of society.
Zing Zing Zingbah
(6,496 posts)I'm a young X'er, but yeah I was totally into Nirvana back then, probably more so than the older X'ers at the time because I was still in high school. I don't think he is representative of our generation any more. We are all much older now. I'm not how I was in high school anymore. Life is a lot different. It is annoying to see that Gen X always gets skipped over, but we shouldn't be especially right now. We are the ones raising kids now. We have become experienced in our careers. The millennials are the new ones on the scene and the baby boomers are mostly retired now. Granted, the oldest millennials I would consider to be among my peers, but not the youngest ones. It seems to be the young ones (18 - 20 something) getting the attention and not the ones in their 30's.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)cemaphonic
(4,138 posts)Because the other major candidates look like aging Boomers to me.
Bucky
(54,087 posts)Which is why, as GenXer, I'm voting for Betty White
PasadenaTrudy
(3,998 posts)I don't even know anyone in their 20s, thank goodness.
whatthehey
(3,660 posts)This is the norm, and I haven't see any sign 2016 is any different (IA for one was down among 3o and unders)
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
alarimer
(16,245 posts)And they do not vote. So, from a political point of view, who really cares what they want?