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Democrats Need To Show Millennials And Gen Z That They’re Serious [1]

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Date: 2023-07-31

I read a lot about the Democratic Party making “efforts” and “attempts” to write bills and pass legislation that will make a difference in the lives of our nation’s young people. About how president Biden is “encouraging” congress to move forward for the good of the country, and “calling out” with “strong language” the blatant obstructionism of the Republican Party, and lamenting the stark politicization of the Supreme Court. While it’s true that Democrats have managed to pass things that will benefit the country in the long term and have managed to do it all in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, to anyone not immersed in political discourse and left wing bloggery, it’s essentially meaningless.

It’s also true that young voters almost single handedly helped keep Trump at bay in 2020 and prevented a complete midterm asskicking in 2022, but you can’t keep asking these kids to vote for you without delivering decisive, tangible results for them. Nobody wants to join a team whose message is basically: “Keep voting for us and as soon as we can convince our friends and colleagues across the aisle to stop being so…..fascist-ish, we’ll try our darnedest to run the country. It’s going to be a very, very long game and it’s going to suck for a long time, but if you make a whole bunch of sacrifices, do a lot of hard work, give us a 79 vote majority in both houses of congress, and consistently deliver landslide victories to every presidential candidate we offer you, we might be able to do some stuff that’ll be really, really good for you guys……about ten years from now…..if the billionaires don’t mind too much…..and as long as some asshole circuit court judge in Bullknuckle, Texas doesn’t overturn all of it. Let’s do this!”

It’s at this point where it’s commonly pointed out how the arcane workings of government don’t allow for swift action, and that Democrats are hamstrung by a wide variety of factors….and this would be 100% correct.

But these kids don’t care about any of that.

All they see is a planet dying, their friends being murdered, their rights being systematically dismantled, their financial futures decimated, the wealthy and well connected giving the constitution the finger, and none of the lumbering octogenarians they voted for seem to be doing anything to stop it.

And then you’ll say “WeLL wHaT dO yoU wanT tHE dEMoCraTS To DO??”

I want them to take whatever power they do have and unabashedly wield it.

I want them to utilize every tool at their disposal to throw sand into the gears of the Republican’s entire agenda. I want them to ruthlessly exploit every legal and procedural loophole there is.

I want each and every one of them to point out in unambiguous language the vile, obstructive, shittiness of the GOP every time they’re in front of a microphone. They need to make it clear that this is a battle against a real enemy, and that “Aw shucks, I guess you’ll have to vote harder next time.” isn’t an option. Because if they lose, there’s a very real possibility that there won’t be a next time. I don’t want Democrats to become vile and shitty themselves, but they could absolutely benefit from a little more shrewdness and political cunning. If they showed more vitality, pushed more of their young voices to the forefront, were less concerned with precedent, norms, and the appearance of impropriety, and basically showed more interest in WINNING THE FIGHT, young voters might be less likely to lose enthusiasm for them.

Because let’s be honest, it is a fight, and winning is all that matters at this moment. Trump and the Republicans need to be completely overwhelmed by sheer numbers next fall, and the Democratic Party needs to do everything it can to make sure that happens. Trump will be gone one day, but the white, authoritarian Christofacisism of the GOP isn’t going anywhere. It needs to be taken down.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/31/2184415/-Democrats-Need-To-Show-Millennials-And-Gen-Z-That-They-re-Serious

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