Monday, August 24, 2009

. . . What We Need Is A Fountain of Smart.

While reading a Darwin Catholic article on "crazies" in the political debate a few days ago, I ran into a commenter who touted the upsurge of youth supporting the Democrats and President Obama. He claimed that

"the number of adherents to each party does *not* stay roughly the same over time. Right now the cohort of those 25 years old and younger - that is, those who came of age under President Bush - are the most strongly Democratic generation this country has seen since before WWII."

I countered that the youthful upsurge was not as significant as had been advertised, and that such movements did not guarantee that a political realignment had happened. The next few election cycles, starting with this years Virginia and New Jersey Gubernatorial races and moving through 2010 and 2012, will really show if the tide has turned in the Democratic Party's favor, or if the margin of the Obama victory had more to do with singular events.

So what has happened to the great wave of Obama youth ready to work for their leader? The Houston Chronicle claims that, in the health care/health insurance debate, the Obama youth are AWOL . According to the Chronicle, worries about health insurance resonate more with older voters, rather than young, heathly ones.

On occasion I look in on the site Future Majority, which seeks to capitalize on the large number of liberal youth that supported Obama in the 2008 election. If some of the articles from the blog are any indication, the youth organizers are having some trouble rallying the troops. An article laments the lack of a Facebook health care reform campaign, while another tries to start up a group called the "Young Invincibles." (I didn't make the name up, honest.) Nothing as effective as real taxpayers voicing their opinions, I'm afraid.

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1 Comments:

Blogger Foxfier said...

....They named the group for the term used to describe young folks who don't spend money on insurance because they think it's a waste of money?

Great, manage to offend:
1) the few who DO care (say, the lib version of me-- twenties, married, pregnant, happy with that fact; well, she'd probably be "committed" not married, thus a desire for Mommy Gov't to care for the kid)
2) the folks who DON'T care-- nobody likes being told they're assuming they're "invincible" when, by their lights, they made a rational decision based on the cost-to-return on insurance. (Car accident: covered in car insurance by one or both parties. Teeth: Mom and dad are good for a short-term loan if it's too big. Etc)

10:37 PM  

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