This article first appeared in the William Mitchell Law Review
A course correction is sorely needed, and Americans know it. They sense there is something wrong with the way the public's business is being carried out. The evidence can be traced to Ross Perot's surprising insurgency in the 1992 presidential election.1 It can be found in Congress's abysmal approval ratings.2 It can be found in numerous opinion polls citing the distrust and disgust that voters feel toward government and politicians.3 There is a sense among the electorate that neither major party is putting the public good ahead of its own partisan interests. Citizens see interest groups driving the policy agenda and causing gridlock. They recognize that big money is dominating our political system at the expense of the average voter. They feel very powerfully that serious issues are not being honestly addressed and, worse, that attack-style politics are impeding our ability to discuss thoughtfully the real issues. Voters sense all of these things, but they cannot quite figure out what is at the core of this political dysfunction.
Tom Brokaw is right, the "greatest generation" has come and gone.4 But another greatest generation is needed to reinvigorate our democratic system. We need to do whatever we can to nurture our young people so that they can start being the generation that brings us back to where we want to be in our democracy. There is good data to suggest that this will happen, that it actually is happening. Civic volunteerism among the young, for example, is at historically high levels.5 But that is not matched by young people's voter participation rates.6 It is no accident that Urban Outfitters had a best seller on its hands when the retailer began to market a T-shirt emblazoned with the words, "Voting is for old people." For young people, there is a stigma attached to voting that needs to be overcome.
Even in 2004, when young people voted in the greatest numbers ever in American history,7 participation among the youngest voters barely reached fifty percent, ten percent behind the rest of the population as a whole.8 The axiom that "voting is for old people" is essentially true. Typically, about seventy percent of seventy-year-olds vote, while only about thirty percent of thirty-year-olds vote.9
Youth are the impetus for progress and reform. They have always been the element in our society that has challenged us to do better. We need that infusion of youth now. America has no choice: we must count on the young people of today to turn us around because too many of us older voters are caught up in the current system. Aging baby boomers in particular do not seem to have escaped the '60s myth that they represent the "Me Generation." We are simply part of the problem. The under-thirty crowd seems more independent minded, and, thus, far less likely to consider themselves either Democrats or Republicans.10 That is truly a hopeful sign. Leadership from a generation driven by problem solving and not party loyalty may be able to deal more effectively with the partisan pitfalls of our current system.
Tim Penny represented the state's First Congressional District from 1982 through 1994, serving on the U.S. House Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Committees. He was the Independence Party Candidate for Governor in 2002. Currently, he is the President/CEO of the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation Penny has authored several books on public policy and the American political process, including THE 15 BIGGEST LIES IN POLITICS, PAYMENT DUE, and COMMON CENTS: A RETIRING SIX-TERM CONGRESSMAN REVEALS HOW CONGRESS REALLY WORKS—AND WHAT WE MUST DO TO FIX IT.
Kevin Featherly, the founder of Featherly Consulting, L.L.C., is a Twin Cities-based journalist who covers politics, technology, and pop culture. He is a former managing editor with Washington Post Newsweek Interactive and has written for numerous publications.
1 See, e.g., David Firestone, Election '92 The Presidency: Perot Charts New Political Course, Newsday, Nov. 5, 1992, at 28.
2 Susan Page, A Year Before Voting, A Nation of Discontent, USA Today, Nov. 1, 2007, at 1A (citing that only twenty-nine percent of Americans approve of Congress's job performance, an historic low that places Congress even below President Bush's historically low approval rating of only thirty-two percent), and noting that the ratings indicate the nation's unhappiness with its current political situation).
3 The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, How Americans View Government: Deconstructing Distrust (Mar. 10, 1998), http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=95.
4 See generally Tom Brokaw, The Greatest Generation (2000).
5 See, e.g., Spurt of Volunteerism After 9/11 Takes a Dip, The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Apr. 16, 2007, at 2 (citing a Corporation for National and Community Service report showing that volunteer rates among young people have almost doubled over the last seventeen years; the title reflects a small dip in other groups following a huge spike after 9/11).
6 See Ctr. for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement, The 2004 Youth Vote (2004), http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/2004_votereport_final.pdf (acknowledging a recent increase in participation by younger voters).
7 Id.
8 Id.
9 The Nation's Voters, U.S. Census Bureau, Oct. 13, 2004, http://factfinder.census.gov/jsp/saff/SAFFInfo.jsp?_pageId=tp16_government
10 Young Voter Strategies, Partisanship: A Lifelong Loyalty That Develops Early 1 (2007), http://www.youngvoterstrategies.org (follow "Research" link; then follow "Youth Registration & Turnout").
