There is a little over a month before we go to the polls. In this campaign each day feels like a month, like the end of a pro basketball game, when one minute of playing time takes ten minutes of realtime. It’s excruciating, and not in a good way. Pundits are out of words and ideas. They gawk at the spectacle and listen carefully, their jaws slack. And the band plays on.
These pundits are zeroing in on Millennials, those citizens who came of age around the turn of the century. They have succeeded the Baby Boomers as the country’s largest voting bloc – assuming they will vote. It’s an enormous group, and they defy generalizations.
Millennial turnout and voting will turn the election. A large turnout favors the Democrat. Low turnout or diversion of votes to a minor-party candidate favors the Republican. The nation is their future, and their future is the nation. How they vote, if they vote, is the most important story of this election. For this one, seemingly endless month, we will be hearing a lot about Millennials, as if you can understand an ocean by looking at the shore. The voting will tell us, and we would be wise to pay attention. By that we may see the breadth of the nation beyond the horizon.
Evan Sarzin is the author of Hard Bop Piano and Bud Powell published by Gerard & Sarzin Music Publishing. He writes and publishes Revolted Colonies (http://revoltedcolonies.com).