Our political Quote of the Day comes from John Opdycke, a graduate of University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and current chief of staff for IndependentVoting.org who, in a must-read-in-full op ed in New Jersey’s The Record, notes that young voters are increasingly independent voters in a system that is dominated by the two political parties.
Here’s the first part of his extensive piece:
THE CENSUS BUREAU is making a concerted effort to fully include young people – witness Commerce Secretary Gary Locke’s recent appearance on “The Daily Show.”
Census takers will be knocking on dorm rooms and checking to see who is crashing on the couch, but regardless of how thorough they are, they will miss out on one dramatic population migration: Young Americans are opting not to affiliate with a political party.
Fully 50 percent of voters aged 18-29 now identify as independents, and the percentage of the electorate under 30 is growing. In 2006, 18- to 29-year-olds accounted for 21 percent of the electorate. By 2015, estimates are that 18- to 29-year-olds will account for 33 percent of all voters.
But the millennial generation finds itself confronted by an electoral system designed by — and for — the “I Like Ike” crowd.
Party politics dominates.
Election districts are gerrymandered to serve party interests. Many states require poll workers to be registered Democratic or Republican. The Federal Election Commission is comprised of three Democrats and three Republicans, rendering it both structurally impotent and blind to the concerns of independents.
Most significantly, primary elections are off limits to independents in 17 states.
The official attitude among political elites towards the independence of younger voters ranges from amusement to outright hostility. ..
After some analysis he writes:
By 2015, this generation of voters could account for a full third of the electorate, but there is a real danger that if given the choice of participating in old-style party politics, or not participating at all, the millennial generation will choose the latter.
And he ends:
The time has come for structural reforms that will empower a new generation of voters with incentives for them to participate.
Young people are telling us they don’t want a party. We need to listen to them.
Go to the link above and it from beginning to end — in its entirety.
Indeed, in my extensive travels being in venues where I have a lot of contact with young people, you do find a certain number that are fully into the country’s talk radio political culture. You can also read some of those folks on blogs, facebook, Twitter, usually expressing strong viewpoints (left or right) and many times without specific fact backups either when they talk or offering links when they write.
But you also find a large number of young people who feel both political parties are lame — a conclusion they come to when they see chest beating, angry partisans and hear overripe assertions from people of either party.
I asked one 18 year old if he planned to vote. “Probably not. Both parties aren’t doing that great.” He gets his news online and his favorite show that even mentions politics is Jon Stewart.
Of course that will likely change here in California: marijuana legalization will be on the ballot (they needed to get some 400,000 signature and got nearly 800,000).
But to some young people suggesting they join a political party is like a World War II Greatest Generation or Baby Boomer trying to get young people today to join that quaint novelty of the past.. a nudist colony: it seems silly, pointless — and they don’t feel it offers them anything they haven’t seen many many times before.
PREDICTION: You think independent voters are important now? Just wait as more and more younger voters come of age. Political parties will have to change their thinking to win them over (FRIENDLY ADVICE: trips to bondage themed clubs won’t do it).
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.