Michael Connery’s Youth to Power received an excellent review on Alternet today, yet a few members of the community have lashed out against the Millennial generation in their comments. Here are some examples of the comments:

Absolutely. The problem with the “youth vote” and upper crust “progressives” in general is that they have a very short attention span. They are also less likely to vote come November.

Stop the a–kissing and remind people that as Americans they have an obligation to vote. Young, old and in between. I’m tired of the demographics and stats that create status and and self importance. There is no reward for voting but there’s pay back when you don’t. The example is now in the White House. The early primaries this election were proof that it’s about numbers. Get out and vote or the media will elect our president. Let them find real jobs. Thanks, ANNA

Most American youth can’t point out Korea on a globe, so their credibility is lacking. They spent too much time trying to act like the retarded gansta rappers they’ve been brainwashed to think are great.

Tired of being stereotyped as frivolous? Having a short attention span? Saying one thing, then doing another-or worse-nothing at all? Well, then, you’ve got a dandy chance to put all those preconceived notions to rest this November by FOLLOWING THROUGH on your promise to vote for a better future. The rethugs won’t be expectiog it. Remember 2004? There were great expectations of massive youth support for John Kerry, but it never materalized. No wonder your elders don’t expect much from you this time. Show them how wrong they are, and you’ll possibly save our nation from another bushie dark age.

Luckily Michael and some others have been countering the anti-youth offensive:

arclight7…I’ve got news for you… most Americans can’t point out Korea on a globe! Don’t blame the young people! It wasn’t the youth that put this criminal in the White House! It wasn’t the youth that got us into this god-forsaken war! It isn’t the education policies of the young that fails to teach them geography anymore! How narrow-minded and myopic your view of the youth in this country and their right to have a role in the politics of this country! Remember, it’s them who will be making policy that will effect you when you’re old and sitting in a nursing home. Better treat them better.

Even though there is no draft to motivate young people, they are energetically employing the most powerful antiwar/social-change weapon of all: the ballot box. For that reason, Barack Obama should become our next president. If not this year, he absolutely will win the White House in 2012. As for me, an old fart (72) with grandkids, I couldn’t be happier.

The Democratic Party should be “big” enough for everybody, shouldn’t it? Why can’t candidates appeal to all voters, regardless of age, race, religion (or lack thereof), sex? For those of you discounting the youth vote, aren’t they the future of this country? Don’t they have a bigger stake in who our leaders are and the policies that will be enacted? Talk about short-sighted! Perhaps it’s true what they say about Boomers… it’s always “ME! ME! ME!” Get over yourselves and encourage younger people to be involved and get active! How the hell does that hurt you? Perhaps you’re afraid of some new ideas, new perspectives? I listened to the Obama’s being interviewed on MSNBC and Michelle Obama said that the younger voters are very important in this campaign. And she’s right. I’m glad someone is reaching out to young people to let them know it’s their country, too! They’ve been ignored for too long already.

18 - 29 year olds were the only age demographic to vote in favor of John Kerry in 2004. Every other age group voted in favor of Bush. Youth turnout was up by 4.3 million votes in 2004. Turnout jumped to it’s highest level in over a decade. Young people did their part, they just didn’t get any help from the Boomers or Xers.

Yep. I’m 28. Voted for Kerry AND Gore. Where was everyone else?

Today’s young voters are one of the most progressive voting blocks in the country according to research by CIRCLE and PEW. They are also the biggest generation in American and voting increasingly Democratic - making them the greatest hope for a long-term progressive majority in the 21st Century.

The sad thing is that even though Alternet has had great coverage of the youth movement, there are still some readers that when faced with great news about the potential for the Democratic party in 2008 and the decades to come, get defensive and attack the generation that can lead to this realignment. The largest generation in the history of the United States is heavily identifying as Democrats and yet instead of welcoming such a development they mock and demean it. While those that commented negatively on the Alternet article are a tiny part of the community, it shows that even on friendly territory there are those that express anti-youth sentiments.

These people blame young voters for not saving them from their own generation, and that is disturbing. As Michael pointed out, 18-29 year olds were the only demographic to vote for John Kerry in 2004. The millennial generation has yet to reach its full electoral strength, but the Boomers and Gen Xers have, and voted for Bush.

The mindset that 18-29 year olds in 1978 are the same as those in 1988, or 2008, is based on a fallacy that ignores the characteristics of each individual generation and only focuses on their youth.

I would like to make it clear that not everyone from the Baby Boomer and X generations has this attitude towards youth, and there are many that have done amazing things to support the youth vote, but sadly a great deal seem to share this disdain of youth.

Update: My article as originally written was not clear enough. The idea was that even on Alternet, a site that has been very good in covering the youth vote, there are those, although a very small percentage, that still hold on to negative perceptions of the youth vote.

Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic wrote of The GOP Generational Time Bomb and created this very telling chart:

Well, despite the fact that Marc Ambinder gets it, there are still many that are blind to the youth vote and seem to find it a personal mission to ignore or discount all of the research and evidence that has been done over the last few years.

Cassy Fiano of Wizbang flat-out mocks the youth vote in a response to the Washington Post article that makes the statement that the youth vote will matter in 2008. Here is Cassy’s thoughts about the civic reawakening of the Millennial generation:

A civic reawakening? Were 20-year-olds “awake” to politics before and somehow “fell asleep”? Um… ok. And, you know, there’s the teensy problem of this poll being conducted with MTV’s help, which automatically dampens the prospect of it becoming a reality.

Look, if “young people” vote, then that’s fantastic. If they don’t, then oh well. They aren’t going to make or break elections, no matter how much the media fawns over them. Every election season its the same old song and dance, and it ain’t a different tune this time around.

It’s not just Cassy Fiano that gets it wrong. Don Surber takes on Marc Ambinder’s piece referenced above. In his commentary, with the cliche title Young People Don’t Vote, he gets it so wrong that the Darwin Awards should make an exception and “honor” a living person.

But young people are a waste of time and energy when it comes to voting. They are not where the voters are.

Voters over time tend to grow more conservative. The percentage of young voters who were Republican was at its nadir in 1952. But Republican Ike Eisenhower was elected president. See Pew Research.

In 2000, Dems held an 8-point advantage in this group and still lost the presidency (Al Gore’s plurality was measured in tenths of a point).

In 2004, Democrats increased that lead to 11 points. Bush won by 3 points.

If there are long-term effects, how did Republican Richard Nixon get elected 16 years after that 1952 nadir — and President Reagan re-elected 16 years after that — and President Bush 16 years after that? Those young Democrats became Middle Aged Independents and then Old Republicans.

Ambinder said it is a ticking bomb. Oh there’s a bomb in that post all right, but I don’t think it is on the Republicans.

The PEW Research source he uses, could that be something I missed that shows young people becoming more conservative as they get older? Oh no, it’s the research that Ambinder covered that shows young voters increasingly identifying as Democrats. Not the best supporting document I would think.

Here are the fallacies that these critics of the youth vote seem overly fond of:

1. Young people don’t vote, so it doesn’t matter if they identify as Democrats. Even if we accepted the untrue statement that young people don’t vote, they do eventually grow up, this isn’t Peter Pan. Since research in fact has shown that party identification for the most part stays consistent throughout life, it still should be troubling to conservatives.
2. The silly kids are Democrats now that they are young and don’t know any better, but they’ll grow out of it. Research says otherwise my conservative friends.
3. Not enough young people will vote to affect the 2008 election, since Gore and Kerry didn’t win with the youth vote. Have you not heard of a trend line? Surber actually shows the youth vote increasing from 2000 to 2004, he should know better. With elections as close as they are, as well as the examples of Democratic candidates in 2006 that did win because of the youth vote, I don’t know how they can ignore it.

Though as frustrated as I get sometimes reading this nonsense, there is a silver lining. As long as conservatives completely write off the youth vote as unimportant and believe that the ghost of Ronald Reagan will personally visit each young person as they get older and magically turn them into Republicans, Democrats have an unobstructed field. So conservatives, by all means, keep it up. The youth vote doesn’t matter, don’t worry about it.

I am not going to get into any comprehensive analysis of the Harvard IOP and MTV/CBS surveys, but there are a few themes that I want to cover. For more analysis check out Future Majority.

Facebook and MySpace

Once again Facebook is the social network of choice for college students, while MySpace is more popular among non-college students. Facebook beats MySpace when it comes to political use, with 23% of respondents using the site politically to MySpace’s 11%.

Facebook increased in popularity and political use from 2006. I think this is likely a result of the changes Facebook made: opening the site to anyone, and opening the Facebook platform to third-party developers. These applications have increased the opportunities for Facebook users to engage politically. In the last week MySpace opened up its developer platform, so applications will be on the way and could increase the level of political use.

Campaign Volunteering

56% of 18-24 year olds stated that they would volunteer for the campaign they supported if they were provided the opportunity (12% Very, 44% Somewhat).

What is interesting is the difference between the Democratic candidates and John McCain. There is a 10% difference between Clinton/Obama and McCain. This indicates that young people voting Democrat are more willing to volunteer on a campaign than young people voting Republican.

Youth are Issue-Oriented and Want Issues Addressed

In the wake of the disastrous ABC/National Enquirer debate, youth are hungry for the discussion of the actual issues that “professional” journalists are not giving them.

• 65% say there is too much focus on race and gender.
• 65% say too little time is spent on jobs and opportunities for young workers.
• 47% say too little time is spent on global warming.
• 65% say too little time is spent on reducing oil and gas use.
• 59% say too little time is spent on education.
• 57% say too little time is spent on increased college costs and student loans/financial aid.
• The top issues are the economy (33%), Iraq (25%), education (9%), health care (9%), terrorism (8%), and the environment (7%).

In other words, if young people were asking the questions we would probably have a substantial debate.

Democrats More Concerned About Youth

Young people believe that the Democratic candidates are more concerned about the problems facing them than John McCain.

Young Voters Are More Convinced of Their Influence

67% of respondents felt that their generation would have as much or more influence than other generations this election, up from 53% last June.

Nader Pulls More Young People From McCain than Dems

Between Obama and McCain, there is no difference between the margin with Nader in the race, Obama winning by 21% in both situations.

Between Clinton and McCain, Clinton improves from 5% to 7% over McCain with Nader in the race.

Are there any interesting themes that you noticed in these surveys? Leave a comment.

So after making the mistake of getting the slowest shipping possible, my copy of Michael Connery’s (of Future Majority) Youth to Power: How Today’s Young Voters Are Building Tomorrow’s Progressive Majority finally came yesterday. I read it cover-to-cover as soon as it hit my hands. I just want to say that every person that is a leader in YDA should read this book.

It is important that as leaders of progressive youth organizations we know the history of the movement, in order to learn what has worked and what has failed, as well as the knowledge of how we came to be what we are now. As I wrote in an earlier post, one of the advantages of the youth movement was its ability to innovate and learn from trial and error. Youth to Power gives a great analysis of the past successes and failures of our movement.

Specifically valuable for leaders in YDA is the chapter on Rebuilding the Democratic Youth Brand. This chapter extensively covers YDA and CDA, and many of you were part of that history.

Some of the most interesting points are on the use of the internet and mobile technology, the role of music and culture in engaging youth, and the comparison of the Conservation youth leadership pipeline to its weaker progressive counterpart.

Can’t take your eyes off this year’s election coverage? Are you tired of reading the same ‘ole rhetoric on the so -called “Youthquake?” Would you jump at an opportunity to report on the 2008 election and how it impacts your community? If you’ve answered YES, then we want to hear from you!

Rock the Vote in partnership with WireTap magazine is searching for aspiring or established reporters for Rock the Trail. Sponsored by AT&T, Rock the Trail will capture today’s politics through the eyes and in the words of young voters. Rock the Trail reporters will deliver insightful and compelling blogs, articles and videos from the communities they live in, reporting on young people’s top issues such as jobs, the economy and college affordability. Content will be posted on http://www.rockthevote.com, http://www.wiretapmag.org , http://www.BET.com, and will also be available for viewing on AT&T mobile phones. In addition, we will be working with the washingtonpost.com to contribute unique perspectives complementary to the site’s vast coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign.

Entries will be judged by an advisory panel of distinguished journalists including: Jeff Chang, award-winning author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation, Sian-Pierre Regis, producer, BET News, Peter Rothberg, associate publisher, The Nation magazine and Jose Antonio Vargas, political feature writer, The Washington Post. Individuals will be chosen based on the creativity and originality of his or her application, and ability to write in a clear, concise manner.

Rock the Trail reporters will be paid a monthly stipend and supplied with a laptop, cell phone and video camera to rock the 2008 campaign trail. Reporters will interview candidates, elected officials, campaigners, young voters and Rock the Vote artists discussing everything from the Presidential race to mayoral elections and anything in between.

So, if you’re a U.S. citizen between the ages of 18-29 and interested in reporting on one of the most exciting times in U.S. politics, please click here to complete an application by May 7th (not a minute after 11:59pm.)

Rock the Trail is part of a yearlong alliance between AT&T and Rock the Vote to engage young people in the democratic process by bringing the election to them through their mobile phones.

Additional Information:

• Entry Guidelines
• Online Application Form

Over the last few days I have been asked why I am fighting to reinstate the purged young Obama delegate candidates when a good percentage of the allowed candidates are youth. If the only issue at hand were Arizona’s youth representation goal (though it does not look like it will be reached), such an effort might not be necessary, but the youth representation goal is not the only issue.

Youth leaders were assured by the Obama campaign that young delegate candidates would not be purged barring specific concerns about an individual candidate. With that assurance, youth leaders, myself included, encouraged many of the young activists that had been crucial to Obama garnering 59% of the 18-29 vote to run for delegate. We passed on that assurance to these potential candidates, they filed their candidacy papers, and they looked toward the delegate election with excitement and anticipation. Candidate trainings were held, candidacy groups were formed on social networks, and state committee voters were contacted.

Then two weeks before the election they had been preparing for, a majority of them were told, in a vague and cryptic email, that they in fact would not be allowed the opportunity to run. No specific reasons were conveyed to them about why they could not run, and confusion set in, wondering why those assurances that emboldened them to run had dissipated.

When a campaign makes assurances that are then reneged, they run the risk of causing young activists to be wary of any future pledges or promises that are made. It is important that the very few commitments made to youth are actually kept.

These young candidates put themselves out there to run only to be rejected, not knowing why they were struck while others are allowed to run. If they knew how the campaign made their selections, they could possibly learn what to do differently to improve their chances. Even then, however, young activists may feel unappreciated, or guilty because the campaign does not think they put in enough effort to just have the opportunity to run for delegate. But this is not the most harmful consequence. These activists are smart, and they have started to think about the situation. They realize that with the large number of candidates for delegate the campaign did not look at their name and say “these are the reasons this person should be purged.” They were not choosing who to purge, but who they were going to allow to run. If they were specifically choosing who can run, the people that are allowed to run must be individually known to them. Then it hits them: the people that are accepted are most likely to be personal friends of the decision-makers or political favors. No matter how much effort they put into the campaign, they are not insiders, the establishment, or members of the exclusive club. They never had a chance, especially if they were working in rural areas that prevent them from getting buddy-buddy with those insiders. Next time, they won’t even bother trying.

How can we convince young activists to run for delegate in four years when this happens? Can we assure them that this year they will be allowed to run? Of course not. They know better than to trust that assurance. They have already felt the rejection that comes after getting their hopes up of running for delegate. It won’t be easy to get them take that risk again.

Disclaimer: Although I was one of the candidates that was purged, I am not asking for my personal reinstatement nor will I run if reinstated in order to prevent this effort from being dismissed as being a personal fight for my candidacy.

Anya Kamenetz’s column on Yahoo Finance entitled “The Big Issues for Young Voters” has been getting slaughtered in the article’s comments. Here are a selection of negative comments that illustrate the perceptions of young voters by the finance-page demographic. All spelling is left in context.

Socialists Rock! Oh yeah and John McCain is still breathing… hey I could do unbiased journalism too…. Wake up yahoo! This is a personal finance page (read: wealthier people who rather see people like this roasting on a spit before seeing their taxes go up to support those who dont know what responsibility is).. Get with the program.

the “youth vote”….the most over rated thing since paris hilton.

no, no, no. you must stop drinking the Democratic/socialist koolaid and start laying responsibility at he feet of the younger generation! when i attended college i worked 30 hours a week and took a full workload of glasses while the spoiled kids joined frats and partied all night long. what really needs to happen is kids need to be required (in high school) to take several classes in personal finance to understand how to handle their finances and not just make a plan to move back in with mom and pop when things go to hell and they saddle up a mountain of credit card debt. i am sick and tired of the dems telling voters the government has let them down. are you kidding me?? i have never taken out an ARM and have always lived way below my means, avoiding the financial ruin so many Americans face today. blaming the government is a cop out. the irresponsible all want the responsible homeowner and taxpayer to bail them out! Obama and Clinton are selling a socialist plan they say people are entitled to, but i say you get what you work for, so the younger generation needs to get to work and act fiscally responsible, which our role model government is not inclined to do! wake up and smell the roses Anya!

I don’t even know where to start. For those that don’t know, Anya got her start with a book she wrote about all of Generation Debt’s problems. Great, so we’ve established that as a college student she could put a long report together saying things suck out there. Now, for those of you that haven’t read the book, I saved you the trouble. As for this article, it is much worse because Anya has a degree in journalism, not economics and surely not finance, at least I hope not because it would only be a testament to how bad education has gotten. She states all the problems we have but never has a decent solution. She wants more money in the GI Bill and for colleges. Great, the GI Bill helps about 1% of those going to college and the government giving more to colleges will just result in more domes being built for sports. That’s brilliant. Next idea, let’s discuss social healthcare that we can’t afford as a society and will never get. She writes about young voters as though inexperienced young people have a clue what is waiting for them outside of college. If they did, they would not go to college and wrack up countless thousands in debt. She and her like are the problem young people are faced with. At one point she says our grandparents were better off with manufacturing jobs and pensions, but then she turns and says that the children of tomorrow can’t have pensions and good paying jobs because we have to abide by free trade laws. Anya obviously doesn’t even know why she is saying that because she just made the argument against free trade. I do not wonder how Anya got the position writing for Yahoo. What I wonder is how she keeps it with crap like this!

Anya, your musings on politics are amatuerish. The entire purpose of this column was simply to plug your awful book, wasn’t it?.. I ask Yahoo! Finance, what in the world were you thinking in hiring this girl? P.S. Anya you need to wear more makeup.. I can still see the bags under your eyes..

The much-vaunted “youth vote” comes up every election cycle, yet the same thing always happens: the youth have virtually no impact on the result. Obviously, this article is a complete disaster from start to end. Does she honestly believe Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, and the national debt will ever be brought “into balance”? And given the massive financial problems facing this country, sending more people to college to obtain largely worthless degrees is moronic to say the least. She is obviously much better suited to write for college newspapers and free city magazines than a serious Yahoo Finance column (Rock The Vote? “Declaration of Interdependence”???? How can anyone take this buffoon seriously?)

Don’t worry readers, not all young people are this ridiculous . . . but at least she’s cute and went to Yale!

Generation Y members need to come up with their own opinions instead of copying the group on Gootube or Digg. They are such heavy evangelists of group thinking, election results R now decided by only 1 or 2 people high up in the media corporations.

Young people are are rocking the vote and I wish they wouldn’t. It’s bad enough the more experienced aging population sucks at picking politicians (Democrat and Republican)… now we have an entire generation of Americans raised by television who are picking our politicians. Contrary to this article, our young people don’t know what the issues are. They don’t know how to read, that’s why our newspapers are failing and picture-based gossip magazines like “IN TOUCH” are thriving. All they know is what the advertisements are telling them the issues are.

These negative comments are overwhelmingly dominated by McCarthy-esque name-calling, throwing around the labels Socialist, Communist, Leninist, Marxist, Soviet, etc. They also have mastered the ad hominem fallacy with demeaning comments such as “Anya you need to wear more makeup.. I can still see the bags under your eyes..” and “at least she’s cute and went to Yale!” And for commenters that claim young people are uninformed and are single-minded, they sure don’t want to have to see any opinions that contradict their currently-held beliefs: “This is a personal finance page (read: wealthier people who rather see people like this roasting on a spit before seeing their taxes go up to support those who dont know what responsibility is).. Get with the program.”

From the comments we can see their thoughts on young voters. For me the most offensive comment was “Young people are are rocking the vote and I wish they wouldn’t…They don’t know how to read, that’s why our newspapers are failing and picture-based gossip magazines like “IN TOUCH” are thriving. All they know is what the advertisements are telling them the issues are.” Seriously, to use the parlance of the internet, WTF!?! Young people don’t know how to read and we shouldn’t vote. Our minds have been brainwashed by advertising and we can’t think for ourselves. Apparently they haven’t looked at all the research showing that young people are the LEAST affected by advertising and MOST skeptical of it. Newspaper readership is falling because more Americans across the board are going online for their news, not because of generational illiteracy.

From these sentiments we can see the kind of message we as young voters need to send: Our generation is engaged and informed, and we will stand up for our ideas and beliefs despite the myriad systemic obstacles previous generations have put in our way.