The Politics of the Personal

Confession: I didn't vote in 2004. 

I'm not proud of this fact. But the truth is I was at a time and place in my life where politics simply wasn't important. In the fall of 2004 I was a college sophomore whose nightly activities consisted of pledging a fraternity and of doing homework, in that order. I knew there was an election, of course, and was definitely around on Election Day when a team of my more conservative fraternity brothers were celebrating George W. Bush's win in Ohio and subsequent victory over Democratic nominee John Kerry. I was disappointed, sure, but solely because I didn't think that someone so likely to make verbal gaffes like Bush did should be the American president. I couldn't tell you much about his political agenda but I could recite some of his most egregious statements, including the now infamous question, "Is our children learning?"  

I was like most 18-22 year old voters. After all, only 30% of voters aged 18 to 34 were enthusiastic about voting in 2016. Just about every single campaign staff or volunteer can vividly recall a conversation with a younger voter who expressed apathy toward the 2016 election. These would-be voters didn't care about the candidates or the issues at hand no matter how much we begged and pleaded with them. Our talk about the importance of the Supreme Court was much less enticing than their own interest in the mall's local food court. Making history with the first female president was somehow uninspiring. Carrying on Barack Obama's legacy wasn't a concern. Nothing we said or did could convince these young voters just how important their vote would be. For them, voting was something that just didn't mean a whole heckuva lot. 

It makes sense. After all, my 19-year-old self had no idea as to the extent of government in my life. After all, I came from a middle-class background and was fortunate enough to be at a private liberal arts university without needing to take out student loans. In less than 3 years, I would graduate with honors and would have the luxury of choosing between 2 separate job offers in different corners of the state. At that time, I viewed government much like a city sewage system: it was only something to be concerned about when a bunch of shit got out of hand. Over my last 3 years at college, I lived happily in my bubble, blissfully unaware as to the impact that my non-vote and that of my generation would have on both foreign and domestic politics over the next 4 years.  

It wasn't until I entered the workforce that I began to see the real-world impact of government and politics. Being a public school teacher in one of the worst states for public education salary, I saw how many of my colleagues were forced to take a second job to make ends meet. I, myself, did landscaping alongside a co-worker to help pay the bills on weekends and during the summer months where we didn't receive a paycheck. As someone learning about paying bills year-round and not yet knowing about financial planning, this added income became critical for my survival. By the time I entered my second year in the workforce as a public school teacher, I had begun to cement my political beliefs and began supporting the only political party that supported both teachers and those in labor unions. When it came time to vote for president in 2008, I proudly voted in-person for the country's first African-American president, Barack Hussein Obama.

That was my political awakening. It took me being personally affected to take a vested interest in politics and the political process. But once that awakening occurred, it opened my eyes to the reality of just how much of my life was governed by decisions of those elected to positions of power. Nowhere was this more apparent than in my work at a low-income middle school. I saw decisions made that adversely affected the students and teachers and those decisions were made by an appointed school superintendent and a supportive local school board. This school board consisted of those from the more affluent communities so I saw that our parents and our community did not have a voice in the decisions being made. When the more affluent schools selected a district-wide textbook that was far too advanced for my students, I kept those books on the shelves for a year and wrote my own lessons. Those decisions, made by elected officials with no teaching experience, were directly affecting our community, a community that didn't have any political power. 

Not everyone gets involved like this, but those that do get involved often to do so when they witness a preventable injustice. The 1960s and early 1970s had a huge antiwar movement, which came about due to people's direct, lived experiences. People's sons and friends and neighbor's kids were being sent away and killed in a war that should have never occurred. This was their awakening. A President Johnson and then President Nixon were making decisions that were directly impacting these communities. Students were protesting on college campuses and universities. Marches were constantly moving up and down the streets of Washington, DC. There was an entire generation introduced to politics by standing up to a government that didn't have its people's best interests at heart. 

Since November of 2016, our youngest generation has been severely impacted by the decisions, and more specifically, non-decisions of our government. The high school class of 2020 was unable to have its spring sports, dance recitals, art shows, proms, or graduations. College students had to leave campus early and are now taking classes remotely, missing out on all the socialization that goes with the college experience. They have no in-person classes, clubs, sports, study groups, frisbee on the quad, dances, weekend road trips, or late night cram sessions or movie marathons. Neither group can go out to the mall, or the movies, or a concert, or their favorite bar or restaurant. Thanksgiving and Christmas are up in the air. Many of them haven't seen or hugged their grandparents in over 8 months. Dating has become nonexistent. Each and every student would trade his or her Zoom classroom for the real one in a heartbeat. The new normal for these students is one that they never thought possible exactly one year ago.  

For this generation, politics has now become personal. Their lives are irrevocably worse off because of Donald Trump's failed leadership. That cannot be disputed. That is why that early returns are showing these younger generations to be voting in record numbers. They will not accept this new normal. They refuse to have a president who gives up when it comes to dealing with a pandemic. They refuse to support a president who is openly racist and fails to condemn White supremacy. They refuse to support a president who continuously refuses to do something, anything in terms of gun violence prevention in and around schools. It's why they famously trolled Donald Trump and his campaign staff in thinking that a million people would go to Trump's Tulsa rally. They know how big his ego is and they would like nothing better than to see him fail. This generation is tired of Donald Trump and they want to get back on the road to having a normal life experience. They are voting for an end to the madness, just like the rest of us. They are voting because they were already robbed of a year of their lives and they simply cannot waste another 4 under this so-called president. They are voting so they can once again feel like themselves. 

And they are voting because they now know the real-life consequences of not having voted in 2016.