Youth activism has taken on a new form in the age of the internet.
As America grew more educated, the lowering of the voting age followed. The 26th Amendment was passed near the conclusion of the Golden Age of the U.S. in the early 1970s, and that is not coincidental. During this flourishment, American families were finally able to dream bigger for their children. The parents no longer wanted their kids to work in manufacturing and often encouraged the college route. High schools shifted their focus from job preparation to university preparation. As a result, the population had access to more knowledge than previous generations of Americans.
Naturally, with a more knowledgeable voter base, the voting age came down. Then came the information age. With the internet comes access to an abundance of information, more than a single person can be taught in any class. In fact, this information is so abundant that it is common to now see “fake news” as often decried by the former president. Misinformation is what spawned his far-right supporters and supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory to storm the Capitol.
My grandmother is someone overtaken by these conspiracies. She believes in PizzaGate and thinks Donald Trump is hunting down pedophiles. These are the circumstances young adults are faced with. From having to fight nonsense, to never truly aligning with any candidate, politics seem the best way to do nothing.
In order to discourage the growing resentment towards American politics from youth voters, there are several steps that have to happen. For one, Facebook has to begin to self-regulate to an even greater extent. The social media website is a mill of misinformation groups and is the reason my grandmother grows more resentful of anyone different than her.
Additionally, the Electoral College must be abolished. In order for direct representation to feel truly representative, the status of the presidential election cannot exist. The United States government is set up to only support a two-party system. Compared to the world, this means we have a right-leaning party and an even more right-leaning party. Progression cannot continue in this landscape.
This is why there is a housing crisis, why boomers hold on the majority of wealth and why the “American Dream” is dying before our eyes. Land ownership is wealth and they are hoarding their slice. This gap is only widened when Americans are asked to pay for their own healthcare, oftentimes stifling innovation and restricting access to health services to those lucky enough to have money. It is an ableist system built to beat down the poor and prop up the wealthy.
When the wealth gap widens every year, access to basic human rights is denied and misinformation plagues the nation. It is easy to see why young adults hate the system. It is not very encouraging to be called a “snowflake” and love the place they come from. America is not the same America we were taught about in our eighth grade civics classes.
