Bitter Brew

“Congress stresses me out... It’s hard not to be cynical.”

-Lauren Anderson, 21-year-old senior at American University in Washington, D.C.
Source: The Fiscal Times “Disillusioned Young Voters” 2010

“It’s like picking a team when you really don’t want to root for either team.”

-Kristin Johnson, 23-year-old student and Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO.
Source: The New York Times “Fewer Young Voters See Themselves as Democrats” 2010

The power of documentary, for me, is it’s ability to make me temporarily care about injustices that I am not otherwise willing to exert much effort in changing. I consider myself a very representative specimen of my generation: postponing marriage and children, not yet settled in a career, over-educated for my job, disillusioned with everything including politics, hit hard by the recession, cynical beyond my 27-years, and identifying with or even liking neither Republicans or Democrats. Like many in my generation, I was totally absorbed in politics between 2000 and 2008, and truly felt that young people had the power to change things. I understand now that I was only a little bit right. We elected Obama, but who cares anymore.* Frankly, there are so many things to be pissed off about that I can’t get it up anymore for any of them. I wish there was a little purple pill for this kind of impotence.

I was moved by Cynthia McKinney in American Blackout. Her story is a sad one, and I wonder how on Earth she has the strength to wake up every morning and fight the good fight over and over when it is apparent her life is a lonely one, shut up in her house with the blinds closed, conspired against daily, and slandered. From the movie it was apparent that she felt like it was worth it, and I’m sure it is, but I can say that things are different now than when that movie was made. Obama created a lot of interest in politics for young people during his campaign and election, but that interest is largely gone in a poof on anger on the one hand and apathy on the other.

I had a hard time finding videos made by young people about enthusiasm for the electoral process that were made after 2008, so I posted some videos that I found that are about that void.

I am from Colorado, a state that was formerly Republican and now is a muddled purple. I found this video to be relevant to the discussion, as it shows just how different this year is from 2008 for young people who perhaps don’t want to care anymore.



And here is CBS’ Washington Unplugged segment on why young people historically don’t vote en masse like older voters.




I cannot bring myself to artificially engage in politics anymore for I feel so powerless myself that I cannot summon the strength or interest to advocate for other young people to get involved. Instead I believe young people should do what truly interests them even if that disconnects them in some way. Meditate. Grow a garden. Read. Work your little job, raise a family if that’s your thing, try to eke out a living, make as small a footprint as possible, and then pass quietly into the ether of space. I cannot in good conscious tell people that caring about politics will somehow enrich their lives. Unless you are a millionaire, our government is no longer capable of helping you, and besides, who said it should in the first place. It seems to me the more cooks in the Congress, the worse the soup tastes.

*Despite this, I did vote in the midterms; I always have and always will. Sisyphus!