A Crisis of Political Vision for Millennials

Most college graduate millennials will change jobs four times before they reach the age of 32.  U.S. Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE), overt leader of the #nevertrump movement, addressed this unprecedented issue to demonstrate the great problem that both political parties face — a lack of vision for the millennials.

“We don’t have much of a vision for young people. We don’t have much to offer that’s optimistic and persuasive about where we’re headed.”

Senator Sasse said that the biggest issue among millennials is political disengagement. After talking with many college students, he discovered that most care about issues that political candidates neglect to address — one being the future of robotics.

According to Senator Sasse, millennials’ lack of political interest is a result of Washington’s “two exhausted political parties.” He said they focus too much on “punching each other in the face” instead of empowering families to move up.

“Democrats pretend like we can make America Europe again by expanding 1960s entitlement programs, and too many Republicans believe that we can solve the problem by making America 1950 again,” complained Senator Sasse.

The divisive partisanship may explain why millennials stay out of politics. The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement found that in 2014, youth voter turnout fell to its lowest level on record, 19.9 percent.  The Washington Post also stated that millennials in 2016 are significantly less likely to vote than were the ’80s generation in the 1987 survey, or the first wave of postwar baby boomers in 1967.

The Senator said, “[Millennials] know that Republicans have largely left the field and Democrats have a terrible product. My party isn’t selling an optimistic vision and the other party is trying to sell centralization in the age of Uber.”

Senator Sasse emphasized the need for political reform and unity with both parties in order to prevent the loss of freedom for the future generations.

“We are reaping a lot of the fruit that Ronald Reagan predicted — in any free republic you’re only one generation away from the extinction of freedom if you don’t pass the meaning of America along to the next generation.”

He concluded, “The American idea is that we want all of our people to be thriving, and independent, and free — that’s the vision we need to sell.”

Photo by Gage Skidmore

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