A couple weeks ago, in conversation with students, I suggested that experiencing the Trump presidency might be (for them and their generation) like experiencing the Depression was for my grand parents and their generation. The Depression was my grand parents defining experience. They never stopped being uber-frugal. My students today are seeing first-hand that elections matter.
This will likely result in armies of them deciding to seek public office, many more choosing to pay more attention, vote, get involved in myriad ways. All good things. Potentially transformative things.
Well, just today, a good friend posted this on FB, from a well-respected political consultant:
“What are your thoughts on the Trump Presidency, and will we survive it?”
“I’m one of the few people you will find that actually thinks the election of Trump is a net positive, and it’s for this reason: this next generation doesn’t have to fight for the right to choose, or to get rid of the draft, or for civil rights...they didn’t have to fight for those things because the older people in this room, we fought for those things.
We got into politics because we believed in things and we wanted to fight for what we believed in. But we won those fights, so this generation didn’t have to.
But with Trump, he is that one single figure, an issue all by himself, that is going to bring this entire next generation into politics to fight for what’s important to them, and in 2018, and then 2020...you’re gonna see them voting.
We needed something to get this generation off the sidelines and into the game, and this guy did it. So, in the end, this is the event these young people never knew they needed.”
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