Political & Otherwise was first introduced four years ago in October of 2015. The presidential campaign was in full swing and we were just beginning to see and feel the true impact a man named Donald Trump as a political figure. The Republicans running against Trump filled the stage. Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Jim Gilmore, Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, John Kasich, George Pataki, Rand Paul, Rick Perry, Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum and Scott Walker. My how quickly we forget. On the Democratic side Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders had squared off against each other with polls showing a large lead for Hillary. Four of the most tumultuous years of political history were beginning to make their mark creating a political headache for us, even back then.
The first piece I wrote for Political & Otherwise was about The 2016 Presidential Campaign and Our Kids. It was short and to the point then, and in retrospect, very much to the point now. Those who will be old enough to vote for the first time in the 2020 presidential election were freshman in high school four years ago. They have been listening, seeing and reading all this time while soaking up the winds of all going on around them, intentionally or not. It’s been hard not to.
We as a country have helped raise a generation of young people who have grown up against a backdrop of the unfathomable. Hearing a President of the United States spew hateful rhetoric while doing his best to make that seem normal. Tragically witnessing or being a part of a record number of mass shootings. Living in a time where hate crimes have surged. Watching immigrants coming to our country be put in cages and separated from their own children. And hearing a continual stream of lies about reality become commonplace. They have come of age learning a new term - fake news.
The counter to fake news is facts. People have to want to take the time to learn the truths and challenge themselves to think otherwise before judgements are made. Will younger people be more willing to do that than their elders? They appear to be on media overload as they sort through all of the ways available to access information. Nine out of ten college students get their news from at least five different sources in a given week, according to a year long survey of 6,000 college students. While accessing diverse sources of information is generally considered a positive when it comes to decision making, it may be making it harder for them to glean real from fake. And that’s a problem for everyone.
Growing up today for too many is far removed from a state of innocence that every child deserves, at least in part, in their early years. By the time our kids started high school four years ago, we had elected a man as President who lost the popular vote and had already begun his descent into some of the lowest depths possible in a democratic state.
Donald Trump is now about to be impeached. Our younger generation has not stopped listening. The overwhelming majority of college students support impeachment to an even greater extent than the general public, according to a recent College Reaction poll:
Students General public
Dems 97% 84%
Independents 76% 45%
GOP 22% 14%
The last sentence I wrote in that first post on October 8, 2015 was:
“Do we really want our kids to learn that the way you get to be President of the United States, the highest political office in the land, is by bullying, bigotry, prejudice, sexism and anger?”