Learning to Follow
For a movement to be sustained, it needs leaders. And there are signs that we may, as a nation, be experiencing a youth movement toward national leadership.
Until a year ago – or, before the most recent mid-term elections – it felt as though America was at risk of becoming a gerontocracy. But the trend toward aged leadership may be turning.
True: President Biden and Senator Mitch McConnell are both 80 years old. But in the month since the mid-terms, Democratic leadership on The Hill has shifted as Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn “have stepped out of the top three leadership roles in the House to make way for members of a new generation” noted Heather Cox Richardson. This move , lowered the average age of leadership by a full three decades, from 82 to 51.
Two generations are coming up behind us and coming fast: the Millennials born between 1981 and 1996, and Gen Z born in or after 1997. The evidence that these two generations are looking over our aging shoulders lies in voting patterns.
Historically, youth voter turnout has hovered around 20% during midterm elections. In last month’s elections, “turnout was significantly higher in some of the battleground states — including Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin…[where] turnout was roughly 31% in those states” (NPR).
For me, the midterms stirred hope. I welcomed the utter defeat of zany candidates proposed and supported by Donald Trump. I admit to gloating a bit as we watched his gang of deniers suffer one defeat after another.
But the best, the most promising news that emerged from this year’s elections is the deluge of votes poured in from young people, often in support of young candidates. “Maxwell Frost Will Be the First Gen Z Congressman,” trumpeted the Wall Street Journal’s headline. Maxwell Frost is the first of a crowd that will follow.
By a significant majority, younger voters represent and endorse what I value: diversity, calls to equity and justice, civil and human rights.
But beyond my preferences lies the promise of youth leadership. We don’t need to have the nation wait until we die before younger others can take over. We who are older by decades can actively, purposefully encourage youth to go to the polls, to become and to elect leaders reflecting youth’s (and our own) priorities. Before we die, we could learn to follow our youth rather than tell them to wait.
We can support a host of youth-registration organizations. Check the websites of Rock the Vote, or Alliance for Youth Action, or NextGen America. Go to one of my favorites: 18byvote.org, a “youth-led and youth-driven, non-partisan organization… that aims to help 16, 17, and 18-year-olds understand how, when, and why to vote.” Of those enrolled in “18by” programs, a majority are young people of color, coming from Native American, Hispanic/Latinx, Black, and Asian communities.
Youth voter turnout this year, although impressive, was slightly lower than in 2018. What constrained the organizations driving turnout was, according to each of them, less funding available in a non-presidential election year. Well…!
Youth-registration organizations are training the next generation of Americans not only to vote but to lead. They’re now devising strategies for 2024. Folks from earlier generations have bank accounts we could raid a little, enough to give energy, resources and hope to our youth.
We need their success, and they deserve our support.