How My Generation Comes of Age Politically

            In 2008 I was a senior in college, by the time the election rolled around I was a first year law student. Late in November, as a board member of the Democratic Law Caucus, in conjunction with the RLC, I helped host an election post mortem. We had a few professors and students sit on a panel and answer questions posed by students and even a couple of professors.

            I recall the good natured participation of one of only 2 Republican professors at the school. He affably tried to explain where his side’s message got lost, and why it just didn’t come together for them. He accepted the notion being proposed by nearly everyone else in the room that they lost to a movement. The many liberals in the room, perhaps all that were at the school, were proud that it was a movement, something that would reign for many years of our adult lives.

            One woman, a fellow 1L, chose to be the fly in the ointment and pointed out this was merely one election. What proof did any of us have – smug panelists and smug questioners alike – that this was a sustained movement? Obama could, in four years, become a one term president and it could all be over, what then?

            Stepping up to this challenge I responded: the people who were trained during this campaign to organize and energize their communities would be an enduring legacy that would keep the movement going. It would be these people who were stirred to action at a young age who would carry the political hopes of the new left. Obama did so well with young and minority voters, particularly those voting for the first time. Bringing people in to the process had expanded the electorate and shifted it. She was not impressed.

            This was a moment in time, not something that could be counted on. Too many people were already acting like the work was all done because of the results. People thought they had solved racism, and were on their way to solving corporate greed. The proclaimed successes were far beyond the ones that could be borne out by evidence.

            Nine years later, looking back on that confrontation it is interesting to see how both of our predictions played out. She was absolutely right, Democrats receded in the number of seats they held in congress and they fell short of many of their goals for the Obama era. This culminated in the reaction that became Trumpism. This woman, now an attorney, saw how paper thin the revolution was from the outset. Not because she wished it to fail, but because it was too easy for those in the moment to be blinded by optimism. She wanted to see more proof of sustainability.

            Now in the first year of the Trump administration, I might be able to carve out a small island to believe that I brought a valid point. The reaction to Trump has allowed this generation to fully come of age politically. Organizations like Indivisible, Sleeping Giants, Our Revolution, Brand New Congress, Run For Something, Together We Will, and more are staffed, driven, and supported by alums of Obama for America and its devoted fans. Those who trained to change the world for the original OFA ran smack in to reality, but are finding their second wind. They are returning to public life, because they know they need to, they see that the work is unfinished but not impossible.

            Defeating the Republican health care bill took activism, organizing, and persistence. It may still take more, but citizens are calling their congressional representatives in record numbers. The energy to be involved in politics feels as high as ever. It might not be inspired by Barrack Obama, but his training has certainly led to so many being ready.

            The events in Charlottesville do nothing to dampen my spirit, or my belief that we are growing. The tragedy that is the loss of Heather Heyer, has clearly galvanized those who are willing to fight for equal rights. Defenders of fair societies, of all stripes, were out in the streets and have been active in calling out how the president has failed in denouncing white supremacists and neo-Nazis.

            Just one week later 40,000 protesters came out in Boston to counter protest a hate speech rally euphemistically referred to as a free speech demonstration. The danger of apathy has been seen and is being combated. People of good intentions are banding together to ensure they are heard. It is not dependent on one personality or organization, but of hundreds developed organically and reaching out towards one another to form a logistical chain that brings about the change we were promised.

            If it were not for the highs of optimism from the 2008 election, the let downs experienced leading to the election of 2016, and the earth shattering wakeup call of that election this generation might not be as politically active as previous ones. We have been admonished to never skip mid-terms again, not to sort ourselves in to tiny blue districts. None of it really seemed like it would take, not until we were forced to remind ourselves and each other of it every day. Now we are beset by norm challenging news with disturbing regularity. It was the fall from our high that has allowed us to come of age.