Dear Millennials: Only You Can Stop The Widespread Oozing Of Ick

Ick, ick, ick.

The most recent presidential elections – especially 2000 and 2008, which did not feature the re-election of one candidate – were high drama events that swept the nation with conversations about big ideas and values. They often were not pretty, especially the primary elections that always seem to be food fights, but they were about ideas and aspirations.

Negative advertising, and thus negative campaigning, is not a new idea. For years numerous national Republican strategists have employed the strategy after they discovered it repressed the vote. The fewer voters, it turns out, the better for Republican candidates. But I don’t think that was the intentional strategy of this election, rather, the simple consequence of who is running.

Yet now, by blunder and with the widespread oozing of ick, this election is about opposing ideas and aspirations.

Donald J. Trump, while we have no real idea what his actual policies would be, represents the idea of closed borders and the aspirations of racist philosophies. Hillary R. Clinton, though we know it will be difficult to get any of her many policies through the House of Representatives, represents the idea that a more equitable distribution of resources is the best economic policy, as well as aspirations for greater openness and inclusivity in the society.

Dear Millennials, I have read that you will swing this election to either Donald or Hillary. You are a solid majority for Hillary but the prediction is you won’t vote in large numbers. If most of you do not vote then Donald Trump could become our president, and the national cheerleader of racial, ethnic, and gender anger and resentment. I know that is a lot of pressure but with a giant, statistical generational cohort comes great power and influence (take it from a baby boomer).

So please, Millennials, and you oldsters out there, gather your friends and vote for Hillary.

Love her, dislike her, lukewarm about her, it doesn’t matter at this point – vote for Hillary.

Whether you are excited to vote this time, dread it, or trudge to the polling station on treads of depression, vote for Hillary.

In spite of all the ick surrounding your vote, and all the nasty talk this year, voting for Hillary is about one set of ideas and aspirations against another.

Vote for more equitable distribution of resources.
Vote for more aggressive action on climate change.
Vote for openness and a wider embrace of diversity, not less.
Vote for Hillary.