Ok, I know a lot of people are disappointed by the shift that's happened that seems overnight in the Democratic primaries. I'm going to say the following from the point of view of someone whose beefs with Bernie supporters do not exceed my desire for a progressive candidate:
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I think from a purely analytic standpoint we have to understand this as a failure of the youth vote, and the non-condescending reason "the youth" don't tend to turn out even though we're all mad on here is that most "youth" have the inherent privilege of, well, youth
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This is always countered in these discussions with "well I'm young and my life is threatened by bigotry" or "what about all the young people who need expensive medications" and well, those people - us - are minorities even among the "youth"
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The majority of "youth" actually end up having in practice conservative mindsets because they feel they have unlimited time. I remember feeling I had unlimited time, myself - lasted until 25 or so. I felt, even after transition, I could survive something like 8 years of Trump
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Now, I vote on the assumption that I might not make it to the next election, but most people my age don't have the vast feeling of lost time etc., and even younger folks are even less likely to feel that even if they are marginalized
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So the conversation here is made up of a large constitutency of people which is large enough to field a very viable candidate or two, but who are vested for material reasons in changing things now. A lot of folks in our age range are not vested that way
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I don't have a firm handle on why older folks vote more reliably; it does make sense that the truly wealthy ones vote to protect their pension funds so they can pass them on to their kids or whatever but that's a very small group of people
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Replying to @BootlegGirl
I don't think it's a question of self interest exactly, it's a question of forming community bonds and group loyalty
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Replying to @arthur_affect @BootlegGirl
I mean it's a literal fact that most of the structural barriers to voting have to do with not being "settled down" - you're much less likely to vote if you've moved recently and have had to update your registration, and many young people do this several times in quick succession
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Replying to @arthur_affect @BootlegGirl
But it's also just that you're more likely to vote the more stuff you have to vote for and it's the people who plan to live in a place long term who really care about all the stuff on the ballot
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And you're more likely still to vote if you know a bunch of people who are affected by the issues you aren't, and if you've had time to become familiar with the history and narrative behind the politics, and if you have strong group loyalties that push you one way or the other
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Replying to @arthur_affect @BootlegGirl
In a way the people in the youth demographic who say things like "voting is an expression of self-interest" or "voting is harm reduction" are explaining why turnout is low People don't reliably do stuff for those reasons, not when the benefit or harm is diffuse or theoretical
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Replying to @arthur_affect @BootlegGirl
The reason to vote that these people sneer at is the *most common and reliable reason people vote*, voting as self-expression, as loyalty to group identity
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