By Jewell Porter
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Over the summer, I read several articles online that accused millennials of lacking political efficacy or, in plainer words, faith in both the government and the citizen’s belief that he or she can have an impact on governmental affairs.
I can’t say for certain whether or not these articles are true, but evidence does point in that direction, at least for some Americans. I mean, look at the Republican Party –– Donald Trump is currently in the lead.
Some may argue that this doesn’t show evidence for a lack of efficacy but, instead, a forgotten group in the Republican caucus that finally has a candidate comfortable enough to voice his views.
I’m a little cynical, but I’ll choose to believe that he’s just in the lead because of bad polling or, in this case, lack of political efficacy rather than the Party’s belief that he would actually make a good president.
Here’s the obvious problem with the lack of political efficacy: it’s the people who see the biggest issues in government and institutions who should be the ones trying to fix it.
How can we expect unfavorable institutions, laws and mindsets to change if the ones with the will, drive and insight to create the needed change don’t exercise their ability to do so.
Many millennials expect that others will make-up for their lack of desire to vote, but this notion is also at fault because there’s no way to guarantee this.
I know I was extremely young when George Bush won his second term as president, but I do recall hearing several of my family members reactions to his victory. Simply said, they were upset.
They felt that the second Bush had not done a good enough job during his first presidency to merit a second presidential win. The catch? Most of them didn’t vote.
I urge anyone dealing with low levels of political efficacy to refrain from allowing it to turn to cynicism. Instead, I hope you’ll vote, you’ll stand up for what you believe in and you’ll encourage others to do the same.
All of our ancestors (black, white, woman, man, etc.) fought for the American vote. Why let yours go to waste?
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