Leaving the Streets for Tweets: The Shift of Young America

Health care reform in America stands unrivaled as the most effective prism through which to understand the emergence of a new political landscape in 2009.

The stakes are as high as they can be. Discussion about health care -- even if opaque from a policy perspective -- incites a number of our primal impulses: protection of the weak and elderly; mitigation of physical suffering; preservation of the integrity of the body. Whether you fear the cause of your death may be an empty bank account or a 'death panel', being dispassionate about our system of health care is a rejection of basic genetic wiring. The stakes are existential.

Young Americans, however, don't usually get sick and don't usually die; thus they are immune to all the clamor about health care. Or at least that's the orthodoxy amongst many policy analysts, who often use the term "Young Invincibles" to explain youth apathy toward health care reform.

But the explanation isn't entirely convincing. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that 30% of Americans ages 19-29 are uninsured -- the highest of any age group. Polls show that 60% of those under 30 are in favor of Obama's comprehensive reform plan -- more than any other age group.

So where are they? More specifically, for the sake of this analysis, where are the young progressives who voted in astonishing numbers in 2008 for the Democrats struggling to pass the health care reform they promised?

There are at least two reasons -- aside from "invincibility" -- for which young progressive Americans are absent in this debate. The first is that they have been appropriated and made complacent by the agenda to elect then-Senator Obama. The second is that they are domestic and boring; the media loves guns, sex, and melodrama, and young progressives currently offer none of these. Young progressives have left the streets for tweets: their public outrage has been supplanted by a clean virtual connectedness, and movement conservatives have succeeded in exploiting the space left behind.

"Young people are the backbone of the campaign apparatus that elected Barack Obama to president," says Matt Adler, a former Deputy Regional Field Director for Obama's campaign in Florida. Adler saw the quest to elect Obama as leading many young progressives to think of politics "as a sprint, when it's actually a marathon." Some run out of breath by the time they get to the voting booth. What might explain the disparity between the physical and civic vigor of the youth?

One explanation can be found in a phenomenon known as "the cult of the presidency." In a critically acclaimed book by that title, Gene Healy, Vice President at the Cato Institute, explains that the Framer's conception of limited presidential power is tragically obsolete: the president -- now the state's "guardian angel, shaman, and supreme warlord" -- is expected to singlehandedly resolve all the nation's problems. Americans' obsession over the conduct of the president comes at the expense of appreciating the role of Congress, Washington's labyrinthine bureaucracies, local government and ordinary, civically engaged citizens in advancing our republic. Only a third of Americans can name the three branches of federal government, and major news networks exploit special White House access by spending several minutes showing the president ordering a hamburger. There's good reason to think the youth are particularly likely to be unhealthily mesmerized by the awesome spectacle of power that is the presidency.

Young progressives -- traumatized by an ideologue who made for an uncomplicated villain -- came upon a man whose swagger made MTV producers salivate. They anticipated an inversion of the past 8 years. They craved a hero. They ensured his rise. And now most of them sit and watch until the next election.

***

As of yet, young progressives don't have a compelling role in the stagecraft of politics. Their main disadvantage compared to the conservative movement is that they are typically not unhinged. They don't brandish guns in public, roughhouse in town hall meetings, question the birthplace of the president, or believe he masterfully hides his secret identities as a Muslim, communist, or fascist. They don't have a counterpart to the conservative movement's Glenn Beck, whose shrill incoherence results in profiles in big magazines, boycotts by big companies, and big splashes in news narratives. They lack a palpable public presence that serves as an enticing hook for a story.

This is most likely in no small part because the youth can channel its convictions and rage through the distinctly private experience of social media and the blogosphere. The Internet is a public forum but its participants are often isolated from one another. They share links rather than link arms.

In an increasingly information-centric society, politics becomes more about spectatorship and less about participation. One has to ask: Is a digital diatribe as powerful as the tribal energy unleashed by public protest, community organizing, or fund-raising for interest groups? One must also ask: If public dissent is about engaging or grating against those who might not agree with you, does the privacy of virtual space put it at an inherent disadvantage in some instances?

Adler is optimistic about the prospect of new internet-based youth organizations. He is convinced that young Americans aren't suffering from apathy as much as they just need to know how to reorient their energy: "It was easy to be angry. Now we've put someone in the driver's seat who should be held accountable. Social media should not just be reactive, but also proactive."

As a co-founder of the recently-formed Young Americans for Healthcare Reform (its main presence is currently as a facebook group that has garnered nearly 1500 followers in 2 weeks), he is confident that groups like his can help the young re-articulate themselves on the national scene and provide fairly precise input on health care legislation. He admits that while young people don't have money to throw around, they can stay informed and organize virtually as a constituency, and track how Congress is performing according to their priorities in health care reform. He listed phone banking, voter registration drives, and natural knack for organizing (as evidenced by the '08 elections) as their main weapons when "targeting legislators."

The formation of lightweight operations like these and the ironically named Young Invincibles (whose motto is "Because no one is invincible without health care") who try to extend beyond the simple digital petition sound appealing on paper, but their ability to affect change remains to be seen.

***

But perhaps singling out the youth in is misguided. Bruce Ackerman, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, insists that movement progressives of all ages have not mobilized on the issue of health care due to the "absence of an economic justice center piece" in progressive thought. Over the course of the past few decades, the Democratic Party has become more of a coalition party that attempts to harness the interests of specialized progressive sub-movements that center on issues of identity, national security, foreign policy, and climate change. "But what kind of progressive movement is there today that has a distinctive diagnosis of the economic crisis? There isn't one," says Ackerman.

Indeed, the progressive movement didn't have a broad and coherent economic prescription for the crisis; the future of the economy was "a conversation between Larry Summers and Joseph Stiglitz -- and Obama elected the more conservative side." That is to say, the basic guidelines of progressive economic discourse today have emanated from technocrats and academics, rather than any normative progressive economic vision cultivated by movement progressives. Health care reform has been a traditional concern for Democrats for the past three quarters of a century, but the only truly economically-centered progressive sub-movement that exists today is organized labor, which is still a shadow of its former self, and unfortunately might remain that way.

This is all to say that young Americans aren't any more absent on health care than most the progressive movement. This stands in stark contrast to conservative movement politics, which has been able to filter all economic problems through the analytical lens of resistance to imminent socialism.

***

When you don't have money in politics, you have to do extraordinary things to get noticed. Without the participatory ethos at the foundation of the public protest, counter-cultural statements, direct action, and civil disobedience that young Americans have historically excelled at, can they really develop an organized lobbying apparatus or activist infrastructure sophisticated enough to make an impact on health care reform? Facebook groups don't turn heads. Yet. But being rambunctious and rough around the edges still gets you pretty far these days. Just ask Mr. Beck.

Follow Zeeshan Aleem on Twitter: www.twitter.com/zeeshanaleem

Comments

[Valkyrie Ice]

Who needs demonstrations?

What matters isn't how loud you yell in public. it's not whether you march or scream in anger.

It's about Votes.

The young don't have to express their outrage in public. They are doing so in the forums, in the blogs and in the tweets.

And when the time comes for congress to be re-elected, they will speak. Without having to say a single word, they will speak so loudly that they will not be able to be ignored.

And when the NEW congressional members go to Washington, they will not be speaking for the Big Money interests.

[tyruler]

Thank you Zeeshan for your comprehensive and pregnant analysis. As a "youngy" and Muslim (proud to be one) I'm fully engaged and it would be nice to see more of us make our presence known.

[TurnToTheLeft]

This article is insightful. Progressives were the first to dominate the internet. It is a great tool to raise money and organize people to get out the vote. However political activity on the internet often leads to a false sense of real activism: many times the left is preaching to the choir. We were out maneuvered this Summer when the right organized protests and subverted the message of the Health Care Town Hall Meetings with organized angry scripted activists. FOX was there at the center of all of this and made sure it got on tv and dominated the news cycles. I kept waiting for legions of left wing bloggers to pour into the streets and overwhelm the shouting, lying, right wing opposition. It never materialized. We must take it as a lesson learned and never allow them to completely dominate the airwaves again. Despite the fact that people who support Health Care reform are the overwhelming majority - we were out shouted by a small minority who conflated their numbers. This scares weak willed politicians who are primarily concerned with being re-elected

[Inquisitr]

No reason for us to pour out if the MSM won't cover it.

No reason for us to pour out if Congress and the president just ignore it because we have no money.

No reason for us to pour out if all we're trying to do is change minds, marches never change minds, they just bring like minds together.

Lefty marching is dead sir, it's been dead since the 60's

the only thing, the ONLY thing that gives you a voice is money. Better start saving, senators come $100,000 a pop.

[AmStPride]

Just like class at GWU...Zeeshan never forgets his thesaurus.

Rather than asking where the young people are, we should be concentrating on where the people who are willing to work towards a proper solution are. Where are the pundits who can resist the urge to throw around unsubstantiated numbers? Where did everyone who hates fear propagators go? What happened to intelligent and healthy debating?

You know what stop searching, I'll show you. They all died on the front steps of the capitol waiting for congressmen and women to acknowledge their constituents.

[ghostclown]

You can fill the streets. You can be herded, beaten, tazed, trampled by horses, burned with microwaves, made sick by sonic weapons, arrested, injured, killed.

If the corporate media does not report it, it never happened.

March 2003., RNC NYC 2004 etc.

CBS News DID report this, and it still never happened:

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/black-box/

[Dave Zirin - Huffpost Blogger]

Zeeshan - I wonder if you fully appreciate the sheer size, scope, and power of the LGBT demo over the weekend. There were strong sentiments for health care, civil rights, and equality. And take it from someone who was at both: it was substantially bigger than the tea bagger march. On-line communities can empower the left if they are used to organize discontent and not be just an endless circle jerk of trolls and faux-outrage.

[Inquisitr]

Yeah it was a nice big march.

But it didn't really do anything did it? Did you get mroe out of Obama than the same old promises? Is he working on DOMA and DADT right now?

Nope.

So yeah it was a nice march, and I'm sure it made you all feel better, but you didn't affect public policy at all. Lefty marches never do.

[TurnToTheLeft]

Unfortunately the LGBT demo was not given much national coverage on tv or the newspapers. Even here in San Francisco it was barely covered. Unfortunately, the media has consistently under-counted our events if they cover them at all. We must figure out ways to get media coverage. Persistence is good. We must keep up the struggle for equality by acting locally and writing real letters in volumes that can't be denied.

[niblik]

Dang, where was the media coverage for this? I don't think I heard a peep and it sounds like it was a great event.

[Catzguy]

Brilliant article: this is the first clear and thoughtful attempt to explain the apparent lack of activism among the your progressives on the health debate. Keep up the good work Zeeshan.

[Taliesin South]

I joined a civic organization to become an ordinary civically engaged citizen only to have my young progressiveness exploited. Citizen participation is put on the back burner because recruitment, fundraising, and keeping the organization afloat are on the forefront. Members just send money. It too has become less about participation. Civic organizations are no longer proactive. They are just as reactive as social media.

Zeeshan, you said when we don’t have money in politics, we have to do extraordinary things to get noticed. Because I can name the three branches of the federal government, I will not become a Jaywalk All Star. And in today’s media climate, a Jaywalk All Star is something extraordinary and might even garner a stint in the Sunday Funnies segment on This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

[Taliesin South]

That’s why we elected Obama and members of the House and Senate. Why do I have to assume the role of a nagging wife to remind elected officials to do what they said they would do in order for them to actually do it? Why can’t they simply do what they said they would do on the campaign trail? They didn’t talk about Washington’s labyrinthine bureaucracies and local government on the campaign trail. They only talked about what they would do once they were in office. And you mean to tell me, with a Democratic president and Democratic control of the House and Senate, they can’t get a healthcare reform bill nor an anti-hate bill passed? Yep, that’s what you’re telling me and it’s because of the deep pockets of special interest groups.

Progressive movements in general and organized labor in particular don’t have a great deal of clout because they are “sleeping with the enemy”. For example, the UAW is married to the auto industry. As a stay-at-home wife, the UAW’s husband has lost his job and doing everything he can to continue to provide for his family (i.e. a government bailout). For us to expect the UAW to protest against her husband is absurd. The UAW did what any good wife would do; support her husband’s efforts to keep the marriage/family in tact (i.e. reduce employee benefits and layoff workers).

[agett12]

That is too naive a way off looking at it. Unlike other countries we a have a relatively decentralized system of government. The real reason Senators even in the Democratic party are balking is that they are seeking to preserve the individual interests that dominate their own states. That is why a coherent public pressure is needed to keep government on the straight an narrow

[ouroborous]

Not all progressive orgs are "sleeping with the enemy." Just the powerful ones, unfortunately.

I think that the progressive movement would do better in the game of politics if we could elucidate a clear and concise party platform. Right now, the "mainstream media" and Joe Public have no idea what progressives stand for; I think that if average Joe's knew what (I consider to be) progressive ideals, they would stop thinking we were crazy leftists, and understand that we're fighting for simple justice.

[Taliesin South]

Where are the young progressives? Disillusioned, they have moved back in with their parents vented their frustration on Facebook and succumbed to the news distractions dispensed by major news networks. Really, what can we learn in a 3-minute sound bite about what pundits think about the news instead of actually reporting what is going on within our government?

As a young progressive, I am frustrated. We are between a rock and hard place. Zeeshan, you said Facebook groups don’t turn heads. Rep. Barney Frank says marching in Washington is a waste of time. Apparently, neither sharing links nor linking arms work. Tweets and streets lead to a dead end.

So what do you want us to do? Oh yeah, target legislators by developing an organized lobbying apparatus or activist infrastructure. Rep. Frank wants us to call or write our representative or senator, and then have our friends call and write their representative or senator. Why bother? Special interest groups make these efforts null and void. Money talks not citizen participation. It’s all about campaign finance and maintaining the status quo (those in office making sure they stay in office).

[Inquisitr]

Very true.

As long as money rules the ONLY way to achieve change is to make more money than the other guy.

Activism is dead.

[andyboy]

The internet is a great tool for keeping the populace sedated. You pour out your frustration, feel better and then absolutely nothing happens! It's government's dream. Better yet your off in some corner of cyberspace where no one sees at all.

A great example was all the overblown hype about the crackdowns on dissidents in Iran. This site breathlessly extolled the magic of twitter and clandestine video's as if it was actually accomplishing something other than showing brief images of what we all knew was going on and continued to go on unabated anyways.

I didn't have to see a picture of the students getting murdered at Kent State to know it happened. And the picture didn't change a thing. The same thing would happen today if they started rioting and burning.

The powers that be do what they want when they want without your permission thank you very much!

[Inquisitr]

Fool.

What happened in Iran was a huge showing of the power of the technology. Sure we knew it was happening, but for the first time we got to see the popel protesting, we learned what they wanted.

They still had a voice to the outside world. 30 years ago it was the same thing, but no voice. We didn't get to see the violence and murder.

They didn't have a way to organize as well. It was just as big of an organizing toola s it was a way to get the word out.

Now you have a generation of young people who are better informed of the situation there, which was what you were lamenting, that we don't know anything.

[Inquisitr]

I can only speak for myself, but Mr Obama himself is to blame for my apathy.

I hated politics for years and years. I saw George Bush steal an election I saw Liberalism wither and die on the vine. Then comes 2008.

I knew better than to fall for the cult of Obama, but then Palin happened. It was instantly obvious, this woman must be nowhere near the white house. If she did I literally had plans to leave the country. So I worked and worked and worked for Obama.

I cared again.

Then I saw Obama smash all of that. His spine immediately ran away from him. He caved on FISA, then he caved on torture investigations, then he caved on the stimulus, he's caved on EVERYTHING.

I worked hard, we got a dem president, 60 senators, and a huge majority in congress.

And what did I get for all my work? Obama let Rahm drag him to the center. He became a corporate shill. The only reason we are still talking about the public option is because the left exploded on him for even thinking of droping it.

Put it more bluntly, I don't believe or trust Obama anymore. I do not think he is playing chess, and I do not think he is commited to true progressive values he campaigned for,

And as such I will not go out and fight for him. He wants my support back HE can go out and fight for a while.

[sabredance]

A couple comments:

1) I find this degree of disillusionment dangerous. If the 18-30 year olds sit this out, we'll never get any change. On several other posts, I have pointed out multiple methods to promote change, which have little to do with protests. Yet, until the debtor's revolt, which only seems to work for individuals, not populations, nothing has come of any of those recommendations. Why? We are fragmented. Dems need coordination amongst their diverse coalition; every day a single message/meme needs to be pushed, no matter the interest group. It doesn't matter if your an environmentalist, an antiproliferation activist, a healthcare maven or a fan of fiscal responsibility: say the same thing on the same day. And coordinate this with the news cycle.

2) I wonder why Facebook and other social media haven't connected instant text messaging to flash crowds. It worked in Korea and Iran, but I haven't seen anything similar here.

3) I think the #1 reason for disillusionment with Obama has been the bailout. Yes, it was GWBs, but Timmy G administered it. And so far, we have seen few indictments, fewer perp walks (Madoff), no fundamental change in financial structures and regulations, and keep hearing about compromises with the corporate politburo which selects our government. "Compromise" -- the very word sucks the oxygen out of the room. The reactionary right has been trying to delegitimize the president, but to some extent he's already done it to himself...

[Jeffrey Zschunke]

This is the first well written article I've read about the current feelings of 25-30 yr. olds who helped get Obama in the White House. I should know...I was one of them. Could it be that healthcare reform doesn't carry the same excitment and sexiness that captivated us all last Fall? Is it boring?

[Inquisitr]

No.

Those of us who worked hard just found out that we didn't have a partner in the white house. No point in fighting if they're not gonna have our back, if we're just considered left of the left loonies.

[PlaceboStudman]

My theory? And yes it is just a theory...is that we finally woke up and realized we were being misled (again) by our politiicians. They talked about health care. They started talking about real medicine and technology advancements (EMR and Comparative Effectiveness), there was quite a stir amongst many in the disabled population over the Community Choice Act.

But, all of that got shredded away, and we finally realized that this reform has nothing to do with health care, it has to do with the economy. And, deep down in our hearts, as much as people seem to talk in hyperbole about going bankrupt, at the end of the day, we do care about our health and well being. But, because the politicians played politics, we got financial reform instead of real health care reform when Repubs started scaring old people and the disabled

[picaman]

I largely agree although the recent LGBT march would tend to negate the power of some of this argument. Although the bit about the cult of personality and ignorance of the structure of govenment is dead on; I don't think this is necessarily a left issue. Many teabaggers have demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of structure and operation of govenment.. One could argue that the constant call for lower or no taxes is in itself a fundamental misunderstanding of the operation of government.

I think the challenge is to develop the tools and resources to facillitate action by the twittering left. While e-mail campaigns and blogs are a start. After a while they loose the force of voice of a personally written letter or television image of chanting throngs.

Sites and tools like act blue seem to be on the right track.; using social media to channel frustration into concrete activism while alowing users to personalize the experience.
Plug: http://www.actblue.com/page/iai

We need to see more tools like this that alow us to transform twittering and blogging into real action.

[Zeeshan Aleem - Huffpost Blogger]

pica man -- I agree idolatry of the presidency is not a phenomenon unique to progressives or conservatives.

As I mentioned in the article, the progressive movement is actually now adept at handling identity-related issues. That would include gay rights. Its seeming tepidness on health care reform, however, is symptomatic of its weakness regarding economic issues in a broader sense.

[andyboy]

Yeah but I still say a tweet don't do sheet. Just kidding. Sorry.

[PlaceboStudman]

We have become a nation that has turned from pounding the streets with our feet to pounding our keyboards with our fingers. We have become complacent and lazy, believing that, if one thousand or ten thousand or a million people gather on HuffPo, or DailyKos or PamsHouseBlend, that someone in Washington will see and take notice.

But, they won't. This is what Barney Frank and the anonymous presidential advisor was talking about. The tendency of youth to rely on social media and their words, and believe that words are enough.

There has already been one, maybe two commentaries from bloggers right here on HuffPo who were skeptical about the power of social media organization of The March last weekend. And, while a march did occur, and sounds like it was a resounding success, we dont see that kind of rally for Health Care or opposiiton to the wars or climate/energy.

We need to unplug and devolve back to a time where we talk and discuss and debate (and even argue) face to face, eye to eye, nose to nose. Only then will this country regain the energy and passion we need to affect legislators to implement our agendas

In that vain, I am considering and doing the preliminary work for a march on DC for the disabled for after insurance reform passes.

We'll see if it pans out if I can find people who care enough

[Inquisitr]

Marching does nothing.

Giant gay rights march on sunday? Completely ignored by the MSM. Didn't even come close to the tea party coverage.

We stopped marching because it's not effective. Because we get called left wing loonies. And because we don't have any support from those we fought for.

I didn't work so Rahm could tell us to lay off dems who are backing the republicans.

and Barney Frank was saying that marching DOESN'T work. He said contacting your congressman works. OH look I can contact my congressman via E-mail.

[PlaceboStudman]

Completely ignored by MSM? I wouldn't say that. It was covered live on C-span and there were reports about it on my local news stations. It was certainly UNDER reported by non internet based media, but it was all over the internet as far as I could tell.

I think the march and its effects reached far more of the general population than you give them credit for, just because the politicians have higher priorities

Frankly I think our position in society is much more influenced by our neighbors than those we elect to DC

Just my humble opinion of course