CrazedWalrus's Journal: Apathetic X'ers

This has got to be one of the more insightful AC posts I've read in a long time.

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=299321&cid=20628891

While he was ok through the first half of the post, I really keyed in when he started talking about politics and the total apathy of GenX and GenY. He's right, really, and he's the first one to put to words what I've been noticing.

• All politicians are old. Even Obama is no spring chicken. He just looks it compared to the rest of Congress.
• Gen X/Y tends to despise politics. It's not only apathy, but total disdain for the political process.
• Most politicians do not represent me. I've never identified with Democrats. I used to be a Republican, but I'm totally disgusted with them. They don't represent me anymore, and I have very few other choices. I vote, but it's a protest vote thrown to Constitutional and Libertarian candidates if I can find them.

I think politics have gotten too political. I know that makes no sense at first, but what I mean is that politicians have stopped trying to solve actual problems and have begun just trying to stay in power and take as much money as possible while there. Dems and Reps don't work together or see any common ground -- even where there is some. It's Us vs. Them in all things. We've forgotten that Us and Them are all "Us". We're all Americans, and this internal bitch-fighting is getting ridiculous.

Certainly in a country as powerful and rich as this, there will never be a lack of people who want to take the reigns. But, when the time comes, how much experience will they have? What will be their motives? Will they have any track record at all when every baby boomer in Congress retires?

I'm just disgusted with the state of politics, and, being born in 1979 and technically an X'er, I can understand why many of gen X and Y just stay the hell out of it. It's gotten stupid, and we've got more interesting things to do. Unfortunately, that attitude only guarantees that we'll never be adequately represented in government, and that we'll always be run by our parents' generation until they've all gone on to their respective nursing homes.