Millennials are Strategically Political

A question was broached here at Employee Evolution by one of the readers, who asked just how politically active Millennials are. While Ryan and I knew our own personal answers, neither felt confident enough to answer on behalf of our whole generation without some more data. Now that I've looked at the trends myself, I've found that what was superficially a simple question has a bit more of a nuanced answer than I expected.

Before I begin, I would also like to state that this is only in regards to America. While other countries may have similar circumstances, it would be beyond presumptuous and into the realm of arrogant to even begin to offer a global primer on such an issue.

Do not Compare us to Baby Boomers via the Vietnam Protests.

In short, it depends on what your definition of "is" is. If you attempt to compare our generation to that of the Baby Boomers (as Thomas Friedman does in his article Generation Q), then what you would naturally come up with is a picture of apathy. In the midst of a war that is extremely unpopular by the public at large, and with presidential approval ratings some of the lowest in modern history, you would expect us to march out of our classes and jobs and into the streets. Riots should be happening, and hippies abundant.

While the latter may be true on some campuses, the former hasn't happened because of one key difference between Vietnam and the War on Terror: A draft. While you can argue that the less privileged of our generation have to utilize the military as an economic decision and that makes it a hidden draft, because this would be an indirect culling, it doesn't elicit as much of a public reaction. And without larger numbers of our generation in war, there is simply not enough of a personal outrage to go from working within the system to breaking the system down entirely.

Looking at political activism among the Baby Boomers, you'll see that it is entirely absent in regards to various genocides and other acts of atrocity (The Khmer Rouge regime comes to mind). I am certain that if forced conscription were to occur again, you would not only see riots, but riots organized ten times as effectively than in the past due to social networking online.

Socially Conscious Consumerism

On the environmental front, bamboo and hemp clothing lines are expanding. The LEED standard, while maybe not being used literally, is still being used as a yardstick for an amazing amount of new buildings. Meanwhile, boycotts of products grown with forced or child labor are growing. According to studies done by Cone, Inc. and AMP Insights, our generation is one of the most socially conscious yet. Just in 2006, under a third of us have boycotted certain products from companies we disagreed with ethically, while 70 percent consider a company's social and environmental commitment when purchasing products.

While it is easy to characterize and diminish us by our seemingly "idealistic naivety" about how the real world works, we are growing into a generation that is using not only our personal time, but our own money to reinforce positive business models. As we continue to rise in income, and thus in contribution to the overall GDP, this effect will only grow larger.

We Tend not to Vote, Unless it Matters

While the percentage of voters in the 18-29 age demographic has increased over the past two elections, our votes relative to the older generations are still abysmal. Because of this, politicians have less incentive to appeal to our interests, which in turn makes us even less inclined to vote. Not to mention the issues that we feel most are most important (the war, education, the environment, and social equality) are by no means easy to solve in five-second sound bytes.

Another issue that drives down our voting, at least if questionnaires are any indication, is the rampant cynicism and hollowness of campaigning today. Young people have grown up with the Internet. Whereas the TV was a one-way interaction, the Internet allows for a much greater contributory culture. Because of this, we value compromise and negotiation over hard ideological stances; we're looking for results. This leads into the last factor that influences voting, structural limitations.

The one area we see young voters really participating is when they go to college or their parents live in a swing state. Often, the students will register in whichever state is more balanced politically, so that they feel their vote has more of a difference. However, local registrars in heavy college towns ultimately decide on whether many of these voters can vote, due to ambiguities in the legal term of domicile. While some places are deeply appreciative of the young voting effort, others have cracked down for various reasons. Ultimately, if districts were drawn to be more bipartisan instead of gerrymandered, you would see voter increases in all demographics, but especially in the young voter category.

So What Does it all Mean?

While I worry about how our fantastic volunteerism rates fall (heavily in upper-income households and among the college-educated), I'm not yet ready to call out that this is a class divide, nor that it is simply resume padding. Regardless of that possibility, our dedication to volunteering and single-issue campaigns is having an impact. Looking at the data, what I see is that we Millennials have a variety of opinions and causes, but we are driven in whatever they may be. We don't harbor illusions about the political system, so where it works, we use it, and where it doesn't, we substitute our own solutions. I spoke earlier about the lack of activism regarding the Khmer Rouge regime, and their nigh-genocide of a full third of Cambodia. A parallel can be drawn to the failure of governmental action in Darfur. However, if you look at the number of high school and college organizations sending aid, and the level of awareness, there is mounting pressure on the U.N. and A.U. to start to produce a measurable level of success in the region.

We may not hold a significant amount of power yet, but in the meantime, we aren't simply waiting our turn for the reins. In our own ways, we are already making a difference. Politics ultimately comes down to the people, and how we live together on Earth. To me, incorporating civic engagement and policy desires into a person's everyday lifestyle is far more inspiring than any one-time demonstration. I'm glad to see that among my generation, I'm not the only person that feels such.

What a Gen-Y needs to know before working in politics — Continued

So begins the second half of what every Gen-Y needs to know before entering politics. In case you missed my first entry, I'm starting my writing at Employee Evolution with the basic universals you'll come across when working in campaigns, policy, and lobbying. So, without further ado, let's jump back into this.

Your salary is intuitively tied to talent, not time spent

One of the fantastic things about political work is that there is always an election or assembly session going on. With every one that passes, your contributions are noted and you can expect your desirability to grow or diminish.

For example, after leading a successful state campaign as a grassroots activist, you could be the campaign manager in a slightly smaller-scale election. Getting that candidate into office will then allow you to run a larger campaign, and so on.

The same is true for passing difficult bills through assemblies: Your value as a lobbyist will grow, and you can expect more people to want you to advocate for them. Due to this quick electoral life-cycle, your job potential is limited more by your talent and dedication than simply the amount of time you have put in with any particular group or organization.

You will lose perspective

General Petraeus recently gave his report to Congress regarding the status of the Iraqi war and reconstruction. Reading the papers, it would seem that the Bush administration had scored a decisive victory in support of the war, and afterwards, many politicians stood against a number of Democratic bills that involved toning down the war.

The only problem was that polls done before, during and after the report show that the American people barely even registered the change. Public opinion is still overwhelmingly against continued operations in the country and want the troops to begin to withdrawal. This is a perfect case of how many within the beltway lose perspective.

The reporters did not write so much about WHAT Petraeus said as they wrote about HOW it was received. Articles are now more about the theatre of politics than they are about the facts such theatre is based on.

It is almost unavoidable. Like most careers, people tend to place an over-importance on events within their own fields and assume this to be the case for the population at large. Even if you are only working at the state level, you will be so concerned with the latest political intrigue that you will forget that the public is even less aware of local politics than they are of national. So what seems to be a major event might not even make the news.

In some ways, this isn't bad. Politicians and lobbyists still react to political news as exaggerated as you do, so it balances out. But just remember that as soon as you leave the capitol grounds, these events become what they honestly are: Not worth remembering.

You will have a massive social network

Ultimately, politics is about the interaction of people and you will do nothing but gain contacts "Left" and "Right" (Oh, how do I love bad puns!).

I worked with some people that did political campaigns in one state exclusively and they still had over 2,000 completely filled in contacts in their address book. I don't even want to know how many partial listings they had.

While you surely won't get that in the first year, you will start to quickly build up a list of people with expertise, connections or otherwise influence in areas that you could use. Never feel bad for keeping their information, even if you only worked together once. This isn't your AIM list — these people aren't your friends.

You are keeping this list for two reasons: To be better at your current job and to get word about your next one. If you are not okay with keeping tabs on large groups of people, you can still do well in politics, but you'll never do as well as you could do otherwise.

I hope this quick list has helped some of you decide whether or not this is a field you'd like to get involved in. I know for myself, there was never really a choice. I was infected with the bug a long time ago and I doubt I'll ever be rid of it.

If nothing else, know that not all of us (in fact, I'd say only a small minority) are looking to maximize our own profits at the expense of the American people. Within our generation especially, money is not nearly as great a reward as the knowledge that we had a definitive role in making what was a policy dream years ago a reality today.

As always, send me a quick email if you'd like to see me write about a particular topic. After all, the goal is to be relevant to you, and I can't imagine a better way to be so.

What a Gen-Y needs to know before working in politics

Government, and all the industries (read: lobbying, policy analysis, more lobbying) that come with that, have begun to encompass an ever-greater presence in the day-to-day affairs of Americans. You can't help but see what political drama is going on when you turn on the 24 hour news networks. Especially in today's day and age, the policy that is set forth by our state and federal lawmakers has a great amount of potential to affect just about any facet of you or my life. Another thing that is especially true about today's political climate is the level of cynicism that accompanies the public at large. You don't see Republicans and Democrats: You see crooks and cowards (not that one party monopolizes either trait). And honestly, I can't blame you.

But yet, you still want to get involved. Maybe you had some great government teacher in high school or college, or maybe you have heard a politician that you can finally get behind. Or it could simply be that you have become passionate about one particular issue, and want to work to see some change. Well before I go any further, good for you. After all, Plato once wrote, "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."

However, no matter what party or idea you commit to, you will run into some aspects of this line of work that will discourage you. Some of you may even decide government and politics is not for you. This is especially true of our generation, because while the market can change in a heartbeat, the gears of bureaucracy grind ever so slowly. But now that I've nearly scared you away, there are some advantages too, aspects that will either let you get ahead, or enjoy it even more than working at the donut shop*. Let me go into more detail below.

Problem: If you have little experience, you will be considered a grunt

I understand that you have spent the past four years doing nothing but writing reports on the economic and sociopolitical predicaments of the lower class urban voter, but most likely, you will still be shuffling papers or helping work call nights for the beginning. On top of this, you will probably be given more of these tasks to complete than physically possible. No matter what, don't give up. Most of the time, campaign organizers or policy directors give the new guy/girl crap in efforts to send you packing. The reality is that the workload changes dramatically over the span of a year. For example, if you are involved with a campaign, the week before the election you will be lucky to get a few hours of sleep a night. If, on the other hand, you are a policy analyst, you may be working with your group at all hours during the general assembly, who has just decided to hear your pet bill two days from now. They need to know they can rely on you in these clutch moments, and the best way to do so is to separate the wheat from the chaff at the start.

Advantage: Most campaigns and policy groups are perpetually behind the times

While this sounds like a problem, this is actually a prime opportunity for you to grow in reputation with whatever group you are with. Unless you are working on a technological policy, chances are whatever models and systems they have in place are outdated. What I mean by this is that I've seen some lobbying groups (none that I worked for) that still maintained sprawling word folders for their work on bills and opinions thereof and so forth. They explained to me that they needed a method for any member of the team to easily access the documents, and alter them without having to comprise all of the different sections into one file. When I showed them the potential that a Wiki brought to their problem, it was like showing a caveman fire. Another example would be the recent propagation of candidate pages on all of the social networking websites. They only started doing that after large facebook groups were made, or someone new to their campaign showed them the power of a free way to appeal to younger voters. There is so much we take for granted, having grown up with it, that the older generations aren't aware of. Harness that.

Problem: Your little ship of idealism will be battered against the icy crags of reality

You will have worked on a campaign for a real everyman, who was going to bring the power back to the people. Or you will have worked for 8 months, crafting a bill the appeals to a majority of the legislators, while still helping solve the problem you actually had. In this moment, your sense of dedication to the cause and pride in your own efforts is pretty much at its apex. That is precisely when a grumpy old guy that disagrees with you for whatever reason (maybe he is just having a bad day) throws a rider onto your bill that causes everyone to vote against it. Or going back to the first example, your opponent comes out with an extremely negative (and technically untrue) ad that completely sways public opinion against you. In short, you lose. While this type of thing happens in many lines of work, it is especially common, and especially downing, in government. The important thing to take from this is that you need to come back next year with greater support. Whatever you do, don't let it poison your drive or love for the system. You will run into many a 40-year old nonprofit advocate who is jaded about his job. These people suck happiness out of a room faster than how quickly OJ's recent robbery plan went to pieces. You need to stay strong, because that bill, or that type of candidate, still needs your help. A politician or opposing lobbyist can kill a bill. They can ruin a candidate. Those are simple things to do, honestly. What they can never touch is the IDEA those bills and candidates represent. No matter the opposition, it is your job to bring them into positions where they can do the most good. Even if it means submitting a bill six years in a row. Your idea will outlast any person, and that is its greatest strength.

On that note I leave you, dear reader, until a few days from now when I wrap this up. If you've enjoyed the read, or have any questions, please email me at the link at the top of the right column. And especially if you have any requests for subject matter, let me know, and I'll either answer it myself or interview someone who can.

*If it is a really good donut shop, I can't guarantee this fact to be true. I mean, if you're allowed to eat a blueberry fritter that is just out of the oven, blueberries picked only yesterday, the kind of thing that melts in your mouth… Why aren't you working there right this second?