Democrats Should Embrace Young Progressives Who Fight And Have New Ideas

The recent New York Democratic primary shocked the political world. Young progressive Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary for NYC mayor in spite of support from establishment Democrats and monied interests supporting Andrew Cuomo.

Republicans were quick to label Mamdani a "communist" and say he was the new leader of the Democratic Party. That's no surprise. They do the same to any liberal or progressive that shows ballot strength.

More disappointing was the reaction of the media - including some mainstream media outlets. They were quick to label Mamdani as a socialist and claim the party has a huge split among its ranks.

Even more disappointing was the reaction of some moderate Democrats, who still think the same old policies that didn't work in the 2024 election would somehow magically take them to victory in 2026 and 2028. They are wrong.

Anyone who has been reading the polls would know that. Poll after poll has shown the voters are not happy with the Democrat (or the Republicans). Most of these polls have Democratic favorability below 40%.

The moderate establishment Democrats seem to think there is nothing wrong with the economy except the actions of Trump (which have made it even worse). That is not true. Even before Trump, while the economy was great for the billionaires and corporations, it was NOT so great for most Americans.

Half of families in the U.S. are just a paycheck away from poverty. Millions work for poverty-level wages. Child care is so expensive that it doesn't pay for many to work. Groceries and consumer goods are too expensive. Wages for most have virtually remained flat while inflation eats away at it. Millions remain with our any kind of health insurance. Rural hospitals are disappearing. Interest rates are too high. Houses are too expensive - and many people can no longer accomplish the dream of home ownership. The climate is getting worse and disasters are increasing.

All of these problems have answers, but the current politicians don't seem to have any answers - including many Democratic leaders. They seem to be happy with the status quo (Democrats) or want to make it worse (Republicans). It's no wonder the voters are disgusted with both parties.

New York voters chose the candidate with new ideas, the candidate willing to listen to their problems, and the candidate willing to fight for them. And it's not just New Yorkers. I think voters across the country would respond to young progressives not tied to the past, but have new ideas about how to solve problems and the passion to fight for ordinary Americans.

If the Democratic establishment was smart, they wouldn't turn their backs on these candidates. They would embrace them. The party needs more people like Zohran Mamdani, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, David Hogg, and other young progressives. They will revitalize the party and make voters beige in Democrats again. 

Harvard Youth Poll Shows Many Are Hurting (And Unhappy With Trump Policies)

 

The charts above are from the Harvard Youth Poll -- done between March 14th and 25th of a nationwide sample of 18 to 29 year-olds, with a 3.21 point margin of error.

The Youth DECLARATION OF DIGITAL RIGHTS

 From designitforus.org

We the young people who have been addicted, manipulated, and taken advantage of by Big Tech, produce this Declaration of Digital Rights.

DECLARATION OF DIGITAL RIGHTS

The following principles represent the ideals of our generation. Our development as children, adolescents, teens, and young adults is fundamentally intertwined with technology. As a result, we know intimately the benefits and downfalls of such tools we use daily. Our experience is expertise, and we believe it can help us capture a better future on and offline.

1. Right to privacy

Social media platforms collect endless amounts of data on us. Young people have the right to scroll without Big Tech listening to them on every corner of the internet and selling off that data to the highest bidder. Companies should be responsible for designing social media and AI products that consistently protect and preserve our personal data. Privacy must come before profit.

2. Right to safety

There are so many features that social media uses to keep us hooked. Some of those features have proven to be detrimental to young people’s mental health or put our safety at risk. Like seatbelts in cars, it is our right as consumers that companies build their products with us in mind. We demand they proactively keep us safe from their harmful products and business practices.

3. Right to not be experimented on

Social media and technology companies are constantly rolling out new features on their platforms and products. They use young people as test subjects. Young people are no longer the guinea pigs to be experimented on. Young people have a right to not be tested on by Big Tech without allowing us to provide informed consent.

4. Right to agency

Social media can be a beautiful place. It links us to people all over the world, brings us closer to community, and shapes our understanding of the world. But with power comes responsibility. Young people have the right to options provided by platforms that allow us to take back control over our digital lives so we can minimize the bad and maximize the good.

5. Right to user controls

Suggested posts in feed, new shop features, algorithms, endless scrolling, and never-ending push notifications. Whether you like them or hate them, young people have the right to switch the most harmful features on or off, whenever we choose.

6. Right to delete

As consumers of digital products, young people have a right to permanently delete our own content and leave social media platforms that are not working for us. Social media platforms should uphold that right, delete our information, and leave us alone. The right to our personal information is solely ours, not social media companies’.

7. Right to choice

One or more social media platforms may not be working for young people. Young people have the right to choose from an array of products, apps, or sites we want to use as alternatives, not just whatever the biggest Big Tech players choose for us.

8. Right to a seat at the table

Increasingly, it seems like decisions about young people’s digital lives are being made by stakeholders, lawmakers, and communities that don’t represent them. Young people have a right to a seat at the decision-maker’s table.

9. Right to connect

One of the most valuable parts of social media is the ability to connect with our friends and family, and build community. When Big Tech clogs up our feeds with targeted ads and body-comparison content, it’s antithetical to everything we want out of social media. We have a right to build vital relationships online that are not mutually exclusive with a forced acceptance that our identities are Big Tech’s revenue stream.

10. Right to transparency

Big Tech has thrived off of the presumption that they are above the law. They leverage their power as private companies to profit from our pain, by design, while shielding themselves in opacity. Like any other public goods, we as consumers have a right to fair and transparent products that are responsible to the user and the law, not the shareholders nor the CEOs. 

11. Right to accountability

Young people are stepping up to establish innovative legislative solutions that address our needs. Yet, at every turn, Big Tech blocks meaningful legislation to protect their own monetary interests. We demand that our government be accountable to their constituents, not the companies that pay to manipulate legislation.

12. Right to be protected from manipulation

Like never before, Big Tech has relentlessly leveraged innovation against the best interests of users, manipulating our data and weaponizing our well being against us. Instead of crafting design features meant to support healthy engagement, Big Tech companies have wielded their unchecked power to addict us and harm us while publicly saying otherwise. We have a right to be shielded from these insidious patterns of abuse.

5.1% Of Young People Identify As Transgender/Nonbinary

The chart above is from the Pew Research Center. It is from a survey they did between May 16th and 22nd of a nationwide sample of 10,188 adults, and has a 1 point margin of error. 

Could You Date Someone In The Other Party?

The chart above is from the Generation Lab / Axios Poll -- done between November 18th and 22nd of a nationwide sample of 850 students, with a 3.4 point margin of error.

I found this chart interesting. It seems that young Democrats would have more trouble dating, being friends with, shopping at, or working for a Republican, than Republicans would have doing the same with a Democrat.

I can understand. For me, that Republican would at least have to be a "never Trumper". I simply could not respect anyone who supported or voted for Donald Trump -- and I could not date or be friends with someone I could not respect.

Young People Think The U.S. Is A Democracy In Trouble

The charts above are from the recent Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics Poll -- done between October 26th and November 8th of a national sample of 18 to 29 year olds, with a 3.08 point margin of error.

Young People Would Support Vaccine Mandate

 

The six questions above were asked of 928 young people in a 2 or 4 year college or trade school between May 5th and 8th by the Axios / Generation Lab Youth Poll. No margin of error was given.

More Young Heroes Who Are Leading Change

With each passing day, I become prouder of the young generation. Many of them are stepping up and trying to change our world for the better -- and I think they will succeed. A few days ago, I posted about four of these young leaders (Greta Thunberg, Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg, Malala Yousafzai). Now i-d.vice.com brings us three more young heroes we should know about. Here is what they had to say about them:

Autumn Peltier

Autumn Peltier is an internationally recognized Canadian water activist. She is a member of the Wikwemikong First Nation, and has been been fighting for water rights since she was eight years old. The Anishinaabe teen, who is now 15, was inspired by her great aunt Josephine Mandamin, who passionately advocated for the protection of the Great Lakes until her death earlier this year. Autumn has taken over her late aunt’s role as water commissioner and now represents 40 First Nations communities across Canada.

"No one should have to worry if the water is clean or if they will run out of water," Autumn said during her speech to the UN General Assembly in 2018. "No child should grow up not knowing what clean water is, or never know what running water is.”

Mari Copeny

Mari Copeny might be better known by her nickname Little Miss Flint, because of her work bringing attention to Flint, Michigan’s ongoing water crisis. When she was just eight years old, she wrote to President Barack Obama asking if he would come to meet with her and others in her community, who were affected by the contaminated water. The meeting resulted in $100 million in grants to repair the water system.

Now, at 12 years old, Little Miss Flint continues to advocate for her community and the environment. Since 2016, Mari has worked with the nonprofit organization Pack Your Back to help over 25,000 children with donations for everything from school supplies to clean water.

Xiye Bastida

Xiye Bastida is a 17-year-old climate activist based in New York City. Raised in Mexico, Xiye saw first-hand the effects of climate change, as her hometown experienced extreme droughts and flooding. After relocating to New York four years ago and seeing the damage done by Hurricane Sandy, she knew she had to do something. Channeling her indigenous roots, Xiye hopes to inspire others to care for the Earth.

“People say the climate movement started decades ago, but I see it as indigenous people protecting Earth thousands of years ago,” she told PBS . “We need to bring [this philosophy] back and weave it into today’s society. People are here not to take over life, but to take care of it. It shouldn’t be ‘we the people.’ It should be ‘we the planet.’”

Xiye is a leader in the Fridays for Future movement and has worked alongside Greta to mobilize her peers. She continues to speak at town halls and rallies to help inspire her generation and make change happen worldwide.

A New Generation Of Heroes

The Baby Boomer generation changed the world. They took on the government and culture in many countries (including the United States), and refused to continue the failed system. They didn't fix everything. Much remained to be done. And too often, we complained about the younger generations -- that they were not engaged enough. It wasn't completely true. There were those who stood up, but not in the large numbers that were needed.

That seems to have changed. There is a new generation of young heroes coming forward now. They are disgusted with the world we have passed on to them, and they are starting to do something about it.

The pictures here are of just a few of these young heroes. There are many thousands more -- of all colors and in many countries. They are taking to the streets in massive numbers and demanding change -- and they are willing to put their lives on the line to lead that march toward change.

I am proud of all of these young heroes. They are renewing my faith in mankind -- and I really believe they might save the world that older generations seem determined to kill.

In A Rare Moment Of Honesty Trump Says "No DACA Deal"

Trump is again using Twitter to appeal to his base by spreading immigration lies. The tweet shown above is just one of the tweets he wrote yesterday. It starts with a ridiculous lie -- that Border Patrol agents can't do their jobs because of liberal laws like "catch and release".

"Catch and release" was never a law. It was a policy started by the government because they did not have the facilities to incarcerate all the undocumented immigrants caught entering the country. It did not work and was discontinued 12 years ago (in 2006). It is NOT something being done today!

But there was an amazing (and rare) moment of honesty in his tweet. It was when he said, "NO MORE DACA DEAL!". That shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone though. It has been obvious for quite a while now that Trump opposes any plan to protect the young people under DACA.

Remember, It was Trump that killed DACA to begin with. And while he said he wanted Congress to pass DACA, he was not serious. We know that because he killed any agreement that would accomplish that -- including a Democratic Party plan to fully fund his wall between the U.S. and Mexico in exchange for re-instituting DACA.

He told the media that it was Democrats who didn't want DACA. That's a ludicrous LIE! Democrats have always supported DACA and even shut down the government to try and get DACA at one time. It's Trump who has killed every agreement in the Senate to re-establish DACA.

Trump is trying to have his cake and eat it too. He knows his base doesn't want DACA, but he also knows the general public overwhelmingly does support DACA. The public knows these young people once covered by DACA grew up in this country, paid their U.S. taxes, did not commit any crimes, and get and education and/or served in the U.S. military. These are exactly the kind of immigrants this country needs. That's why the public wants them to stay and wants them provided a path to citizenship.

Trump doesn't want to be blamed this November for killing DACA, but the truth is that he (more even than his Republican cohorts in Congress) is responsible for no new DACA law being approved.

The truth is that Trump is a racist and xenophobe. He doesn't like any immigrant that is not white, male, and rich -- and the young people once protected by DACA don't meet those requirements. Because of that, he will happily kick them out of the only country they have ever known -- the United States. It's mean and immoral, but then meanness and immorality are Trump values.

"March For Our Lives" Was Powerful Because It Was Inclusive

(Photo of participants in the "March For Our Lives" is from NBC News.)

The students who started the "March For Our Lives" movement were from a predominantly White high school in a fairly upscale community. If they had just limited their movement to calling for an end to school violence, they could have drawn a few thousand participants, and their movement would have fizzled out as many anti-gun movements in the past have done. But they were smarter than that and more caring -- and they understood that gun violence is a larger issue that affects all Americans (especially urban areas).

They reached out to communities that have far too long been ignored by our media and our politicians, and they invited those communities to participate. And that made their movement special and far more powerful than it could have been otherwise.

America didn't just see a few White students in that march. They saw the full range of diversity in this country -- and that was true not only of those who spoke from the stage, but also the millions who marched. They showed us the real America -- a nation of diversity. And they showed us the America that could exist if we lived up to our ideals -- a diverse nation loving and caring for each other.

We heard speeches from the students in Parkland and the students in Newtown. But we also heard from young people who live with the threat of violence every day (both in their schools and outside of them). We were shown a picture of how gun violence affects people across this nation -- and that made the experience much more powerful.

I admire these young people of all races and ethnicities -- both those who spoke and those who participated in the marches across this country. And I think they are going to remain a formidable force to be reckoned with in the future. They just got a taste of the power their generation has, and no one is going to be able to put that genie back in the bottle.

Let me say this to those remarkable young people. Activism is necessary to change the country, but it is not easy. There will be times when the goal will seem unreachable, but you must not give up or give in. What you are trying to achieve is too important. Remember the words of Gandhi, who understood the difficulty of social activism and the need for it.

A New Generation Speaks Out And We Should Listen

The pictures above were are from Austin, Texas -- where thousands of young people joined the march to do something about gun violence. The same thing was happening in over 800 cities, where combined millions of young people stood up and spoke out.

The NRA and other right-wingers would like you to believe these young Americans were dupes who were just doing what others told them to do. That's an outrageous lie! These young people are smart and passionate, and they know what they want -- a country where they (and their fellow citizens) are safe for gun violence.

The naysayers are also hoping this movement is a flash-in-the-pan, and will soon die out. I think they are wrong. These young people have discovered the power they have, and they have the technical tools to wield that power. I think this is something new -- something we haven't seen since the late 60's and early 70's -- a movement that can make real change happen. I could be wrong, but I think this movement by our youth is just going to grow.

What should we older Americans do? Join these young people and help them -- but don't try to take over the movement. The youth are doing a great job. We should just support them and let them do what needs to be done.

America should be very proud of these young people!

"Young Adults With Passion Can Change The World"

(Photo of teens from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is from NBC News.)

Dan Rather is exactly right in this comment from his Facebook page:

We can have a debate about gun control. But to all those "adults" who mock or lie about the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High (and the waves of sympathetic students across the nation), to all those who rain vitriol down on children's heartbreak and nascent activism, to all those who spread outrageous conspiracy theories meant to dismiss those who demand to be heard, there is no place for you in civil society. 

I know why the reactionary forces who have cynically played the status quo on our gun culture to their political and economic power are fanning the flames of these outrages. They know, as I do, that young adults with passion can change the world. I saw that in Birmingham, Alabama when African American children faced the fire hoses and dogs in the march for racial justice. I saw it in the jungle hell of Vietnam and the streets of America when young soldiers and protesters asked the chilling question: what are we fighting and dying for? I saw it in Europe where waves of youthful activism shattered the Iron Curtain. 

The voice of a child is often a clarion call to action. In their purity lies passion and courage. They are our future. And when they roar, they will be heard and shake the political status quo of our nation.

Are We Seeing The Start Of A New Youth Revolution ?

(This AP photo by Brynn Anderson is from The Seattle Times.)

I am old enough to have experienced the youth revolution of the 1960's and 1970's. Youth in the Baby Boomer generation rose up and challenged the way things were done in the United States. They were for free speech and equal rights, and against war and discrimination. And as adults began to join that revolution, the country was profoundly changed.

As the country changed, that revolution was absorbed into the larger society. Since that time, America's youth have largely been silent. No widespread youth movements have survived. We saw in the last election a small youth movement to support Bernie Sanders. But that was political, and seemed to die out once the election was over.

The crisis of gun violence may be starting a new youth revolution. This crisis in gun violence is not new. For many years, this country has led the developed world in the number of gun deaths per capita, the number of gun murders per capita, and the number of mass shootings per capita (and this figure, already averaging more than one every day, is rising).

But the latest mass shooting (that occurred at a high school in Parkland, Florida) seems to have ignited a spark among young people. Young people are rising up and speaking out against the gun violence, and they are demanding action. They are angry, and they have the mastery of modern tools like cell phones and the internet to spread their anger to their peers across the nation.

Is this the start of a youth movement that will inflame the passions of the youth in our nation, and bring them together to initiate social change? It could be. I am encouraged by the passion they display alongside the reality they show by knowing there will be no overnight solutions. If they really mean what they say, they could actually accomplish some changes to slow gun violence -- and it could even spread to make other changes in our society and government.

I could be wrong. This youth movement could die out as quickly as it started. But I hope it survives, and grows. We need changes to our society and government, and this nation's youth could be the leaders in that change -- change that we adults have failed to make.

Does The Government Do Enough To Help Americans ?

The Republican government that we currently have does not think it's the job of government to help people -- unless it's giving more to the wealthy in the form of tax cuts. They want to cut help offered to everyone else. But this is not how most Americans think. Most think the government needs to do more to help most people (old, young, poor, middle class) and less to help the wealthy. That's one reason the GOP is experiencing problems with the coming election.

These charts reflects results of a recent Pew Research Center survey -- done between January 10th and 15th of a random national sample of 1,503 adults, with a margin of error of 2.9 points.

Young People Are Fleeing Religion In Large Numbers

These charts are from a scientific study published at PLOS/ONE. The top chart shows the percentage of young people who never attend church. The chart below that shows the percentage of young people who claim no religious affiliation.

It has been a fact that for several generations now there have been a smaller percentage of people accepting religion with each generation -- but there is an explosion of growth in young people fleeing religion today. Religious leaders, especially those on the right, want to blame this on secular teachings at "liberal" colleges, but as you can see, it is not just college students fleeing the church -- it is young people of all ages.

The truth is that young people today just can't accept the homophobic, misogynistic, and racist teachings they encounter far too often in churches today -- especially in the fundamentalist evangelical churches.

Our schools teach the Constitution and its guarantee of equality, but then on Sunday the church teaches something different -- that there are groups that don't deserve the same rights as other people. Today's youth are not stupid. They know that both cannot be true, and to their credit, ever larger numbers are opting to believe in equality.