The Coming Crisis of Governance and How Millennials Should Respond

Obamacare appears poised to die just as it was born: without a single minority party vote. Before Republicans respond in kind for the uni-partisan action of President Obama’s first term, they should consider the lesson that Democrats just learned from the 2016 election cycle. Uni-partisanism sets in motion a political pendulum that eventually comes crashing back.

America’s lurching between partisan policies is destabilizing. The bitterness engendered by uni-partisanism is pushing open the traditional borders of the American political spectrum.  Instead of bounding politics by the ideological left and right limits established by Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, fringe groups are now entering the mainstream policy debate.

The acceptance of extremism in mainstream politics is putting at risk the marriage of necessity between center-left and center-right. Neither side can now afford to be seen compromising with the other. As the parties become increasingly estranged, they are undermining their citizens’ faith in the Republic.   

The largest loss of faith in government is among Millennials, who now share an equal size of the electorate with Baby Boomers. According to Bloomberg, a “quarter of [Millennials] consider a democratic political system a "bad" or "very bad" way to run the country.” Left unchecked, these data portend a coming crisis of governance.

To help restore Millennial confidence in government, the Baby Boomers must govern inclusively. With the exception of Generation X Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, the Baby Boomers have absolute control over policymaking in Washington. Unfortunately, there is yet little reason to think that the Boomers can or will govern inclusively.

The Baby Boomers may be too close to the problem to respond effectively. As they said, elections have consequences. Apparently, those consequences include ignoring half of American voters represented by the minority party.  Such attitudes towards governance serve only to shove the pendulum in the opposite direction. If the unilateral approach to policymaking continues for much longer, the otherwise centrist-oriented American polity should shudder to think about what the next few election cycles could bring.

If their parents’ generation is unwilling or unable to govern inclusively, Millennials should consider entering the arena for the 2018 mid-term elections. Millennials are not exercising the political power afforded to them by their numbers.  Right now, the Boomers outnumber them on Capitol Hill by a ratio of 50 to 1. To change the system, they must do more than participate indirectly. 

Unfortunately, Millennials are behind in their political education. Instead of inheriting a world of limitless opportunity to study at inexpensive universities, Millennials inherited the Great Recession and a collapsing international order.  As a result, many Millennials are struggling with first-order challenges such as finding a job, paying off student debt, and moving out of their parents’ house. 

Despite these systemic disadvantages, Millennials should expect their detractors to continue ridiculing their entire generation.   They will ask how the “Me Generation” can be expected to serve to a cause bigger than they even though Millennials fought America’s longest wars. Millennials should also expect some good-natured teasing about participation trophies, to which they should reply that children do not buy themselves trophies—their parents do.

If Millennials could take one step intellectually to prepare for their entry into politics, they should pursue a close study of western civilization. Western civilization is no longer emphasized in the Baby Boomer-dominated educational system.  Many Americans worship the Founding Fathers in a hollow way, and actually lack understanding of American political philosophy.  Instead of those false and idealized view of history, Millennials should learn about the intellectual lineage that produced their republic. It is a lineage that can be traced from Jerusalem, to ancient Athens and Rome, to London, and—finally—to Philadelphia.  

As part of their study of western civilization, Millennials should learn anew something that many Americans appear to have forgotten. The American experiment in liberty is as uniquely precious as it is fragile. A few swings of an errant political pendulum can allow extremism to destabilize the entire system.

Amidst the cacophony of the partisan noise and crashing pendulums, Millennials must quiet their minds and learn urgently the lessons of western civilization and American political philosophy. For if events go astray in the next few election cycles, chances are it will be they organizing the next Constitutional Convention.   

Rejoinder on Civic Engagement: What Happens When Foreign Powers Intervene?

On January 2, I published an essay on a less well known aspect of political discourse and civic engagement. What happens when foreign powers intervene in U.S. politics?

Excerpt from War on the Rocks is below. 

Laying Bare the Enemy's Aims: Defending Public Opinion in the 21st Century

America’s strategic center of gravity is public opinion, so why is it left undefended against foreign influence? As pressure builds in Congress to investigate Russia’s meddling in presidential politics, lawmakers must look to arm a new generation of information warriors with Silicon Valley tech and Cold War political acumen. Edward Bernays, the father of American advertising, believed that the essence of democratic society is the engineering of consent.  If America wants the engineering of consent to be an exclusively homegrown activity, then Congress needs to establish a new agency with the mission to confront, expose, and challenge unlawful foreign influence both at home and abroad.