The Latest In "I'm a Terrible Millennial"

I'm a bad millennial. That's been established already. I was reading up on a New York Times article about what happens when an office is all millennials, and I was horrified. I wouldn't employ these goons. It was really very eye-opening.

So, let's get an updated list of all the things that make me suck at being a member of my generation:

1. I don't like Beyonce.
2. I don't understand why people are putting their picture in with resumes. 
3. I'm voting for Hillary, proudly, over Bernie.
4. I've never been to Colorado, and don't really plan to.
5. I don't have a beard.
6. I don't do cross-fit.
7. Give me an old-school lager over a craft beer.
8. I don't really hike.
9. I don't care that soda is bad for me.
10. Drake sucks, give me back Biggie and Pac.
11. I hate Steph Curry.
12. The NFL is definitely not my favorite sport.
13. I admit I don't really know a damn thing about soccer while i'm watching Premier League.
14. Yes, really, the "tourist-trap" cheesesteak place known as Pat's is easily my favorite in Philadelphia.
15. I think Williamsburg sucks. If we're going to Brooklyn, give me Bay Ridge or Red Hook.
16. Michael Jordan would actually school all these fools playing ball today.
17. This term "mansplaining" is over-used, if you ask me.
18. Baseball fans who couch everything in sabermetrics terms annoy me.
19. I don't like libertarians.
20. Give me a steak.

Updates to come.

I'm a Terrible Millennial

Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong generation. Okay, all the time. I don't like craft beer at all, I like "traditional" beer. I don't like cross-fit at all, I like lifting weights. I don't have Netflix (So I guess I can't chill). My politics are more grounded in FDR economics than social justice. I think Major League Baseball is still the national pastime. I think rap is supposed to be more gangsta' than it is today. I like my diet to have gluten. I'm not a Beyonce fan. I'm not anti-organized religion. I'm not a Steph Curry fan. I like the suburbs (though i'm not sure I prefer them). I'm anti-bike lanes, and bikes in traffic in general. I hate granola.

I'm an awful, terrible, no-good millennial.

Democratic Problems Are More Than Millennial Turnout

The Millennial generation is far to the left of our parents. There's a lot of truth to that, truth that is playing out with Bernie Sanders right now. The younger generation is far more liberal on economic matters, anti-war, and pro-LGBT rights than their parents. Given that this is the largest and most diverse generation in American history, there is a feeling that this should be tilting our politics. The problem though, to some, is that millennials don't turn out to vote enough. I think this is an over-simplification.

Even if we got Millennials to vote as much as old white people do, we'd have the same problem with them that we do with every other Democratic leaning group- geography. Many of the more left-leaning Millennials live in urban centers, and are too concentrated where we are going to win anyway. This is part of the ideals for some, as a more sustainable, "Earth-friendly" lifestyle is easier to achieve there. More of the things that seem to interest most Millennials are in the cities, and so they have clustered.

The Democratic Party is going to be able to win elections for the next generation nationally, if it stays the way it is. Those victories are not going to translate into legislative victories and legislation, if there is no added outreach to suburbanites. Perhaps 40 years from now, the population as a whole will be more urban and we'll marginally win more seats in legislatures because more will be drawn urban, but that's going to take a lot of time. It's going to take a lot more than getting Millennials to vote, in order to change the political order in this country. Once we figure that out, we'll be better off as a party.