Our staff is having a retreat this weekend. With the exception of me, a baby boomer, our staff represents Generation X and even a Generation Y – also known as the millennials. We have spent the weekend discussing who can win and why. I offered to share my column with them and print their ideas about how the candidates can get the election edge with their generation.
Lovisa Frost, Gen X
There is no doubt that the U.S., our superpower bald-eagle nation, has gone berserk like a high-tech viking for the past six years. Even the most narrow-minded people are beginning to understand that it’s time to restore America’s standing as a trusted ally in the world. President Bush’s refusal to have dialogue with those who do not fall in line with America’s interests has managed to alienate, insult and upset the rest of the world. For the first time in a long time, we could actually have a candidate that has seen the world through a different lens. Sen. Obama, raised in a different part of the world, is seen by many as someone who really is willing to sit down and talk with nations such as Iran. They believe he can be the “bigger person,” and actually look out for the good of all of his fellow citizens versus the good of his ego or the stock price of government contractors. America is looking for a president for the people, elected by the people with a worldview that recognizes that our appetite for war has left us alienated, hungry and broke.
Dan Patterson, Gen X
Candidates can get the edge by recognizing and acting on the fact that the Internet is fundamentally changing communication, and communication is the cornerstone of every political campaign. Candidates can effectively disseminate message, capture audience share and retain top of mind by following a few best practices:
- Be transparent. The web allows simple, easy access to information. The public knows more about candidates than the candidates know about themselves. By being open and admitting mistakes, candidates will increase the level of trust placed in them by the public.
- Talk to people. The web can facilitate intimate communication en masse. Use of social networks allows candidates to speak to individual needs. Individual engagement will soar with individual interaction.
- Be where the people are. Don’t expect the public to flock to your website, but rather go to where the people already are.
In a few years, the Internet will cease to be a third place that we visit; it will simply be our collective communication tool. Candidates must evolve now, lest a new generation usurp their position of influence.
Jay Goodman Tamboli, Gen X
The winner will empower the public to make independent, but quality, choices. The reason so many Internet users have rallied around Ron Paul is that, ironically, he is the candidate who most seems willing to leave people alone. The Internet was largely developed through an almost evolutionary process: People built things on top of the very basic standards of the Internet; some of it worked, and it became the new standard. Technologies like web browsers, instant messaging and file-sharing were all new ways of sending information, and in each area competing standards fought each other until people settled on a few that worked the best. Ron Paul advocates the same kind of strategy for the rest of the world: Let competitors fight it out.
Of course, the real world is more complicated than the Internet was in the 1980s. Ron Paul’s political views favor deregulation, but other candidates can tap into the same “leave-me-alone” instinct by formulating policies that provide options for citizens without forcing them to participate. Barack Obama’s health care plan is an example. He wants to make health care cheap enough that anyone can afford it, but whether to opt into the program remains a choice. Internet users strongly resist being told what to do, but they like being given more options. Cast yourself as someone offering more possibilities to people rather than constraining them, and you will have the support of the Internet community.
Meredith MacKenzie, millennial
People born between 1983 and 2003 are considered the “millennial” generation because we came of age after the year 2000. When I was 10 years old, the Internet became a household tool. When I was 15, cellular phones could fit in our pocket comfortably. I was a junior in high school on 9/11. Facebook.com went viral my sophomore year of college.
We are not the first idealists. We are not the first altruists. The Peace Corps, the standard of service, was created before our parents thought of us. But we are not the “creative class” targeted by BMW – we are more than ideas. We are actions inspired by ideals and standards of integration learned through online community and international experience. We want to cure AIDS, direct market over cell phones, get our news from “The Daily Show,” and we don’t know anyone who doesn’t blog.
We are more dedicated to globalism, solidarity, creating solutions and getting things done than the angry idealists that paved the way through the ’60s and ’70s. We are studying international development, joining AmeriCorps and Teach for America. We want jobs in policy development, and we are almost willing to get paid under $30,000 with a master’s degree for a non-profit job in advocacy. We all want to volunteer, abroad if we can. We wish that such interests, as cultural anthropology and political sociology and international politics were profitable. We are the “‘Will and Grace’ generation,” out and proud, and it’s not really a big deal. We are socially liberal and in the wake of the Bush administration, fiscally conservative. We believe in politics, we believe that we matter, and you can tell because we made a Facebook group about it.
We love Bill Richardson talking about a national year of service; we love Barack Obama talking about change, and we love Hillary Clinton talking about how to accomplish it. We even loved Mitt Romney because he had his five sons blog from the road, which was at least an insight into the Romney family dynamic if nothing else. We are online, involved, gunning for integrated society, constant interaction with people we have never met. We are constantly reading news, blogs and the thoughts of others and broadcasting our own. To lead us, you need to join us first.
