Generation X. The generation of slackers. Apathy is us. That's how the world views the twentysomething generation. We are the over-privileged, selfish products of the 1980s who want to drive Range Rovers while talking on cellular phones. It does not think we are going to do as well as our parents, and it does not even think we care.
I used to not worry about those stereotypes too much. Who cares what the cover of Newsweek says about people born about the same time as me? But on Saturday I attended a speech by presidential candidate Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan. It was then that I realized our reputation is going to lead to our downfall.
Dole coddled social security and walked around a question about student loans. He addressed defense while ignoring education. He used the word "us" when talking about the gray-haired members of the room and "them" when referring to the small college contingent. There was a feeling of intergenerational conflict where our views were silenced, and those of our grandparents were courted.
Why did Dole feel safe addressing only the concerns of older Americans? Because they vote. They have strong lobbies, and politicians know it is political suicide to touch their issues. Until our generation speaks out, discounting our welfare is only in politicians' best interests -- "Save the real voters some money and cut their taxes because the college kids are too busy watching MTV to notice when we throw away their student loans, cut research funding, run up the debt and trash the environment."
Of course not all politicians feel that way. President Bill Clinton has reached out to our generation. He helped to create AmeriCorps to allow us to give back to our community, supported our education and recently proposed tax breaks for families who cannot afford to send their children to college. He and Gore have made headway on preservation of the environment and have started to reduce the national debt.
But have we backed Clinton like the older generation will back Dole? Have we spoken up on his behalf? No. Furthermore, since our generation has the smallest percentage of eligible voters who actually vote, we probably never will.
But we are not slackers. We care about issues. We look at the $6 trillion national debt which will be balanced on our backs and get queasy. We want a cleaner environment. We are able to receive a Dartmouth education because of student loans and do not want that money taken away. We think research for tomorrow is important, and we do not want that spending cut.
However, the present Congress is discounting the future -- our future -- and we are speechless. No one will speak up for us until we show them that we will make it worth their while. Perhaps someday soon we will even get up the courage to speak up for ourselves.
