Greatest Generation 2.0

Richard Doak's column in the Des Moines Register today is about the excitement of young people and their great possibility to influence change throughout the world.

The most fascinating possibility of 2008 is that the next Greatest Generation might be about ready to make its debut.

Hang around a college campus and it becomes easy to believe in the possibility. There's something about today's young people that inspires confidence.

Nationally, young adults are defying past patterns by turning out in record numbers to vote in the caucuses and primaries. They tend to vote differently from their elders, and there is an almost palpable sense among them that a new day is dawning.

These young adults are the leading edge of what has been labeled the Millennial Generation, people born between 1982 and 2003.

Some pop historians see history as being driven by generational change. If they're right, America is approaching a turning point, and it will be the Millennials who determine the new direction.

John Mayer had the hit song Waiting for the World to Change where he talks about how the Millennial Generation is fully aware of the problems the world faces. How can they not be with 9/11, Global Climate Change, Hurricane Katrina, and a misguided war in Iraq weighing so heavily during the time their worldview was being formed?

However before this election, they haven't been compelled to enter the political arena that they viewed as being stale, full of partisan bickering, and influenced by big money. Instead, they have chose to focus their energy on community action, through community involvement, church activities, environmental action, and building communities online.

This diary from Daily Kos that I posted about back in October further explains this...

...we look upon our broken system and choose not to scream at the rubble, but to take it upon ourselves to promote social change in our own way. So we volunteer. We join groups. We organize at the community level. We splinter off into thousands of glittering pockets of political change. We don't mobilize nationalize because there is no call, no sense of need to so.

The 2008 election has called this generation to become involved politically. With no incumbent running for their party's nomination, this election is truly a changing of the guard.

The candidates have called the Millennial Generation to become active in politics. Barack Obama has turned out huge numbers of young adults to support him, as has Hillary Clinton. Ron Paul has had tremendous success fundraising and organizing online. Chris Dodd called for people to get involved in national service. John Edwards started his campaign with the theme Tomorrow Begins Today and held his first event helping rebuild New Orleans.

John Mayer ended his song, saying that one day the Millennial Generation will have the power to change the world.

We keep on waiting waiting on the world to change
One day our generation
Is gonna rule the population
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

That day is coming sooner than later.