{"id":130769,"date":"2016-05-27T22:18:41","date_gmt":"2016-05-28T04:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/05\/27\/on-the-culturally-evolving-electorate.html"},"modified":"2016-05-28T12:53:43","modified_gmt":"2016-05-28T18:53:43","slug":"on-the-culturally-evolving-electorate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/05\/27\/on-the-culturally-evolving-electorate.html","title":{"rendered":"On the culturally evolving electorate"},"content":{"rendered":"

From XKCD [http:\/\/xkcd.com\/1686\/<\/a>].<\/p>\n

Which misstates the case a little bit. This is the first presidential election (in the US) in which there are voters who were born after 9\/11. Arguably last go-around there were voters who were too young to appreciate or understand the impact of 9\/11 when it happened, or what the US was like beforehand.<\/p>\n

[UPDATE: Math is hard. 18-year-olds this year were born (roughly) in 1998, which would have made them 3 when 9\/11 occurred. Last election, there were 7yos, which is arguably also too young to remember.]<\/p>\n

Regardless of that nitpicking, it's a worthwhile sea change. The changes in the US — the legitimization of the Security State, the demonization of Islam as the existential enemy of the US, the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars — all of these things are major differences between Then and Now. For some first-time voters, they have always been part of the background noise of the country they grew up in, something that is accepted as the status quo. The idea of meeting your party at the gate at the airport is as foreign as standing at the dock while someone's ocean liner comes in.<\/p>\n

And don't get me started on the Cold War.<\/p>\n

This is not to say this is a bad or a good thing, just that it is a very distinct and real<\/i> thing, a shift in the gestalt of the nation, of assumptions as to what is normal and what is not, of the perception of What Things Used To Be Like.<\/p>\n

It's weird and unsettling, but reality is often that way.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/a>\u00a0\n<\/div>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From XKCD [http:\/\/xkcd.com\/1686\/]. Which misstates the case a little bit. This is the first presidential election (in the US) in which there are voters who were born after 9\/11. Arguably last go-around there were voters who were too young to appreciate or understand the impact of 9\/11 when it happened, or what the US was … Continue reading “On the culturally evolving electorate”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,29,532,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-9-11","category-elections-2016","category-homeland-security"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/feel_old5B15D.pngimgmax=660.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28872,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/13\/another-disenfranchised-minority-young-voters.html","url_meta":{"origin":130769,"position":0},"title":"Another disenfranchised minority: young voters","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 13-Aug-12 11:09pm","format":false,"excerpt":"And, big coincidence, they tend to vote more Democratic and Progressive than the general population. \u00a0So guess who's trying to make it more difficult for them to register or cast ballots ...Reshared post from +Jim Feig Embedded Link States to Young Voters: We Don\u2019t Want a Repeat of \u201808 Defying\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49508,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/02\/06\/oregon-will-have-universal-voter-registration-it-appears.html","url_meta":{"origin":130769,"position":1},"title":"Oregon will have Universal Voter Registration, it appears","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 6-Feb-15 11:32am","format":false,"excerpt":"Which, frankly, is awesome. The more people are engaged in the voting process -- even if they skip making use of the franchise in a given election -- the more engaged and vested they are in our state and nation. Which is a good thing.That's part of what makes the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24901,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/27\/suppressing-the-youth-vote.html","url_meta":{"origin":130769,"position":2},"title":"Suppressing the Youth Vote","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 27-Dec-11 9:09am","format":false,"excerpt":"Not that I expect that young voters will be as enthusiastic for Obama as they were in 2008 -- but the GOP isn't taking any chances. Though the Supreme Court has upheld, for example, that youth at out-of-state colleges have the right to vote there, GOP state legislatures are layering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12843,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/09\/18\/databases_are_not_stone_t.html","url_meta":{"origin":130769,"position":3},"title":"Databases are not Stone Tablets from God","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 18-Sep-08 9:47am","format":false,"excerpt":"But governments sure like to think of them that way. Once they have a database built, no matter how many problems they have, the data is considered sacred, and...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/voting-butterfly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":31283,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/11\/08\/getting-out-the-vote.html","url_meta":{"origin":130769,"position":4},"title":"Getting out the vote","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 8-Nov-12 1:51pm","format":false,"excerpt":"There were a lot of worries over the last few years that Obama's less-than-progressive track record was going to cause \"enthusiasm\" problems for support of the Democratic ticket this year. \u00a0Obama can thank the GOP for drumming up Romney \"anti-enthusiasm\" to counter that problem. Because between the GOP primary Race\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31105,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/11\/01\/there-are-two-things-that-could-win-this-election-for-romney.html","url_meta":{"origin":130769,"position":5},"title":"There are two things that could win this election for Romney","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 1-Nov-12 3:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"And they both have to do with the number of voters that turn out for Obama.If overall Democratic turn-out is low, especially in the \"swing states\" (not as fun a thing to be as it sounds), then Obama will lose.On the other hand, if enough Democratic voters can be kept\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130769"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130774,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130769\/revisions\/130774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}