Posted on 12/31/2013 3:30:19 PM PST by Kaslin
A lot has been made recently of the "Pajama Boy" advertisements released by Obama's former campaign arm, “Organizing for Action”. Upon viewing the image I immediately mocked it and made fun of it. However, upon further reflection I soon realized that young people are quite literally living in a "pajama economy." We are experiencing hard economic realities where the new norm is sitting at home with our parents drinking hot chocolate and wearing pajamas well into the afternoon. Job prospects are so bad for recent graduates, and for young people in general, that we can aptly coin the term “Pajama Economy” to describe the macroeconomic climate.
Perhaps the great irony of our evolution (or devolution) to a "Pajama Economy" is the fact that most Millennials voted and campaigned for the very policies creating the present economic problems. It is widely known that young people campaigned aggressively to advance the big government doctrine and agenda in both 2008 and 2012. Ironically, the very same people that were blinded by the Obama machine in both major elections are now paying the price for big government through higher health premiums, loss of job opportunities, and crippling student loan debt.
I like to label it as the "boomerang" affect. Younger voters wholeheartedly supported President Obama because they believed they would see greater access to healthcare, increase job opportunities, and lower college tuition rates. Now young people are seeing the "boomerang" come back full speed and hitting them in the face. Millennials now have to pay for the very same big government policies they voted for. Never before in modern political history has a segment of the population been so negatively impacted by its own vote so quickly.
This past year has seen a true "awakening" for the youth of America. Almost a year ago today young Americans had an overwhelmingly positive view of President Obama and his policies. They painstakingly worked to get him a second term in office. Fast-forward to today and a majority of young Americans now want to recall President Obama from office! What happened? What caused such a sudden turnaround in the opinions of our nation's youth? Quite frankly, young people are beginning to wake up from the government-induced coma they have been in for the past 5 years. And most importantly, younger Americans are realizing they have to pay for the policies from which they thought they could only benefit.
Throughout the year, the President's favorability dropped amongst all sorts of voters. However, there were a few key events that led to the erosion of support for the President. It was perhaps the NSA scandal, back in May, which truly started this decline in support. Millennials did not appreciate the fact that their cell phones and emails were being monitored. At the same time, an influx of college graduates flooded the job market only to discover work was nearly impossible find. This past summer was abysmal for young people trying to find substantive, long-lasting employment. The coup de grace for the youth’s disenchantment with Obamatopia was the actual implementation of Obamacare and the higher premiums facing younger Americans. Almost overnight Millennials had their health plans change rates and deductibles (not for the better) and were faced with having to pay new fines if they didn’t get on board and participate in Obamacare’s new fair and just healthcare system. These events created a "perfect storm" because the youngest portion of the electorate could clearly see their lifestyle and future prospects being adversely impacted.
2013 was a pivotal year for young people because, for the first time, in many of my colleagues and friends lives, they are experiencing the misery that progressive policies create. For years people in my generation saw central planning and increased government from a theoretical standpoint. The moral arguments for Socialism, central planning, and increased government seemed to make intuitive sense in lecture halls and classrooms. Young Americans are now living through the realities these “liberal” or “progressive” policies create when put into practice.
Will 2014 lift young people off the couch and out of their pajamas? Or will it be more hot chocolate sipping and more living at home with parents? When Barack Obama said, “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America,” on October 30, 2008 he was implying that that is what he was counting on. He was counting on the newest and youngest generation of voters, people around 18 years who would be voting for another 50-60 years to stay with, believe in, and support the cause. He counted on them being in for the long game. Fundamental transformation doesn’t take place in one or two election cycles. It requires the support of the people who started it and the recruitment of new members who are taught to buy into it.
2014 is a real chance for redemption amongst our nation's youth and not only in the midterm elections. It will be a chance for them to stand up and announce that they will not become part of the team that forges a path to big government, centralized decision making and loss of individual freedom. Historically it is the youth that rebel against the prescriptions and proscriptions of the generation above them and cry enough! Let’s see what cries come from the youth of America as we head into 2014.
I still feel a great sense of shame being a part of this generation.
“Job prospects are so bad for recent graduates...”
Oh, no, no, no!
We’re assured by the current administration and its media lap dogs that everything is now booming and the economy is getting back on track!
Quite frankly, young people are beginning to wake up from the government-induced coma they have been in for the past 5 years. And most importantly, younger Americans are realizing they have to pay for the policies from which they thought they could only benefit.
Just wait until we hear the howls from this demographic when Obama and the Democrat/GOPe congress reinstate the draft for both men and women this time. With the continuing destruction of the armed forces you know it is just a matter of time until that happens.
And then... Well then I expect them to be used in war both domestic and international as an distraction from the government caused chaos from the last decade.
Just by accident of birth FRiend...
This generation has been subject to relentless left wing propaganda in school, on television, at the movies, and in music (if you can call it that). I am afraid it will take more than a few months to undo this.
The left wing media are already spinning their problems as the fault of the evil Republicans who have obstructed The One and been mean enough not to pour more $billions into food stamps and unending unemployment welfare benefits.
I think the best we can hope for is that they will turn out in smaller numbers for the 2014 midterms than they did when Hussein was on the ticket.
But you woke up.
Please tell us how you did it. We’ll know to what to say to our own children and grandchildren.
But you woke up.
Please tell us how you did it. We’ll know to what to say to our own children and grandchildren.
Dye your hair silver, get a cane, wear some baggy pants, suspenders and sunglasses, and you’ll be okay. LOL.
Don’t feel bad; there’s good and bad in every generation. I was born in 1949, and 0traitor&Co and a lot of other scum are included in “my Baby Boomer Generation”, but the good/bad meme just comes with the territory.
You’re NOT one of them. Hold your head up; there’s a lot of untold good to come from your Generation...
the reason that these clowns are sitting in their jammies is that they are collecting an unemployment check and not actively looking for employment....and the Demos want to extend it even further.....give me a check every week and I’ll watch a lot of t.v. and sit on my butt....perhaps play a little golf......cut off the check and two things happen, My boss can no longer pay me under the table because I now have to account for my greens fees, and he can legally claim me as an employee....of course I’m now responsible for paying my “fair share” in taxes which I have not had to do for a couple of years.....PATHETIC !!!!!
I'm not — the terrible thing about the older generations is their willingness to make excuses for their [party's] candidate
: look at how much Romney, Mitt I-believe-in-abortion-in-the-cases-of-rape-and-'the-mother's-health'
* Romney!
Yeah, Obama's bad, but look at how much he [and other gov't agents] gets away with from "our guy" (Republicans in Congress)** — and people were saying that Romney would "have his feet held to the fire" by these guys? Right. [/sarc]
* Even as the Republican party added no-exceptions to their party plank.
** Fast and Furious, Benghazi, "Kinetic Military Action" (Libya), whimsical/arbitrary law alteration (ObamaCare) the NSA spying, the IRS targeting, the rampant voter-fraud, the unreliability/irregularities of Obama's credentials/eligibility (and the corresponding implications at the depth of government corruption this, all this, implies).
The author may have forgotten about the administration's much vaunted "Summer of Recovery". Remember that they and their lapdogs in the media pushed this ridiculous lie for well over a year, while unemployment was actually climbing.
When it became apparent that they could no longer hide the dismal numbers, they conveniently changed their method of counting the unemployed to exclude those who'd quit looking for work.
While all that smoke and mirrors was going on, most conservatives and other clear headed adults realized that the administration could only spin the rotten economy for so long. People looked around themselves and noticed how many of their friends and family were suffering real economic deprivation.
Notice that the MSM has toned down all talk of the economy now. If they mention it at all, they usually call it a 'tepid recovery' then quickly move on to other things.
This is why paying attention to generational trends is necessary for political strategy.
Each peer group has among them influential individuals who can recognize the political and economic realities, as opposed to the media propaganda, and can logically guide their peer groups toward more reasonable decisions.
Millenials are the largest birth group, year by year, in the population. More than 65% of them will be eligible to vote in 2014.
The peer pressure among millenials is moving them rapidly against liberal policies and against Democrats, however strong their public school leftist indoctrination might have been. They are feeling the very real effects of a growing poverty, with the gloomiest economic prospects since the previous Great Depression, and the very real impression that they have been victims of the greatest sucker game in history.
I see less and less of these young people sporting facial piercings. That may seem like a trivial point, but I see it as a huge shift in the generational mindset.
The millenials are the next generation of the Hero Generation of WW-II; those scruffy, ragged, disillusioned Depression Era kids who rose up, showed up, united and fought together to defeat the NAZIs and the Japanese.
It’s okay, Charlie Kirk. Everyone is optimistic on New Year’s Eve.
/sarc
Our sons are millennials. They are disgusted with the boomer generation, and clearly see that their generation is having its future diminished. While they’re very negative on the D politicians, they’re not really any more impressed with the R side of the spectrum. I’d say they’re more libertarian in outlook than either major party. The NSA issues are huge, as is the economy and they’re fed up with any kind of war. I’m not sure how typical they are, having grown up in a D-hostile home, but from what they tell me, many of their college friends are unhappy with the economic prospects. The youth give me more hope than the majority of boomers. I don’t see them changing their politics after so many decades, no matter what evidence they’re shown.
Don’t. I’m a boomer and feel the same way at times (like whenever Jane Fonda opens her pie-hole), but we are all part of one generation or another, and it’s what WE believe that matters.
There was a time when a young person could walk to his first no skill job and get started on his working life.
Modern communities just don't allow that anymore. Nothing about government-directed community growth over the last 40 years has helped get the young off to a good start. Zoning boards put residential districts miles from commercial districts.
And the deregulation and tax reductions of the 80's and 90's did little to address the regulatory and payroll tax barriers to hiring. Regulations concerning employment and payroll taxes actually increased!
My fear is that they'll end up fighting us and each other.
... and they’re fed up with any kind of war.
These young people might just catch on to the fact that politics is "war by other means", and vice versa. The NAZIs are right here at home this time, and they will not stop until forced.
Could very well happen. Civil wars are downright ugly.
That's why it is important to clearly articulate your principles, and the ongoing effects of policies that would be based on those principles, and let the sides gravitate to where they will.
Labels won't mean much with forty different flavors each of D, R, and libertarians.
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