Hear Us Roar
How Brexit and Bernie Sanders’s downfall betrayed millennials
Millennials aren’t afraid to voice their opinion. As one myself, I would gladly march for transparency, speak out for LGBT rights, and fight for abortion. We used to be criticised for feeling entitled, for being complacent, for being dependent; but now, after we are voicing our thoughts, it seems like our opinions don’t matter.
This is dangerous.
Shortly before I started on this, Twitter was filled with outrage from millennials who voted Remain during the EU referendum, and are now faced with the prospect of dealing with the fallout. To them, it seemed unfair the older generations who didn’t need to contend with the long-term results unilaterally decided their future for them. In more ways than not, the end of Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign and Brexit exemplifies how millennials fought for their vision of the future, but were overridden by an older generation.
This is not a piece written to attack older generations, nor is this a criticism of those who voted Leave — this is a piece that tries to give voice to those who are disillusioned into complacency.
Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders is not a gifted orator like how political commentators say of Hillary Clinton or Marco Rubio — or play to the masses like Donald Trump. But Sanders is gifted with the ability to resonate with millennials, to unite them around values that they all share: living wage, increased income equality and equity, and greater state support for education and healthcare. In fact, an astonishing 84% of registered Democrats that were 30 or under supported Bernie Sanders in the primaries. The main difference between the Sanders and Clinton campaigns is not just political convictions, but rather, age.
Sure, the argument exists that millennials are a lazy and dependent generation bred for Sanders’s brand of socialism. But millennials are the ones in debt from student loans; they are the ones that are more likely to be unemployed or imprisoned in the middle class because of inequity from corporate employers. In short, millennials have every right to fight for what they believe in, regardless of their motivations.
Yet despite broad support from millennials, it is Clinton that will win the Democratic primary, not Sanders.
Brexit
Though I’m not British, I fully endorse and supported the Remain campaign. Like many non-Brits, I expected the United Kingdom to vote remain — which, to us, seemed like the most rational choice. Yet, once again, like many non-Brits, I was stunned by the outcome, especially from an electorate known for being intelligent and rational thinkers. But the difference between the Remain and Leave campaign was not rationality versus irrationality, but rather, youth versus age.
Considering only the relatively informed electorate (which eliminates the thousands of frantic post-referendum queries on Google about the EU and Brexit), according to a YouGov poll, 64% of people under the age of 30 voted to remain — a figure that is more representative when expanded upwards to age 45, the majority of whom voted to stay. Yet as the result shows, the balance tipped in favour of those over the age of 45.
What is more evident is that the older generations effectively decided the future for the millennials.
We will never know the full extent of the lost opportunities, friendships, marriages and experiences we will be denied. Freedom of movement was taken away by our parents, uncles, and grandparents in a parting blow to a generation that was already drowning in the debts of our predecessors.
But the truly terrifying aspect is that the vast majority of those who voted to Remain were driven by a nationalistic fervour. Admittedly, some of those were driven by a desire to relive a romanticised past of British glory. Yes, part of Brexit can be argued to have roots in a yearning to return to the British Empire, or at the minimum, an effort to “Make Britain Great Again”. Not only is that an outdated and foolish thought, it defies the liberal school of international relations that globalisation and interconnectivity have come to characterise.
Hundreds of tweets, much like the ones above, echoed the anger felt by British millennials. They did not choose the result, yet they are the ones forced to accept the burden imposed by this result.
Brexit, Donald Trump, 2016 political rhetoric. These are part of the downfall of representative democracy. The demise of democracy with reason.
Admittedly, no matter the anger, no matter the price, these are all parts of the majority rule under a democratic process. However, at the end of the day, it will be millennials who pay the price. It is us who will pay the taxes to fund healthcare, Social Security, and infrastructure. But it is also us who will suffer the consequences of a decision made for us overwhelmingly by an older generation. For all intent and purposes, Brexit and Bernie Sanders’s demise can be seen as just another attack on our generation’s future. As the Leave Campaign aptly (and ironically) puts it, “You do not speak for us, and we hold you in some contempt for your failure to represent, or even understand, our concerns.”
We millennials did exactly what Generation X and those before asked us to. We stood up for our beliefs, and resoundingly voted for those. Yet, the sad truth is this: our roars have fallen on deaf ears. While I, like many others of my age, try to believe in the best of humanity, but it is hard to believe that millennials like us can continue to fight, can continue to speak as they have spoken if their choices continue to be trampled upon. Sanders and Brexit are done deals — but it doesn’t have to spell the end of our fight.
To my older generations, if you want us to live in complacency, keep doing what you’re doing. But if you want us to be invested in our future, listen to our thoughts. Listen to the song that we sing. Support our fight for our future.
Hear us roar.