I usually applaud Catherine Rampell’s opinions. But her Dec. 8 article is disingenuous, stating that elders, not millennials, were responsible for the 2008 recession, disinvestment in public higher education and last year’s $1.9 trillion deficit-financed deficit.
Millennials are hurt by the economic downturn and student debt, and won’t benefit from the 2017 tax law. But millennials must share some responsibility for their lackadaisical voting rates. In presidential election years, youth voted at 44 percent in 2008, 45 percent in 2012 and 46 percent in 2016. In midterm elections, millennials voted at 24 percent in 2006, 20 percent in 2010 and 21 percent in 2014.
Had younger eligible voters voted in higher numbers, election outcomes might have been different, and those elected to Congress, the presidency and in the states might have pursued policies more beneficial to younger voters in particular, and to Americans as a whole.
In 2018, millennials voted at a much higher 31 percent (still too low), and elected representatives more aligned with young voters’ interests.
If young voters want to fund public higher education, avoid economic bubbles and their aftermath, have fairer tax policies and not run up deficits, they must vote in sufficient numbers for those who champion such policies in words and deeds.
Rochelle Kaplan, Cottonwood Heights, Board member of VOTERISE
