I'm also in the same boat, I imagine with countless others. Trump didn't win in 2016, Clinton managed to receive 4.5 million votes fewer than Obama 2008 did. And she did that at the same time that the pool of voting age population grew by more than 20 million. [1] Quite a remarkable feat! The party has left its base far behind. Or perhaps it's the other way. Same result in either case.
In thinking about this though I realized something. Almost like clockwork there is a shifting of the zeitgeist of the nation on 20 year intervals:
- Roaring 20s
- Warring 40s
- Social movement 60s
- Huge growth 80s
- Identity politics 2000s
- ?? 2020s
You can't explain these shifts in era by a new generation alone, as would be implied by the 20 year intervals. It has to be in large part substantial chunks of the existing population also shifting their views. I'm not sure if this is a product of people changing, perhaps as they age, or maybe it's some organic factor of political competition that results in the parties changing. Again, going back to the top - I guess it doesn't really matter. It's the exact same effect and result in either case.
The point being is that I think this is 'normal', but we're the first generation to get to share and experience this sort of shift, and in such a public way, due to the internet.
In thinking about this though I realized something. Almost like clockwork there is a shifting of the zeitgeist of the nation on 20 year intervals:
- Roaring 20s
- Warring 40s
- Social movement 60s
- Huge growth 80s
- Identity politics 2000s
- ?? 2020s
You can't explain these shifts in era by a new generation alone, as would be implied by the 20 year intervals. It has to be in large part substantial chunks of the existing population also shifting their views. I'm not sure if this is a product of people changing, perhaps as they age, or maybe it's some organic factor of political competition that results in the parties changing. Again, going back to the top - I guess it doesn't really matter. It's the exact same effect and result in either case.
The point being is that I think this is 'normal', but we're the first generation to get to share and experience this sort of shift, and in such a public way, due to the internet.
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_the_United_St...