Millennial Makeover

Every four years in America there is a demand for change where elections are held, which call for the country’s makeover in politics. This change like others  that have happened result from a new generation of the young people in America which is called the Millennial Generation, and the significant emergence of new technology used by this generation. In the coming years, American politics will change the voting patterns, and the issues that are crucial to the nation. The authors of this book, Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais define the kinds of alignments which are idealist and the civic.

They predict that the next generation will be different from the previous one. Idealist alignments produce an emphasis in politics on the social issues while the civic alignments produce unity in the society and the notion of institution building. The authors outline the causes of America’s past political makeovers before there was development of technology in the next generations. Its final part details the significance of the Millennial Makeover on the elections and the issues affecting the nation that will influence the shape of America’s politics in future.

According to Winograd and D.Hais, 2008 was another part of political transformation where there was technological as well as demographic revolutions took place. The focus of the power earthquake happens to be the Millennial Generation, including the people born between 1982 and 2003. New attitudes have evolved which among them are MySpace, YouTube, and Facebook in technology. These Millennials have the ability to revive and renew citizenship, political alliances, as well as the American culture which is the major issue. Their impact could begin with the 2008 elections for president. After critical analysis, the authors state that the future of the Millennials should not be underestimated since they are many in number, have strong values, and have a great demand for political leadership.

The previous century which is the 20^th century has two realignments; initially through a generation known as GI Generation which is a civic generation, which revived the American government and business institutions were passed through a significant expansion by the government to the people in America through programs like GI Bill among others such as the New Deal. Technological assistance which was for the Democrats was through the radio, represented by Fireside Chats. Four years later, Baby Boomers aligned the country, though this time in an idealist generation using television. This period, in which we emerge from, was marked by few participants, because of personal issues.

This realignment has recurred five times in America’s history, and Winograd and Hais state that the next alignment is upon the present generation. Through social software, such as YouTube, Millennials who are showing their high participation rate in politics and in the association with the parties will revive the politics in America, regarding all aspects of interaction with the citizens. Millennial Makeover contains information which evaluates the trends in history and contextualizes data on the habits of the current young generation. This generation handles technology with much ease.

Winograd and his colleague outlined the impact of social technologies, and how they short-circuit the political system on YouTube, and show how blogs have come in the way of Millennials to collect information to move technology more into politics. The main idea here is that Millennials will shape American politics. Change is coming and its magnitude will be significant; an alignment that happens after four decades resulting to a crucial shift in priorities involving policies and coalitions in voting. The authors have captured the young generation in America in a large number, getting rid of the old mantra that states that the youth are not involved in politics, and are changing the face of politics in America.

Millennial Makeover show a strong stand showing how the rising generation today will become a political powerhouse that re-energizes the civic spirit and transforms both the process of politics in America as well as its substance. With the help of the upcoming technologies and agendas this young people are able to define the twenty-first century as significantly as G.I Generation described the twentieth century such as the in the presidential campaigns of Obama.

The book gives more information concerning what the new generation and what they think about and expect than what other people have done before. Winograd and Hais have a belief that Millennials could create a political realignment and that they have revived the campaign, as well as the fund-raising methods in new ways that may be used in future. According to them, history suggests those who find ways in integrating new technology with their tactics to have effective campaigns where all voters will be reached.

There are many generational stereotypes that many people hold against the Millennials but they are very involved and connected to their world than older Americans. Studies show that they approved how President Obama handled the economy, expressing their confidence on the way Obama was fixing America’s economy. They are focused on idealism; in a contrast that is sharp to many approaches that are ideological, and not getting things done without quality outcome with practical solutions to challenges. The public for the first time in history is positive towards the creation of labor unions, driven by the Millennial Generation. They have been taught from childhood that acting directly on a problem is a good way to solve it. Obama applied this in the effort to avoid offending NATO allies’ sensibilities with the Arabs alike.

The differences in generations are a significant part of the nation’s cultural differences, though they are hardly perceived. Millennials will lead the key demographic in ages 18- 49 in 2014 and even in later years. Millennials unlike other generations are optimistic and major new ways of communications that are driven socially such as the Facebook. Many people challenge the political variations of the Millennials that they are use participatory values which they adopted from their parents since they were born. This method of rearing a child brought a generation that is open to personal appeal. Moving forward, Millennials prefer that President Obama as well as the Democrats to remain with one stand for life unless Republicans can use their message and have a messenger to speak to the new influential force in the politics of America.

Moreover, with the Millennials values, commitments and the technologies they treasure, the force of efforts by Obama administration to shape America’s governance will involve creating open structures that attempt maximizing those who participate in making policies. Some of the participatory structures such as Google or others such as Wikipedia are brands that the Millennials think of when they have to name sources of information that are reliable. These are among the models that inspire them to reshape America’s governance. Unlike the past older generations that may engage in battles to protect their power Millennials look for solutions based on win-win to challenge confronts in the country.

The Millennials who voted were in favor of the Democratic candidates in many elections, approving how Obama handled his job. However, all other generations did not support Democrats, and the liberals in their political affiliations. Instead of the change of politics surprising pundits after two years by the alteration by the rising demography, it would be better to anticipate the change in American politics, and it will be different from the past nature of politics in the 20^th century.

Millennials trust one another and as well share ideas so that they can bring forth the best outcome for the group as a whole. This makes it possible for the country to find ideas that trigger community action and initiative much attractive than the ones pushed by Republicans. They are not interested in allowing their ideas stand in their way to get things done

In some years to come, the nation will reflect back on this time of change and will smile at how businesses were transacted before the arrival of the mobile computing and social networking was common. Millennials rate education and this will result of the government fixing education problem in America. Many young people in America in the Millennial Generation thus they will bring the commitment to engage in decision making toward the political process. . Instead of fighting the will to live in the suburbs, politicians should seek ways to encourage it and recommend policies which reflect the new realities of economy. For example, the government should create tax incentives encouraging telecommuting rather than use of high density housing as the main nation’s source for foreign oil.