If you have watched, read or listened to any news over the last few months you have probably learned something about what was going on in France with the youth uniting together and protesting their government and its actions. If not, here is a little rundown.
In France, unemployment is somewhat high on average and extremely high for people under the age of 26. Because of this, the government passed a bill to encourage the hiring of young people. Basically, the bill encouraged employers to hire young people by exempting the employer from taxes for the first two years the person had a job. The bill also allowed the employer to fire the employee at any time during that two-year period without reason. The firing aspect of the bill outraged the youth of France where job security is highly valued. They felt that an employer, under the new bill, would just cycle new employees every 23 months to continue not paying taxes. The youth would be hired more, but fired just as often. In response, the youth of France staged massive protests. Universities were blocked and forced to close for two months, and public demonstrations were held in many towns throughout France, some with over a million people present. Just last week, after two months of mass demonstrations, the government repealed the bill and has introduced a new bill to help the employment situation in France.
Personally, I was astonished at how unified and organized the youth have been in France, and it got me thinking about the youth in the United States and if we would ever be able to have a united political impact on our government.
It is unfortunate, but, overall, after thinking about this question and talking to fellow peers, it seems that most people do not foresee anything close to a united youth movement. As amazing as it would be, in the United States, there are many obstacles in the way.
First, in the United States the youth are overall apathetic toward politics. I think many feel that they are not listened too or even taken seriously. Also, because we are not taken seriously, many feel that we can not make an impact. Because of this, we stop paying attention, stop caring and stop trying to impact elections and issues.
The second obstacle preventing the youth from uniting is how defined and divided our politics are. In the United States you are defined as a liberal or a conservative, a moderate or an extremist. Although these labels are accurate, they also create an atmosphere where you cannot have a middle ground. Two parties rule where Republicans hate Democrats and vice versa. This polarization does not allow for discussion. Instead, the entire argument is based on a concrete set of ideas that both sides will not budge on.
Third, the size of the United States discourages a united front. To be on the same page in the entire country would be a huge feat. Issues affecting the youth in one part of the country do not affect the youth in another part. Also, because there is no unity to begin with, when an issue does not matter to you, you do not care about it. Even if an issue would make you stand up for someone across the country, the fact that it is not covered nationally in the news prevents you from even hearing about it.
Finally, there is no major, uniting issue to bring the youth of the United States together. There are issues that affect many of us like student loans or the new credit card laws, but nothing like 50,000 soldiers dead or the draft, two issues in the Vietnam era. Until something of this magnitude happens, I believe we will continue to be apathetic, divided, uninformed and uninfluential in our political system.
Overall, it is sad to think that we probably will never have a united national youth uprising in the United States – at least not while we are still youths. Although this may be the case, I hope our generation can take a step back and see the problems affecting our country and our world and also realize that we can make a difference. Stop letting politicians make you feel insignificant and act. Stop letting yourself and your ideals fit into a defined category and engage in real discussion over issues, not what party you belong to.
Stop only thinking about what impacts you and think about what is happening to your fellow citizens. Finally, stop waiting for a major issue to come along that brings us together and seek out issues that are happening now. In doing so, without a lot of effort, we can have an impact on issues in this country and even its foreign policy.