Millennial Momentum: How a New Generation Is Remaking America

5. Crowdsourcing the Congress

Chapter 5 Crowdsourcing the Congress Although generational change does not come to the Congress as slowly as it does to the Supreme Court, the power of incumbency and the age requirements for holding office do present obstacles to younger generations trying to get elected to that body, even when those generations become an increasingly larger share of the electorate . For instance, even though Millennials turned out in record numbers to vote for Barack Obama in 2008, no Millennials were elected to Congress that year. And, although many new representatives were elected to Congress in 2010, the average age of House members did not change appreciably from what it had been in the previous Congress (Sasso 2010); once again, none of those elected that year were Millennials. History suggests the nation’s newest civic generation won’t have a real toehold in the nation’s legislature until the end of this decade and a majority in a decade or two after that. But their electoral power still provides an opportunity for Millennials and their technology to influence how Congress does business. Even though Millennials continue to register strong allegiance to the Democratic Party, they hardly favor maintaining the congressional status quo. Three-fourths of the American public disapproved of the job Congress was doing in a February 2010 New York Times/CBS poll, the highest level of disapproval since 1977, when the question was first asked. Even Millennials disapproved, albeit by a slightly smaller margin of 2:1, despite the relatively positive attitudes toward societal institutions that characterizes civic generations like theirs (Winograd and Hais 2010b). Dissatisfaction with Congress’s institutional anachronisms helped fuel the anger voters expressed in the 2010 midterm elections, and put both parties on notice that the public wanted to see major changes in how the legislative branch operated. Without fundamental reforms, however, the 83 transformation of that institution in a way that meets the demands of the public and is commensurate with the serious challenges facing the country will remain elusive. In the long run, as Millennials come to dominate American politics, the only way for Congress to restore its reputation will be for it to respond to the beliefs of this generation through comprehensive changes in its practices and procedures. For that to happen, Congress will have to give up its comfort with closed-door decision-making and adopt a more transparent process that shares more information and power with the American people. Unless Congress is willing to strike such a bargain, it risks losing what remains of its legislative credibility as America’s newest civic era unfolds. Creating a Congress for the Millennial Era As Democrats struggled to find a way to pass health care reform in the face of united Republican opposition, only one of ten voters thought members of Congress deserved reelection. Four of five Americans thought Congress was more interested in helping special interests than in serving voters. About two-thirds of those interviewed believed the two parties should compromise more. Similar percentages felt President Obama was trying to do just that and that Republicans were not willing to work with him (Nagourney and Thee-Brennan 2010). The numbers did not improve much after the passage of health care reform. Sixty-five percent of the public disapproved of Congress in an April 2010 Pew survey, with only 25 percent willing to give the institution a favorable rating. Pew’s final poll before the midterm elections revealed levels of anti-incumbent sentiment as high as in any midterm election cycle dating back to 1994 (Pew 2010f ). A sampling of comments on the Web site Millennials Changing America captured the generation’s disenchantment with the behavior of congressional incumbents and illustrated the desire of Millennials to see a different decision-making approach in Washington: Neither the far left or far right seems interested in any sort of compromise. Any congressional member displaying moderation or centrism is regarded as a party traitor and immediately attacked as such. Stifling debate is dangerous. (Viger 2009) C h a n g i n g A m e r i c a ’ s G o v e r n m e n t 84 Congress is getting worse every day. I do not feel that they represent my interests or even care about much else than staying in power. I wouldn’t trust most politicians to run a large company, much less a gas station convenience...