Inside A Politically Tumultuous Generation

BY NISWANA SHREE RISAL

An ongoing global pandemic. The Capitol insurrection. Two high-stakes presidential elections. A nationwide call for gun control. Deep partisan divisions. Afghanistan. A movement for justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Daunte Wright, Ahmaud Arbery and so many others.

Accounting for 22.1% of the United States population, young people have lived through one of the most politically tumultuous periods in modern history. We are also one of the most politically active. Generation Z, born between the years 1997 to 2012, voted in droves in the 2020 election — upwards of 55 percent of eligible voters — making the difference in key states for the Biden-Harris ticket.

This is perhaps only the first tremor of our impact. For Morgan Watt, president of the Penn State College Republicans, it’s a sign of progress. conversations in school and by standing up for what I believe in, I can have an impact.”

Junior Ladin Suliman, a dual major in philosophy and political science, resonates with this sentiment too. As a member of the Penn State College Independents, he says the candidate is paramount as he’s seen various politicians “who sort of went around parties.” It’s also about open-mindedness.

“Being an independent gives you the most flexibility,”says Suliman, “it allows you to be more honest in your engagement with the political realm in choosing the candidate you truly care about, and you think that has the best policies towards the American people.”

Suliman, who was born in Philadelphia, has lived “all over the place, really.” In 2008, he moved from Texas to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. There, he experienced contrasting worlds.

He witnessed women, Muslim or not, being expected to wear an abaya with a headscarf over their heads. Religious police were notoriously strict.

ROOTS OF PASSION

“We’re the new voters,” says Watt, “we’re the next generation here!”

The senior animal science major grew up hunting, raising livestock on a farm and kayaking with her family in Cambria County, Pennsylvania. Since coming to Penn State, her political lens has changed. “With what has happened, I am able to kind of break myself out of that category, I would say,” says Watt, “so, I’m a Republican, I’m a conservative, but I’m not necessarily a Trump supporter.”

Watt also says her father, a teacher, “certainly started that fire in me.” “I started watching the news with my dad and following elections with my dad, and it got me really interested,” says Watt, “and I realized that by having

“In certain cases, they would hit them in the street,” says Suliman, “publicly in front of other people because of not adhering to these rules.”

A third-year, who is a member of the Penn State College Democrats, also attributes his political passion to his upbringing. “Being a Democrat comes from my dad facilitating how I think and feel about certain things,” he says, “I’ve also had the pleasure of talking to a lot of people from different marginalized communities, different countries.”

An eighth-grade visit to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia provoked an epiphany. He enlisted in the army his junior year of high school.

Three years the health policy and administration major and political science minor served as an infantryman, training on either coast and Canada. It wasn’t until the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, “that really set a fire underneath me,” and was the “ultimate moment” the veteran decided to take action.

“I took an oath to protect the Constitution,” he says, “and that day, the Constitution was violated by the president and all of his numbskull sidekicks.”

WHERE WE ARE

It’s apparent we’re living in a weird time. Partisanship has our institutions in a chokehold, trickling down into policymaking and society. Polarization has become a staple of the current American political climate, dividing the citizenry into teams where the other side is seen as just that: the other. Watt says the media is partially to blame.

“Especially in the media, it seems like we are more different than we are similar, ” says Watt, “I think in reality, that’s not true, we are more similar than we are different.”

Another reason, she reckons, is a culture shift. “Our culture is changing,” says Watt, “in some ways, we’re becoming more sensitive or less likely to accept people that disagree with us or less likely to engage in a conversation with somebody that seems different than us and wouldn’t back up our views.”

Suliman argues it’s a matter of moral principle. “The American citizenry is very diverse, and we don’t have much to agree on, even in regards to our own Constitution,” says Suliman, “so, I think that the current state of politics it’s just characterized by people who are unwilling to listen. Although there are real differences, the divide isn’t as stark as it’s presented in the media.”

As a first-generation American, he acknowledges how one’s values translate into their degree of understanding the world around them. “Everyone’s values are different,” says Suliman, “I think that the biggest issue is due to a lack of shared-ness between people.”

The veteran says misinformation is a primary instigator of hostility, having witnessed the jarring effects of conspiracy theories whilst serving. “A lot of people I was around were your typical Oath Keepers, and your three percenters and your conspiratorial victims,” he says.

“My first day with my unit, Trump was elected,” he says, “and everybody came into work the next day saying ‘you’re gonna get deported,’ ‘you’re gonna get deported,’ to the Mexican soldiers we had in our platoon. I just remember that was such a toxic environment.”

WHERE WE GO FROM HERE

Are we past the point of no return? Michael Berkman, Penn State political science professor and director of The McCourtney Institute for Democracy, says to proceed with caution.

“We often take one step forward two steps back, or two steps forward and one step back,” says Berkman, “you often see greater democratization met with backlash, like we’re seeing right now.”

In 2020, a historic 158.4 million voters — roughly twothirds of the eligible population — cast their ballots amid a pandemic. Instead of celebrating this unprecedented participation in the democratic process, over 440 bills have been introduced in 49 states to restrict voting access. 34 have passed in 19 states as of December 2021.

He marks the beginning of contemporary polarization within the American party system to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Southern Democrats subsequently flocked to the Republican Party, thus initiating “the process of sorting we see today,” according to Berkman.

Over the decades, this has evolved into affective polarization, or “negative partisanship.” Party labels “take on a tribal or team aspect to it,” says Berkman, “where everything is about your team and everything’s about the other team being bad. That becomes a situation where the other side is seen much more as an enemy rather than a component.”

While he thinks democracy is headed for a “potentially dark place,” Berkman says young people can turn it around. “They’re gonna become old,” says Berkman, “they’re gonna take over and become the main voters within the electorate.”

The third-year Democrat, who promotes integrity in public office through the non-partisan group Veterans For Responsible Leadership, strives to preserve and protect our institutions. “No other country has what we have,” he says, “if more and more people are blind to that fact, then we’ll simply lose democracy — that’s it.”

“I do hope that the American political system will go through a considerable amount of reform,” says Suliman, “and that young people will be invigorated with a real love for their country, and by extension, the politics of their country.”

“Our role is to be very critical of everything that’s going on–to question things, to vote most importantly,” says Watt, “and to learn as much as we can to become that next generation of politicians, senators, congressmen and presidents.”