Young voters need to show up like their future depends on it

For my generation -- born in 1987, I am told I am considered a member of "generation Y" or a "millennial," for whatever that's worth -- there are hopefully many prosperous years to come. American parents have always promised a brighter future for their children. But today, high school and college graduates have, for the first time, been told that they may not start climbing the economic ladder from the point at which their parents left them. The future looks grim for my generation, and yet it seems we are poised to watch social security go bankrupt, funding for our schools slashed, our jobs shipped overseas, our environmental beauty depleted and our peers sent to fight wars. All of these problems result from decisions are made by elected officials, and yet they are not elected by my generation. For that, I fear the future for Americans under 30.

Current unemployment among teenagers is among the highest of all age groups, and unemployment for college grads is frighteningly high, especially considering the student debt these new workers are burdened with. And the future looks rather bleak, considering any job openings for years to come will likely be filled by those who were laid off during the great recession.

Future economic prosperity depends on one major factor: education. However, for my generation, the path toward success has not only become lackluster in quality, but more and more expensive. The nation has fallen behind many others in literacy and graduation rates, while tuition at both public and private colleges has increased as much as six-fold. One parent compared taking his child to school to "driving a new Corvette to Ohio every September, leaving the keys and taking the bus home." To receive an education that will (on average) earn us 54% more money over our lifetime, we have to pay three-to-six times what our parents paid. As a result, college grads take off their caps and gowns to bear an average debt of $20,200-$33,050. This does not include the money that they or their parents pay throughout their schooling, which in some cases, costs families their homes.

For some students, the military is a viable option for paying for college, resulting in an overwhelming number of young people fighting overseas. Over three-quarters of the military deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq have been under the age of 30 -- over half of such soldiers have been under the age of 24. And yet, voters aged 18-24 years old consistently have had the lowest turnout in the nation, even in the 2008 election which saw an uptick in turnout among young voters. (Click the link for downloadable data tables in Excel spreadsheet format)

For my generation, it seems apathy is easier than action. But I fear my generation will find that the consequences of apathy are far more painful than those of action. The highest voter turnout in the nation is for voters between the age of 65 and 74. The next highest turnout is among voters 75 and older. This scares me. For this means the decisions made today that impact the future (funding education, social security, environmental conservation) are being made by officials who are elected by those who will least see the results of those decisions.

In essence, our future is in the hands of people who have no vested interest in making our future bright. This is not to say our grandparents plan on ending the world as we know it; but it seems counterproductive to our own success to let decisions be made by those who will not suffer from an uneducated workforce, an ever-growing government debt, environmental disasters or the bankruptcy of social security -- all problems with bipartisan recognition, but little to no bipartisan results.

This is because politicians have learned to ignore the needs of young people. It's not because they hate us or want us to fail, but because they reap no electoral benefits from meeting our needs. Simple math says that a legislator has an easier path to reelection if he funds a program for the elderly (37 million Americans), even if it buries 18-24 year old voters (28 million Americans) in debt. After all, if only 40% of 18-24 year old voters and 70% of senior citizens -- a larger demographic -- show up at the polls, who gets their way?

More importantly, who has the most to lose as a result of these decisions? Who has the most to gain?