4 ms·

Yeah, and who you should vote for to get it done? Sorry to remind it, but US had 8 years of democratic president (and mostly democratic congress) and student de

Yeah, and who you should vote for to get it done? Sorry to remind it, but US had 8 years of democratic president (and mostly democratic congress) and student debt exploded in size during the same time period. So, millenials voting for Obama were wrong? Who they should have voted instead?

dv_dt 8y ago
Why would you think voting for a single solitary politician would solve it all?
jsoc815 8y ago
> So, millenials voting for Obama were wrong? Hi, unfortunately, yes. I, like many others, wrote to him [and a few notable Democrat and Republican Senators who publicly champion(ed)] SL reform. My letter actually had supporting facts, and practical actionable policy suggestions. I heard back (directly) only from one Senator, a Republican, whose form letter was unrelated to SLs. Though I didn't receive a direct response from anyone in Obama's administration, shortly after I'd sent my letter, the administration suggested cutting the SL interest deduction, which was polar opposite of what I'd suggested. And as you probably know, during last year's tax reform debates, the Republicans picked up, but ultimately dropped, that very same idea of removing said deduction. There were some other policy changes that I saw effected after my letter that makes me certain that it was read and understood. Unfortunately, those changes, harmful to borrowers, were again the opposite of what I'd suggested. Given what I am reading in Ron Suskind's Confidence Men, and have read/heard elsewhere, I'm not all that surprised.[1] Young people will continue to be politically and financially expendable until they learn from history, organize themselves into strong blocks and directly involve themselves in the political process. Voting is merely a small part of participation. And I say that having been on the inside of the political machine. [1] http://ronsuskind.com/books/confidence-men/ http://ronsuskind.com/books/confidence-men/
chc 8y ago
Part of the problem here is that we don't have a very good range of views represented in our political parties. The Republicans actually have a pretty diverse mix of traditional conservatives, neoconservatives and libertarians. The Democrats, on the other hand, are almost pathologically centrist. The most popular politician in America is a left-wing Democrat who supports free public universities and halving student loan interest rates, but rather than trying to cultivate that popularity, the Democratic Party can barely mask its contempt for him. So if those are the sorts of causes you support, you really will have a hard time finding good candidates to vote for, but your best bet is probably to vote in Democratic primaries and try to push them a bit left.

dv_dt 8y ago

Why would you think voting for a single solitary politician would solve it all?

jsoc815 8y ago

> So, millenials voting for Obama were wrong? Hi, unfortunately, yes. I, like many others, wrote to him [and a few notable Democrat and Republican Senators who publicly champion(ed)] SL reform. My letter actually had supporting facts, and practical actionable policy suggestions. I heard back (directly) only from one Senator, a Republican, whose form letter was unrelated to SLs. Though I didn't receive a direct response from anyone in Obama's administration, shortly after I'd sent my letter, the administration suggested cutting the SL interest deduction, which was polar opposite of what I'd suggested. And as you probably know, during last year's tax reform debates, the Republicans picked up, but ultimately dropped, that very same idea of removing said deduction. There were some other policy changes that I saw effected after my letter that makes me certain that it was read and understood. Unfortunately, those changes, harmful to borrowers, were again the opposite of what I'd suggested. Given what I am reading in Ron Suskind's Confidence Men, and have read/heard elsewhere, I'm not all that surprised.[1] Young people will continue to be politically and financially expendable until they learn from history, organize themselves into strong blocks and directly involve themselves in the political process. Voting is merely a small part of participation. And I say that having been on the inside of the political machine. [1] http://ronsuskind.com/books/confidence-men/ http://ronsuskind.com/books/confidence-men/

chc 8y ago

Part of the problem here is that we don't have a very good range of views represented in our political parties. The Republicans actually have a pretty diverse mix of traditional conservatives, neoconservatives and libertarians. The Democrats, on the other hand, are almost pathologically centrist. The most popular politician in America is a left-wing Democrat who supports free public universities and halving student loan interest rates, but rather than trying to cultivate that popularity, the Democratic Party can barely mask its contempt for him. So if those are the sorts of causes you support, you really will have a hard time finding good candidates to vote for, but your best bet is probably to vote in Democratic primaries and try to push them a bit left.