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My impression is that both in the US and in most European countries, there is a dire need for new political parties to enter the mainstream. I mean this electi

My impression is that both in the US and in most European countries, there is a dire need for new political parties to enter the mainstream. I mean this election is basically a forced choice between two grandpas and both are representing values from before I was born. Where's the political party that I would trust to do what will secure a good future for my kids, because they, too, have young kids? Where's the political party where people roughly my age are calling the shots? US, France, Germany, UK, ... All I see is conservative old people. Germany and France tried to establish new center parties, but in both cases the newcomers quickly got infiltrated by old politicians and drifted far right, meaning conservative again.

Izkata 6y ago
IMO this was the primary thing that got Trump elected in 2016: He was the outsider, a big "fuck you" to both major parties.
- 1_player 6y ago
  And we've seen the result. If I've learned anything atop my 33 wise years old, is that any political candidate that looks like a clean break from the old guard, is exactly the same if not worse than its predecessors. And this is just my cynicism: the corollary is that any candidate, new or old, is a bad choice, except extremely rare exceptions.
iso947 6y ago
UK is polarised by age - a minority of people under the age of 60 voted to leave te eu or voted Tory, yet we are leaving with a massive Tory majority. Labour’s last leader was magic grandpa boomer. The new one is slightly younger, come the next election he’ll only be in his early 60s. Lib Dems had a young leader who (aged 39) managed to convert from being second in the June elections (led by a 70+ year old) to losing her seat in December, with a 7 year old and a baby. There are relatively young leaders - Finland and New Zealand come to mind, but leaders tend to be reflections of the population. When the UK Labour Party was taken over by hundreds of thousands of young socialists via momentum in 2015, they didn’t chose the 45 year old (since christened king of he north), or the 46 year old with teenage kids, or even the 44 year old with no experience. They chose the OAP career politician.
rswail 6y ago
It's the final fling of the boomers (speaking as the trailing edge of them). This is transitional and we'll see changes in the next political cycles. In the US it will be the post Nixon, post Reagan politicians, in the EU it will be the post Berlin Wall/unification politicians. The problems of the 20th century are fading, but the problems of the 21st are crystalizing. Climate Change, the effects of 40 years of laissez faire capitalism and dergulation, the effects of casualisation of the work force and in many OECD societies, lack of wage growth or wealth of the lower/middle classes.
danenania 6y ago
The main requirement for more diversity in the US system is ranked choice voting. Without it, people are forced to vote pragmatically for the lesser of two evils rather than according to their values, and no party other than the two entrenched ones can get any traction. Needless to say, this is unlikely to change without a fight, since the status quo benefits the people in power on both sides.

Izkata 6y ago

IMO this was the primary thing that got Trump elected in 2016: He was the outsider, a big "fuck you" to both major parties.

1_player 6y ago
And we've seen the result. If I've learned anything atop my 33 wise years old, is that any political candidate that looks like a clean break from the old guard, is exactly the same if not worse than its predecessors. And this is just my cynicism: the corollary is that any candidate, new or old, is a bad choice, except extremely rare exceptions.

iso947 6y ago

UK is polarised by age - a minority of people under the age of 60 voted to leave te eu or voted Tory, yet we are leaving with a massive Tory majority. Labour’s last leader was magic grandpa boomer. The new one is slightly younger, come the next election he’ll only be in his early 60s. Lib Dems had a young leader who (aged 39) managed to convert from being second in the June elections (led by a 70+ year old) to losing her seat in December, with a 7 year old and a baby. There are relatively young leaders - Finland and New Zealand come to mind, but leaders tend to be reflections of the population. When the UK Labour Party was taken over by hundreds of thousands of young socialists via momentum in 2015, they didn’t chose the 45 year old (since christened king of he north), or the 46 year old with teenage kids, or even the 44 year old with no experience. They chose the OAP career politician.

rswail 6y ago

It's the final fling of the boomers (speaking as the trailing edge of them). This is transitional and we'll see changes in the next political cycles. In the US it will be the post Nixon, post Reagan politicians, in the EU it will be the post Berlin Wall/unification politicians. The problems of the 20th century are fading, but the problems of the 21st are crystalizing. Climate Change, the effects of 40 years of laissez faire capitalism and dergulation, the effects of casualisation of the work force and in many OECD societies, lack of wage growth or wealth of the lower/middle classes.

danenania 6y ago

The main requirement for more diversity in the US system is ranked choice voting. Without it, people are forced to vote pragmatically for the lesser of two evils rather than according to their values, and no party other than the two entrenched ones can get any traction. Needless to say, this is unlikely to change without a fight, since the status quo benefits the people in power on both sides.