We need younger politicians
A shift in age is a shift in values—and people are scared!
It’s nearing December now and as we crawl our way to the end of the first quarter of the 21st-century, one thing remains starkly apparent: the world is going to shit, and we’re enabling it.
We can, of course, go on in circles about what we, as individuals, are doing to help, and that’s important. But, when we exist in a system designed to make our lives harder, individual efforts can only go so far when not paired with collective movement. And the people in government responsible for spearheading these collective movements—the politicians we vote in with high hopes—seem instead perfectly content to lay about and do the bare minimum.
How many times must we pick the best of the worst only for them to do nothing for us? How many times must we be grateful for it? Have we been gaslit to think that if we change the way we vote, things will only get worse?
How long will this go on for? Well, apparently, not as long as I’d expected, because New York City—of all places—threw at us a curveball.
As of November 4th, New York City, the United States, and spectators all over the world celebrate Zohran Mamdani’s win in the mayoral elections. Hopes are high that Mamdani will deliver the many promises for the people that he made during his campaign; a theoretical first for any politician ever.
Mamdani’s popularity among voters has been made incredibly evident through the $8 million dollars worth of funding he managed to collect from approximately 18,000 donors across the city, as well as the fact that voter turnout during the mayoral election has basically doubled since the last. Even Trump’s threats against New York City couldn’t prevent Mamdani’s win by almost 10%. And it should be noted that Mamdani didn’t just win the mayoral election against Cuomo, he won the Democratic primaries against him as well. For twice in a row, the underdog was picked over the “safe” choice.
It seems that, despite Cuomo’s worries about his lacking experience, Mamdani is doing fine so far.
Now let me be clear, I’m not endorsing the man. As excited as I am that he won the election, I am very well aware of the fact that he’s a politician and politicians are known for breaking promises. But he talks a good game and I—like thousands of other people around the world—am hopeful. In this political climate hope is worth a lot.
And with hope comes the urge to incite change. Zohran Mamdani, only 34-years-old, is the youngest US mayor to be elected this century, stepping into a role we have been told is reserved for age and experience. Most official roles, in fact, have been designated to those of the “appropriate” age and experience, which seems to translate to at least 50-years of age.
But why? What great experience do our aged politicians have that puts them above the hopeful 20-and-30-year-old people wanting to hold a position in office? Is it really about experience? Or is it just the privilege of age?
As of our most recent election in Canada, 3 of the elected MPs in the House of Commons are in their 20s. Yet, the Senate’s youngest member is 51. We have evidence to prove younger candidates can gain public support and be elected for official positions, and yet society looks down on those that try, decrying them for their age. Because a shift in age is a shift in values.
It isn’t about how old someone is, you see, or how experienced they are. It’s about what they signify. Younger officials signal a cry for change. People in their 20s and 30s are sick of the status quo that keeps our current politicians comfortable. New elected officials—those who don’t have a longstanding history with the parties that are so good at disappointing us, those who aren’t entrenched in all the promises they’ve broken—would be dichotomic to the fearmongering that lingers in modern day elections. The idea that you must vote for the lesser of two (or more) evils is inherently oppositional to voting for someone new and hopeful, someone with the capacity to bring about change.
So yes, we should have younger elected officials, because who will speak for us if not ourselves. But more importantly, we should have new blood.
It should not be age, or partisanship, or race, or religion, that influences us to vote but the change they are capable of bringing about.
