Hope for the 1980's
This generational transformation affected involvement and stamina of the youth, especially in regards to their involvement with political issues. With Ronald Reagan winning the 1980 election by a landslide, the country began to have a positive outlook on the future of America. President Reagan approached his presidency with high hopes of stimulating the economy and completely pulling the country out of the debt that followed the end of World War II. The country was in dire need of change and President Reagan's plan to get America back on track has the country anxious for a new beginning. His tactics were convincing and encouraging to Americans as he ensured citizens the country would soon be prosperous.
The Campaign
Reagans campaign to help the economy included lowering taxes and decreasing the government spending as much as possible to stimulate economic growth. The country was in a state of extreme inflation, but Reagans promise to keep spending low paid off as he soon led the nation out of a recession and into a time of economic prosperity. His recovery play lead the country to an astonishing 92 months without recession that set the mark for the longest peacetime recorded in history. With poverty decreasing and the unemployment percentages diminishing, Americans had high hopes for the development of their beloved country.
Politics Today
Skipping ahead 30 years, the country has found itself in a similar state that it was in prior to the 1980’s. Unemployment rates have gone up and stayed up for a number of years along with inflation. Our countries current president sees this as a problem, and like Reagan, has a plan to change it. Even though it is certain that president Obama and President Reagan are trying to revive their country, they went about doing so in almost a complete opposite direction. President Obama’s plan is to raise taxes to increase the wealth of the government and has spent loads of money on government issues and plans. With such drastic differences you would think the people would respond differently to such a plan, but the youth continues to stay out of the picture.
Youth Involvement
It seems as if youth today and in the 80’s act the same in regards to politics. Our generation has been stereotyped as lazy and unproductive. Members of older generations see us as uninvolved. This could be due to the fact that many of our parents were the ones living in the 80’s and we have simply learned from them. We have grown up in such a self-absorbed world due to recent advances in technology that we seem to have lost the drive to make a difference in something other than ourselves. From personal experience, it seems the youth of today sees political issues as non-relevant and thus decides to take little action concerning them. In this way, the youth of today is very similar to the youth of the 80’s. It may be due to the progression of technology and our countries modernization in general, or it could simply reflect on the youth’s disinterest in politics.
In the eyes of the older generations, the youth of today has not contributed much to our country. What they see are kids who can't set their cell phones down for five minutes and who rely on the internet for nearly everything. Honestly, this could be true, but is it completely wrong? Our generation is drastically different from any other because we have access to such amenities. The youth of today may not be protesting out on the streets or rallying to make a difference, but with the resources we have, there may not be a need for that anymore. We are constantly getting smarter and smarter along with our country and I can say with certainty that our generation will do something great with what we have. As we learn to use computers to make everyday life easier and more productive, we will see young minds evolving with time to solve issues in new ways. Just because we are different than past generations in no way means we can not achieve new levels of intelligence and create a better country for generations to come.
In the eyes of the older generations, the youth of today has not contributed much to our country. What they see are kids who can't set their cell phones down for five minutes and who rely on the internet for nearly everything. Honestly, this could be true, but is it completely wrong? Our generation is drastically different from any other because we have access to such amenities. The youth of today may not be protesting out on the streets or rallying to make a difference, but with the resources we have, there may not be a need for that anymore. We are constantly getting smarter and smarter along with our country and I can say with certainty that our generation will do something great with what we have. As we learn to use computers to make everyday life easier and more productive, we will see young minds evolving with time to solve issues in new ways. Just because we are different than past generations in no way means we can not achieve new levels of intelligence and create a better country for generations to come.