Millennials and Politics: Disengaged and Disillusioned

If you follow the Emerald Quill you know that this blogger is obsessed with trying to understand Millennials. You also know that I keep a keen eye on politics and continuously try to share information that I think is important. I often wonder do youngsters care anything about politics at all. Think about this: 72 million young adults were born after 1985; they make up 36% of the 2014 workforce and 46% by 2020. Since Millennials hold our future in their hands, let's take a look at their political mind-set and habits.

The Washington Post reports ‘that Millennials are disengaged and disillusioned with the U.S. political system”. In many ways, that’s true. Compared with Gen Xers (born between 1965 and 1980) and Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964), the generation of Americans who were born after 1980 and before 1997 identify less with political parties, are less interested in politics and vote at lower rates. Even young Americans who consider themselves politically active may not do much more than vote every few years, sign an online petition once a year, or passive-aggressively unfriend people who express different political views on Facebook.

Many people see these trends as a product of the general uprooting of American civic society. For a variety of complex reasons -- including changes in work, technology and gender roles -- Americans today know less about their neighbors, are less likely to take part in their communities, and be part of fewer formal institutions such as churches or political parties.

Millennials are the most racially and ethnically diverse generation (40% non-white and Hispanic). They rely on Facebook for their political news, while Baby Boomers turn to local TV. This generation is the most moderate of any generation (39% moderates, 31% liberal, and 26% conservative). They are more likely to identify themselves as self described independents (50%). Millennials opt for bigger government providing more services over smaller government providing fewer services (53%).

This generation is not isolationists. They support the military conducting nation building in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sixty per cent believe that it is the right decision to use force in Afghanistan, fourteen points higher than the Silent Generation. Seven in 10 Millennials believe that immigrants strengthen our country.

A recent Pew study labels Millennials as liberal, churchless and single. Millennials haven't bought into the idea that they should go to church or get married early. Only 36 percent of the Millennials said the phrase "a religious person" described them very well, compared with 52 percent of the Gen Xers, 55 percent of the baby boomers and 61 percent of the Silent Generation. And they're significantly less religious than their immediately predecessors, the Gen Xers. When they were the same age, almost half of the Gen Xers — 47 percent — identified themselves as religious. The 64 percent of the millennials who say that they are not religious "is the highest for any age group we've ever measured," Taylor said.

 The Millennials were far less inclined toward marriage than the groups that preceded them. Only 26 percent of the millennial adults are married. When they were the same age, 36 percent of the Gen Xers, 48 percent of baby boomers and 65 percent of the Silent Generation were married.

History shows us that people change as life goes on. It will be interesting to see how much Millennials change as they get older and how those changes will impact their political views. I wonder how their political mind set and views will shape the world that they will make for themselves.

Related Articles of Interest:

Millenials Are Disillusioned with Politics, The Washington Post

When It Comes To Politics, Do Millenials Care About Anything?, The Atlantic

Polls Show Good News for Democrats With Young Voters, Huff Post Politics

Millenials Won't Be in Charge of Congress Until At Least 2035, Huff Post Politics

Improving Millenials' Civic Health and the Country's, Huff Post Politics
 

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Teetotalers: Celebrities That Don’t Drink

Kim Cattrall-Christina Ricci-Blake Lively

After the word come up in our conversation, I had to explain to my granddaughter that a “milk-toast” was an extremely mild, easily dominated person, someone you might call namby pamby or wishy washy. We went to the names of a few family members and friends trying to identify a living example of a milk-toast. When I dropped the word “teetotaler”, I advised her that this was a person who totally abstains from intoxicating drink. As a follow-up to that conversation, I identified a number of well-known celebrities who don’t drink, including actors , Kim Cattrall, Christina Ricci and Blake Lively.

Colin Farrell-Gerard Butler-Bradley Cooper

Many celebrities fell into serious trouble in their past and turned to abstinence to maintain a healthy life style and more secure future.  Bradley Cooper gave up alcohol at age 29 after a drunken incident where he being hospitalized after repeatedly banging his head on the floor. Actor Gerard Butler spent his youth, age 14 to 27 partying hard, but has been sober for more than 15 years. In 2012, he spent a stint at Betty Ford Center for pain management after a surfing injury. He wanted to avoid taking any pain pills. Actor Colin Farrell is often represented as a bad boy, ladies’ man partying hard. He confesses that for 15 years he hadn’t spoken to or made love with a woman while sober. He has been a teetotaler for 8 years.

Jennifer Hudson-Jada Pinkett Smith-Tyra Banks

Clean living supermodel and entertainment mogul Tyra Banks hasn’t had a drink since she was 12 years old. Jennifer Hudson saw lives ruined with the murder of her mother, brother, and nephew by her brother-in-law. He’s serving 3 life sentences plus 120 years in prison. Jennifer doesn’t drink, smoke or do drugs. In the past, Jada Pinkett Smith drank 2 bottles of win every night, but she’s given it up and remains totally sober. Sex in the City’s Kristin Davis quit drinking at age 22.

Retired soccer player David Beckham hasn’t touched a drink in years. His gorgeous body and amazing shape attest to his healthy life style. Joe Manganiello (True Blood/Magic Mike) had an addiction to alcohol for 4 years during his 20’s. He’s been sober for more than a decade. Country crooner Tim McGraw gave up drinking for his daughters and made a change for the better. Ben Affleck spent a stint in rehab and has been sober for 15 years.

About 12% of Americans have had an alcohol dependence problem at some point in their lives. Those who have been able to overcome this problem are noteworthy and serve as an example to others.

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Forbes List-Highest Paid Celebrities 2015 Goes Global

When Forbes listed the 100 Highest Paid Celebrities 2015, the list is not business as usual. The list still measures money earned in one year, before management fees and taxes are subtracted, but the 2015 list includes candidates from all corners of the globe. The variety on the 2015 list is interesting, from Beyonce (#29 at 54.5 million), Jackie Chan (#38 at $50 million), Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova (#88 at $29.5), to Canadian rapper Drake (#54 at 39.5 million). Thirty-two list members are from outside the U. S. and 15 are from the U.K., including Gordon Ramsey,”the chef who ate the world”, (#21 at $60 million) and singer-songwriter-musician Ed Sheeran (#27 at $57 million). Take a look at the top ten:

1.      Floyd Mayweather $300 million

2.      Manny Pacquiao     $160 million

3.      Katy Perry               $135 million

4.      One Direction          $130 million

5.      Howard Stern          $95 million

6.      Garth Brooks           $90 million

7.      James Patterson       $89 million

8.      Robert Downey Jr.   $80 million

9.      Taylor Swift             $80 million

10.  Cristiano Ronaldo     $79.5 million

 

Katy Perry is part of the burgeoning batch of stars cashing in on an increasingly global entertainment landscape. She used her Super Bowl Globe to showcase her talents to audiences abroad. As part of her Prismatic World Tour, she played 124 shows during our scoring period; 75 of them took place abroad, in 27 different countries. According to her managers, 60% of her income now pours in from foreign markets.

Believe it or not, the Gender Gap applies to both the celebrities on this list as it does to the wider society. Only 16 of the world’s highest paid celebrities are women, including Perry and Taylor Swift among the top 10 list members. Women on the list made a combined total of $809 million dollars, while men made $4.35 billion. The UN estimates it will take 70 years to close the gender gap at the current rate.

One Direction takes the No. 4 spot for similar reasons: The world’s biggest boy band played 74 dates over the past 12 months, averaging seven-figure grosses at every stop, hitting every continent besides Antarctica. Thanks to a strong touring drive—and profound changes in the concert business, spurred by the rise of the global middle class—the group earned more than twice as much as the Rolling Stones.

 

Hollywood is benefiting from this sort of trend as well. Avengers: Age of Ultron grossed $240 million in China, whose monthly box office surpassed the U.S. for the first time this past February. Robert Downey, Jr. (No. 8) earned double-digit millions for playing Iron Man in that film en route to a career-high $80 million payday, tying him with Taylor Swift, whose best-selling album 1989 moved 3.7 million units in 2014.

 

 

Taylor Swift won wide acclaim for slaying a giant. The singer wrote an open letter to Apple Music saying "please don't ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation". Apple bowed and Senior Vice President Eddy Cue tweeted "we hear you @taylorswift13", indicating that Apple Music would pay artists for streaming even during the customer's free trial period. How that for flexing your muscles.

 

Meanwhile, Vin Diesel (No. 43) banked $47 million thanks to a back-end cut on Furious 7, which brought in $1.5 billion worldwide. More than $1 billion of that sum came from abroad, including roughly $400 million in China, where it’s the highest-grossing film of all-time.

 The entertainment market is global and savvy entertainers are finding ways to tap into new sources of wealth.

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Intent vs. Impact: Recent Landmark Supreme Court Decisions

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest federal court of the United States. In the legal system of the United States, the Supreme Court is the final interpreter of federal constitutional law. This week the court issued three landmark decisions.

The U.S. Supreme Court handed President Barack Obama a major victory on Thursday by upholding tax subsidies crucial to his signature healthcare law, with Chief Justice John Roberts saying Congress clearly intended for them to be available in all 50 states.

In King v. Burwell (June 25, 2015), the court ruled on a 6-3 vote that the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA), widely known as Obamacare, did not restrict the subsidies to states that establish their own online healthcare exchanges. It marked the second time in three years that the high court ruled against a major challenge to the law brought by conservatives seeking to gut it.

"Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them," Roberts wrote in the court's decision, adding that nationwide availability of the credits is required to "avoid the type of calamitous result that Congress plainly meant to avoid."

The Obama administration has hailed the law as a success, saying 16.4 million previously uninsured people have gained health insurance since it was enacted.

 

On the same day that the ACA ruling was issued, the court issued its decision in Texas Dep't of Housing, & Community Affairs v.Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. (June 25, 2015): Claims of housing discrimination based on disparate impact rather than a showing of discriminatory intent may be brought under the Fair Housing Act. To defeat a defense based on business justification or a public interest, a plaintiff must identify an available alternative that serves the defendant's needs and would have less disparate impact. Although this decision got much less airing in the media, it is a landmark decision. In effect the ruling says discrimination may not have been intended in the actions taken, but the effect is discriminatory as evidenced by its disparate impact. This ruling gives further weigh to impact as defense against discrimination under the Fair Housing Law. Oddly enough, the court upheld the ACA based on the intent of the law, while it decreed the intent is also weighed by disparate impact under Fair Housing Act.

SCOTUS issued its ruling on Same Sex Marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges (June 26, 2015): Under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, all states must license a marriage between two people of the same sex and recognize such a marriage if it was lawfully licensed and performed in another state.

All in all these decisions furthered the cause of equal treatment under the law for all American citizens.

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The Supreme Court-How it Works

The Supreme Court is the most powerful court in the United States. It was set up by the founding fathers of the United States in the third article of the Constitution.

 The court is made up of nine members, called justices. There is one chief justice and eight associate justices. They are appointed by the president and can serve on the Supreme Court their whole lives. A justice can only be dismissed if they do something wrong or illegal. Each justice must be approved by the Senate before they take office.

 The Supreme Court guards and defends the American constitution. It decides legal cases that arise between citizens, states and the federal government. In most cases the Supreme Court hears cases that have already been decided before a lower court. When someone who has lost a case thinks that the decision is wrong, he or she can appeal to higher courts. The highest court of appeal is the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, however, cannot deal with all the cases that are brought to it. Each year it hears about 250 cases, only choosing the ones that the justices think are most important.

 When the Supreme Court hears a case both parties have the chance to bring their arguments before the justices, who may then ask questions. Parties can also present written papers that show their opinion. There are no witnesses at such a hearing and there is no jury allowed.

 At the end of the hearing the justices vote on the case. They must reach a decision by majority vote. Then a justice is chosen to write down the opinion of what most justices think. In many cases not all justices have the same opinion on a topic.

When the Supreme Court decides something it is final. All the other courts in the country must decide an issue in the same way. A Supreme Court ruling can be turned around in two ways. Sometimes the members of Congress amend the constitution, or the Supreme Court itself may later on decide differently in a similar case.

 For example, in 1895 the Supreme Court ruled that the government was not allowed to collect taxes from its citizens. Two decades later Congress passed the 16th Amendment, which gave the government the right to collect money from the people.

In another issue the Supreme Court changed its view on what it thought about how blacks and whites should live together. In 1896 it decided that blacks and whites should have separate public places, like schools, bus stops etc... In 1954 the court ruled that sending blacks and whites to different schools was against the constitution.

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