more on political generations

As the Obama youth revolution kicks into high gear, some more thoughts on GenY/GenMe/Millennial Generation politics in the American Prospect. It responds to the work of psychologist Jean M. Twenge (Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled -- and More Miserable Than Ever Before), which paints the kids as narcissistic and self-absorbed. The author discusses a UC-Davis study refuting that, and adds:

It's no surprise that our generation is voting for Obama in the Democratic primary by margins of two to one. We're hungry for someone to tell us that change is up to us, that we have a place in the public sphere, that we have to look up from our computer screens, roll up our sleeves, and get involved in the hard work of citizenship. It's more than his oratorical gifts that inspire us, the young and skeptical; it's his insistence that we are ready for a paradigm shift in politics and within ourselves.

A good commentary. Also speaks to some of my recent thoughts on Generation X and how we've been overlooked in politics, sandwiched in between the reigning Boomers and rising Millennials. It's because nothing was ever asked of us. Politics for our adult lives were at first a joke about stained blue dresses, then a tragedy overseen by shady established powers immune to influence by a generation just entered into adulthood. We wanted to be called to a mission on 9/11, but our leaders never asked challenged us except with expectations of base and mindless obedience. But where was the challenge to engage? Where was the call for civic service?