They’re Our Kids: Why This Midterm Matters More Than You Think
On November 3rd, Americans will head to the polls for the midterms. You will hear people say it’s “just” a midterm. Fewer people vote. The ads get tuned out. Life gets busy.
That is exactly why it matters so much.
Right now the balance of power in Washington comes down to a handful of seats. Republicans hold the Senate 53 to 47. Flip four seats and control changes hands. The House is even closer. A few races in states like Michigan, Georgia, Maine, North Carolina and Texas will decide the direction of this country for the next two years, and in many ways for much longer than that.
So I want to talk about what is really on the ballot. Not just the names. The direction.
A few years ago, the Democratic Socialists of America felt like something you would find on a college campus. Today DSA members and endorsed candidates are winning primaries across the country, and here in New York City, a democratic socialist is running the city I have lived in my whole life.
So I went and read what the DSA actually stands for. Not a pundit’s summary. Their own platform. Here is some of what it calls for:
- A new constitution, with a single national legislature in place of the Senate as we know it
- Noncitizen voting in American elections
- Public ownership of major corporations and essential industries
- A 32 hour work week with no reduction in pay
- The eventual abolition of police and prisons
- Deep cuts to the military, closing our bases overseas, and ending sanctions on Cuba, Venezuela and Iran
- Aggressive new wealth taxes, with no estimate of what any of it would cost
Read that list again. That is not a tweak to the system. It is a different country.
Now look at Michigan. Abdul El-Sayed is the Democratic nominee in one of the closest Senate races in America. He says he is not a socialist. But on the campaign trail, one of his loudest supporters has been Hasan Piker, a streamer with millions of followers.
Piker is the man who once said on a livestream that America deserved 9.11. He later called the remark inappropriate. He has also claimed America was worse than al-Qaeda when it comes to terrorism, and his comments about Israel and Jewish Americans have drawn condemnation from members of his own party. The chairman of the Democratic National Committee called the things Piker has said “absolutely disgusting and deplorable.” When El-Sayed was asked whether he would keep campaigning with him, he said he was less concerned with who he campaigns with than who he campaigns to.
I will let you sit with that.
Here is the question I could not stop asking. Who is listening to this man, and why?
I have always believed you have to understand the appeal of something before you can answer it. So I looked. And the answer is not what I expected.
It is our kids.
Piker’s audience is mostly young men in their twenties and thirties. DSA members are mostly young, highly educated, and living in big, expensive cities. More than 80% of members over 25 have a college degree, yet nearly half live in households earning under $60,000 a year. Many work as teachers, social workers, and in nonprofits.
These are not strangers. They are kids who grew up down the street from us. They did what they were told. They got the degree. They took on the debt. And many of them still cannot afford a home or the life their parents had. When the American dream feels like it slammed shut, the person who tells them the whole system is rigged, and offers them a community to belong to, starts to sound like the only one telling the truth.
It reminds me of the 1960s. A generation disillusioned with the country that raised them, convinced the answer was to tear it all down. The difference is that the hippies had to find each other in person. Today an algorithm delivers the message straight to a young person’s phone every night. Most young Americans now get their news from social media and podcasts, not from a newspaper or the evening news.
Which leads me to harder questions. What are our kids learning about America in school? What are they watching on Netflix? Who is talking to them on their phones at midnight while we are asleep? I don’t think there is one simple answer. But I know this. When a generation stops hearing that this country is worth loving, someone else will gladly fill the silence.
Here is the hopeful part. The hippies grew up. Many of them found their way back to faith, family, and country. This generation can too. But not if we write them off. They need to see faith, freedom, and real opportunity lived out by the people around them.
And let me say this plainly. It is time to stop being afraid to stand up for the USA.
For too long, so many of us have stayed quiet. We didn’t want to be called names. We didn’t want the argument at the dinner table or the nasty comment online. We worried about being politically correct. Meanwhile, the people who want to tear this country down have never once been afraid to speak.
I am done worrying about being PC. Loving this country is nothing to apologize for. Believing in God, honoring our flag, and respecting the men and women who fought and died for our freedom is not hateful. It is the foundation that built this great, amazing country.
Our young people are looking for something to stand behind. If we don’t take a stand for the USA, they will stand behind someone who wants to tear it all down. Silence is not neutral. Silence hands someone else the microphone and lets them tell our kids who America is.
So take a stand. Say it out loud. Be kind, be respectful, but do not be quiet.
So I am asking you to do two things.
First, get out and vote. Vote red. Not “if you have time.” Not “if the weather is nice.” Make it the most important appointment on your calendar.
Midterms are won and lost by the people who don’t show up. Every vote you leave on the table is a vote you hand to the people who want to tear this country down. The other side is organized, energized, and counting on us to stay home. Let’s prove them wrong.
Check your registration today. Find out where your polling place is and when early voting starts in your state. Then don’t go alone. Bring your spouse, your parents, your grown kids, your neighbor, your friend from church. Offer someone a ride. One person who brings three more just multiplied their voice by four.
And don’t stop at the top of the ticket. Vote red all the way down the ballot. School boards, city councils, and state legislatures are where movements like this are built, one quiet local race at a time. That is where our kids’ classrooms are decided.
November 3rd. Show up. Vote red. Bring someone with you.
Second, talk to the young people in your life. Don’t lecture. Ask what they are watching and who they are listening to. Then really listen. And then tell them why you love this country.
I created my new design with is very bold, for moments exactly like this one. The lion, the eagle, the cross, and the flag together say what I believe this country needs right now: faith strong enough to stand on and courage strong enough to stand up. Wear the red tee on Election Day. Throw on the hoodie for that cool November morning in line at your polling place. Let people see what you believe.
If this post spoke to you, please share it with someone who needs to read it, especially a young person in your life.
God bless our military, and God bless America.