I find myself, through no fault of my own, a member of Generation Y. We are the “New Digitals;” coming of age through Facebook amidst the Bush, and now Obama, regimes. We are tech-savvy, connected, and get information faster than every generation preceding us. We have access to more knowledge and literature easier and cheaper than ever before. We should be the most politically aware, as well. We are not.
We are woefully uninvolved and uninterested. The great digital expanse, for all too many of us, becomes a cocoon; a blanket to swaddle us and keep us content. Instead of using the information and resources we have at our fingertips to further the pursuit for truth, we fall prey to the mainstream media and propaganda. I would argue even more so than the generations before us, for there is certainly no mass outcry among my generation at the horrors committed by our government. Where is our Youth Movement? Where are the demonstrations and the mass resistance to the continuation of policies that so galvanized the student populations during the Vietnam-era? While there may have been an ill-defined and hazy rejection of the war in Iraq and the Bush Years, that bleary anti-authoritarianism has become mindless praise for the Great Changer and much is forgiven.
The role of youth in questioning authority is absolutely necessary. All too often age de-radicalizes as individuals seek security and tradition over personal freedom and liberty. For some this might only be due to the weariness of fighting for a movement that has seemingly accomplished so little but that is all the more reason for the metaphorical, and perhaps literal, arms to be taken up again with renewed vigor. Resistance is not simply an ideological discussion, it is a lifestyle. It isn’t a phase, but an awakening. This is why the Youth Movement is so important. We must revitalize and invigorate a resistance which is as old as The State itself. Children are the future, it is often said, and this is wholly true. Not only must we keep the Movement alive, but we must move it forward. Students have historically been a fountainhead of revolution throughout the world, but in the U.S. that fervor is almost entirely lacking.
Instead of agitating for revolution, we meekly request reform. And that is only if we even raise our heads high enough to see the injustice around us. War, torture, illegal wiretappings, the elimination of Habeas Corpus, American Imperialism and a multitude of other affronts to liberty have been simply grunted at disapprovingly with barely a second thought. There is virtually a complete lack of real care or outrage towards these atrocities. Those that do care seem to be content with supporting another statist in a different colored suit and prettier rhetoric.
But one must always look for a way forward; for the foothold on the cliff face. For all the brainless, ideologically-bankrupt, youth support of the Obama Administration, there is a smaller, but more active and aware movement behind Congressman Ron Paul. Dr. Paul, a small, wizened, representative from Texas, is an unlikely beacon for the Youth Movement, but his presidential campaign has spawned forth a real desire for revolution. His cries for the civil liberties supposedly guaranteed by the Constitution have resonated strongly amongst the disillusioned and those who desire real activism and not the “change” peddled by the mainstream media and the Administration. His unwillingness to compromise is startlingly refreshing amidst the circus of opportunists in D.C. I am still baffled that he has survived uncorrupted and I would not encourage others to take the same risks. To keep one’s values uncompromised when surrounded by our nation’s greatest snake-oil salesmen is praise-worthy indeed. This man, who succeeded in raising record-breaking amounts of money in a single day, was able to reach out to the “New Digitals” and accomplish the seemingly impossible: invoke passion in the MTV generation. The radical movement was able to break through to a mainstream audience, and with that, his support from the younger generation grew even more. Through social networking and blogs his revolution had spread like wildfire. We have taken notice, but what Ron Paul has inspired is only the beginning. We must take this burgeoning youth movement and work towards a revitalized rebelliousness. We must use the tools available to us, whether it’s the internet or a can of spray paint, to work towards a new, national reawakening.
We, the youth, must not simply rebel against any authority, but instead assault with full strength of will, The Authority.
Ben has only been an anarchist for a short period in his young life, but he intends to spread the movement through any means possible. His goal is nothing short of the full actualization of human potential. When he's not busy with his head in the clouds he's either fencing, involved in theater, or reading up on economics; and enjoying it all. 
I see it a bit differently though I am much older.
When I started thinking of myself as a free market anarchist (about 1995) I knew no other person who referred to himself as such. Now, 15 years later, I know dozens of people (in real life, not just online) who refer to themselves as such.
I’m glad to hear so!
That is encouraging, and hopefully as the U.S. is faced with its inevitable economic collapse, awareness will spread. Well, it doesn’t seem proper to speak passively in that sense. Hopefully our efforts to spread awareness will be successful and Society itself can be allowed to prosper out its previous remains.
Part of the reason the “youth movement” was more vocal during Nam was that there was a draft. Their asses were on the line. As it turned out most of those same people went on to embrace the state and it’s socialist agenda.
Put me down as radicalized by education and experience. Just the fact that you wrote this gives me more hope for the future than I had twenty years ago. The radicalism often displayed on this site is an entirely different kind than was dominent in the sixties.
Collectivism and statism played a large part in the radicalism of the sixties. I think many of the leaders of that radicalism have infiltrated the power structure of the US and are responsible for the rise of the Nanny State we are experiencing now. At least in part I’ve become increasingly libertarian in response to this.
Ed, that reminds me of a shirt that Bureaucrash (talk about de-radicalization) sold saying “Real rebels don’t support centralized state authority”
I think part of the key to the youth movement is being able to challenge normal rebelliousness into an actual awareness. It is much easier for a younger individual to have that switch click on in his or her head which allows them to see the state for what it is. Just through conversation with any of my peers, even if they do not agree with me, I can see they struggle with conforming their idea of the state with what they see in front of them.
Ben, good article, and yeah, BC deradicalized in a big way. I’d like to see more posted on here from you.
Thanks Mike! I’ll do my best, though my talent lies in speaking rather than writing. Takes me a while to get something down worth reading. Haha.
There are plenty of radicalized youth. They are taking over universities, attempting to break up G20 demonstrations, dropping out, and participating in various culture jamming activities.
I don’t see Ron Paul as radical. Sure he seems radical compared to his Republican counterparts, but he is really a conservative.
Most of the radicalized youth that you describe though, Chris, don’t really have the same views as me. Maybe it’s because I’m not so young anymore…
Though I agree that Ron Paul is not very radical compared to myself I still think that he has done a world of good for our “movement.” Just having young people really think about government and its evils is good for our movement. With time I can generally steer a Ron Paul supporter towards a more principled position.
Chris, I do agree that Ron Paul is hardly a radical. I see him as bridge; a gateway from the world of the two party (single state) system, politics, coercion, and conservatism to radicalism. While he is not himself a radical, he is a spring board into the world of radicalism–a necessary transition for some.
My experience has been different. One of the most radical anarchists I’ve known went to work for the Paul campaign for the 2008 election and became a voter (for that cycle at least; I don’t know if he continued voting after that or not). I never would have imagined he’d do that. I think it goes both ways, and I’m not sure how to tell which way dominates.
I think that if we judge Mr Paul by his time and his peers then he is pretty radical, honestly.
Butler Shaffer put it pretty well, I believe, when he said, “When we vote in an election, we are declaring, by our actions, our support for the process of some people ruling others by coercive means.”
Tucker, also provides much insight into the nature of voting, which “is neither more nor less than a paper representative of the bayonet, the bully, and the bullet.”