Colin Potter
Dr. Stephanie Brown
Persuasive Essay Final
Open Letter of Millennials
Concerned About Trump and this Past Election
Dear Millennials,
2016
has been one of the worst years on record. With the death of so many influential people, and the
rise of Donald Trump, it is hard to be optimistic moving forwards. Barring a cataclysmic
meteorite striking the Earth square in the middle of the US, Donald Trump will
be the next president of the United States, having won 306 electoral votes (CNN). This is
especially disheartening when you look at the popular vote, results, which as
of this writing were 62,793,872
(46.3%) for Donald Trump and 65,432,202 (48.2%) for Hillary Clinton. All
this makes it seem like we are all helpless to make progress and positive
change in our country, however there are many ways in which one person can make
a huge difference within their community, in the nation, and even globally.
More importantly, the price of complacency in this key point in our history may
be a reduction of the
rights of our fellow Americans, a huge global conflict, and irreversible damage
to our environment. All of us should get involved by donating money to
organizations that support our views, calling our representatives to voice our concerns and values,
speaking out against oppression, and voting.
I
can say with relative certainty that we all wish to make a positive impact in the country. The problem
is that, with the results of this election, it might be hard to know what to
do. The biggest opposition
many millennials usually have to becoming politically active is, “What can one person do to make
a difference? Someone else will be able to dedicate more time that I will so it
doesn’t matter if I get involved.” This is not only wrong, but it
assumes that someone else out there has your exact same values but is willing
to dedicate twice as much time and effort to make up for your noninvolvement.
Even if it is simply a monthly $5 donation to an organization working to progress your values, it
still goes a long way. Bernie Sanders was able to push the most progressive
platform the Democratic Party has ever had raising money with just around $30 as an average donation
(Bump). He may not have won, but many of his most popular points are now part
of the Democratic platform, making this a clear example of the impact even a
little involvement can
have. Even getting out one evening and participating in a protest is a way to
make your voice heard and push for change.
[1]Change
can be made at many different levels in our society, so deciding which level to
put your time and money in is very important. You
will see the most change from your effort and money at the community level.
Calling city council members, donating money to local organizations like the local Planned Parenthood
or local food bank, and even getting involved in your neighborhood are great
way to push for change in a way that will be visible to you and not depend
directly on who may be President. At the State level, your time and money work to elect your state representatives and push for
changes that affect the whole state. These changes have the potential to affect
anything from how much money your local schools receive, to when your city and
county can decide to hold an election for local politicians. Pushing for these
changes is a great way to influence your state representatives and push for state policy which in
many cases may become adopted by politicians at the national level, impacting
the whole country. At the national level, your time
and money generally have the least impact. However, there are things
that can be done to push for change. Calling the local offices of your congressmen
and women is a great way to push for your values at the national level through
your representatives in
Congress. Donating money to national organizations is also a great way to allow
these organizations to do a better job at their goals, and it means that your
interests are more strongly represented. Just look at how much influence the
NRA has, and imagine if instead of a group like that it were an environmental organization who had that
much power because of donations of individuals.
[2]A
huge issue that has come up recently has been how people should protest. Millennials get out on the street to protest Trump’s
election and get yelled at to get jobs, to get over it you college brats, and
that it won’t make a difference. These arguments
are all wrong to some degree or another. It is definitely not true that
protesters don’t have jobs. The truth is that millennials
can’t afford things because of rising costs of living and especially of
education, and a part time or full time job is not enough to pay college
tuition, and being a student in debt does not devalue the voice you have. What you choose to do with your free time is different
for everyone, and people who choose to spend
it making their voice heard are completely justified in doing so. The argument that millennials are spoiled and
should get over it is an argument designed to devalue the voices of the
millions of people out there protesting and make them have less of an impact. People who are dissatisfied are often viewed in
this way, and are devalued just like this by others whose views are different. Finally,
the notion that a millennials won’t make a difference by protesting is
completely wrong. The goal isn’t to change the result of the election overall,
it is to raise awareness of the fact that Clinton won the popular vote by
almost 2%, a sizable margin, and Trump and republicans need to realize this and
work to reconcile the concerns of the majority moving forwards. Because of this
goal, protests on Trump’s presidency are effective because they succeed in raising
awareness of this fact.
[3]Moving
forwards in this divided chapter in our nation’s history, I encourage you to
get involved, to donate money to local and national organizations that protect
and advance your interests, call local and national politicians to make sure
they know about your concerns, and get out and protest. The alt-right has done
a fantastic job at being politically active, and have been very successful at
pushing their values and policies into office and law. It’s about time that the
left did the same, and it can only happen if many people mobilize and get
involved. The only way to do it wrong is to not get involved at all. There is
so much at stake, from our environment, to our rights, and even our
international relations, all of which should alone be enough reason to get
involved but together make it imperative we do. So let’s get to work.
Works Cited
CNN Politics. 2016 Election Results. CNN Politics,
2016, www.cnn.com/election/results. Accessed 8 Dec 2016.
Bump,
Philip. Bernie Sanders keeps saying his
average donation is $27, but his own numbers contradict that. Washington
Post, 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/04/18/bernie-sanders-keeps-saying-his-average-donation-is-27-but-it-really-isnt/?utm_term=.b3a488b24244.
Accessed 8 Dec 2016.
[1]
Paragraph Structure Paragraph 1:
-
Purpose: to look at the differences in what effect
they can have on their community, state, and the nation are.
-
Main Characters: the reader, their time and
money
-
Topic String Type: A mixed topic string format,
with focused at the beginning and more chained strings later on. There are
several breaks in the string organization as I switch between the community,
state, and national level.
[2]
Paragraph Structure Paragraph 2:
-
Purpose: Defend the protests occurring against
Trump and convince the reader to be a part of other protests.
-
Main characters: Millennials, these arguments,
the reader, people in general
-
Topic String Type: Mixed format, alternating
between focused and chained, but following a branching chain style where one
[3]
Conclusion Justification:
The
biggest thing I was trying to accomplish in the conclusion was to reiterate the
ways I discussed of how to get involved and to impart a sense of urgency and
necessity in the reader for getting involved. I chose to make it fairly short
to add to its impact, and end the paragraph itself with a short sentence to
leave the reader with something impactful that underscores the need to get
involved in the political process.
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