A " Youth " Revolution !

There was something mesmerising about the spectacle of millions of kids pouring out of American schools and staging demonstrations to tell their president that they demanded safety - and the removal of assault rifles from the public to strictly use by the military .

President Trump's reply was a vague suggestion about arming teachers.  Anything to avoid getting the powerful arms lobby offside.  Just imagine the ludicrous image of elderly, untrained teachers with a handgun being expected to do battle with an intruder brandishing a military machine gun with a hundred round clip.  Not even Hollywood would find that believable.

Perhaps this rage will subside and the kids will go back to class - and maybe it will not.  Kids in America get the vote at eighteen and can register at seventeen.  A lot of those demonstrating will be able to vote by the next election and now they have a powerful reason to register - and turn out and have their say.

Traditionally, kids are not interested in politics and choose not to vote, but this could develop into a movement and if it did it would rock the traditional Republican and Democrat parties with their rigid orthodoxy and rejection of compromise.   If the kids of America set their minds to it they could create a new political party that had a fresh approach to righting many wrongs.

If the kids could get their act together and draft a policy platform that embraces the changes that most people want, but  expect will never happen because the stultifying dead hand of traditional politics, they will  be a powerful force to be reckoned with.   Kids talking their politics to Mum and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma can swing a lot of votes and destroy the present " do nothing " complacency.

It must to obvious to most thinking people that politics in America has reached a low ebb. Elections are rarely a real contest because the same old faces hold office term after term and the elected member votes on orthodox lines rather than break new ground.  Failure to toe the party line would ensure disendorsement and the end of life on the " gravy train ".

It all depends if the kids realise the power they hold and can put together a platform that is realistically achievable.  They will need to reject the firebrands who demand the impossible if they are to create a movement that appeals to the average voter.   The fact that voting in America is optional means that a lot of potential voters have given up because they think effective change is now impossible.

An opportunity exists for a creative change in American politics.   Now it all depends on a few charismatic leaders emerging from the pack, seizing the attention of the kids calling for change and creating a " movement " that lasts the difference in young peoples attention spans.   If they can make politics as enchanting as the latest music sensation or dance sequence it could bring about an American revival that is desperately needed.

This seems to be an opportunity as profound as the " Suffragettes " who toiled to give women the vote, or the rescission of the law that only permitted property owners to record a vote.   The missing item in American politics has always been the youth vote.   Perhaps now its time has come !