The Most Important Voter

Unfortunately, the age of 40 is quickly approaching, less than a year away. I've had to deal with certain aging pains. Sports stars my age have been hitting retirement. I'm almost half paid off on my student loans. Four-door sedans have a certain appeal.

Sexy. And with a heated steering wheel.

And certain possibilities are starting to fall by the wayside. Being on a "40 under 40" list is becoming a remote possibility. The untold millions I expect to make (or win) will be spent on responsible things, not youthful exuberance. If I'm not on a presidential ticket this election, it will be impossible to become the youngest president.

Of course, those elections are increasingly difficult. Mostly because I am not being pandered to properly.  I am, after all, the most important voter.



I've dragged out the population pyramid in discussions before. It's a double bar graph of the United States population in millions, divided by age and sex. Oldest at the top, youngest at the bottom by five-year increments. Men left, women right.  Here's how it looked in 2014.

And here is where I am.

Now, that trough in the middle, that minimum point, that dip. I am at that low ebb of population stuck between the aging Baby Boomers above and the Millennials below.

There's an ad campaign trying to label us as the Sandwich Generation. The movie Interstellar started talking about a generation of caretakers. There's a lot of ways to minimize our place in this story.

So, if I am stuck in this low point, why does that make me somehow important? Because in actuality, we are the pivot. I'm going to decide when the next generation of politicians get into office. If I decide to vote old, going with the folks in the 45+ cohorts, it will be a walkover for those candidates. There's about twice as many folks over the age of 35 as there are voters under that age.

An election would be completely uncompetitive if 35-45 year olds
threw in with the Olds and voted for tiny chewable bites and getting off our lawn.

However, we could vote young, and the picture changes. Adding voters between 35 and 45 to the Millennial votes evens things out quite a bit.

35-45 year olds could make things very interesting if our votes
skewed young for loud music and Teletubbies.

There used to be a time when folks born during the 1970's (plus or minus) were called Gen X. We had all the power because we had the money and the remotes. Then they came up with email and these little music players that could fit in your pocket and KABLAMMO, we were insignificant.

And, very honestly, we are going to get screwed on both sides. We've already been put through the ringer by the Baby Boomers. It's just a matter of time until the younglings figure out that a smaller cohort doesn't need that much retirement or social security.

But that's my choice. Am I doing well enough in this system to support it for another round? Or am I prepared to grind it to a halt, end it here and set up the next generation for something different?

Kind of makes me important.