It\u2019s easy to lampoon the State of the Union address. A speech full of pomp and circumstance but relatively devoid of specifics is difficult to take seriously.<\/p>\n
Few can see through the charade more clearly than younger generations. Marketers and ad execs know that traditional TV marketing techniques are ineffective with Millennials, so it\u2019s obvious last night\u2019s promises are liable to fall particularly flat with 20-somethings.<\/p>\n
Young people today face a government that is more bloated, more invasive, and less efficient than ever. Tuesday night\u2019s speech promised to continue this status quo.<\/p>\n
The State of the Union was a study in contrasts and omitted information, and young people can see right through it. The President praised a low unemployment rate \u2013 leaving out the fact that the job-seeking numbers are low because many people have given up on finding work. He touted a reduced deficit \u2013 while praising the end of the Budget Control Act and sequester that led to the reduction.<\/p>\n
The President requested billions of dollars in spending, or \u201cinvestment,\u201d on programs ranging from new technology \u201chubs\u201d to a hike in the minimum wage for federal employees and further managing and regulating of Americans\u2019 retirement savings through the new myRA program, as well as the extension of supposedly temporary federal unemployment insurance passed way back in 2008. All the while, he neglected the fact that all of this new spending falls directly on our backs in the form of a massive national debt.<\/p>\n
The President pontificated on the need to ensure all Americans, particularly young minorities, are given equal opportunity, neglecting the fact that his Drug War continues to have a disproportionate impact on those very people, recent platitudes aside.<\/p>\n
He spoke of NSA reform, as his administration continues to do all in its power to smear and prosecute the person who brought the abuses to national attention, without which it seems obvious no \u201creforms\u201d would have even been attempted.<\/p>\n
Finally, perhaps most offensively to young people, the President defended the same old invasive foreign policy, repeating Bush-era talking points about Iran and terrorism, and \u2013 maybe most outrageously of all \u2013 attempting to take credit for the Syrian chemical disarmament through \u201cdiplomacy,\u201d leaving out the fact that had his administration had its way just a few months ago, young people would be facing another war today.<\/p>\n