These people grew up getting "participation trophies" and now they feel the simple act of participating in anything means they should be rewarded. While this is viewed as harmless and possibly a good thing when you play a sport, it translates to something horribly bad in politics. The ugly truth about society is people win and people lose and most of us end up losing at some time in life. How we deal with the loss is very revealing and these people seem to short-circuit when they don't get their way or their participation trophy. That's called real life.
When I was in high school, I joined our tennis team. I loved playing tennis and every year the teams got rankings according to wins/losses. One year, we were tied for third place and it all came down to one match. My sister was playing and doing OK, not fantastic. The entire team knew she had to win or we would be tied for third. The whole team sat on the bench with clenched fists, hanging on every point. My sister remained calm and her opponent missed a point, got angry, threw a tantrum and this breakdown led to my sister winning the match. That win cleared our bench and we celebrated, not because the other team lost, but because we won. It was not simply handed to us. It was hard work. Millennials don't appreciate the super sweet taste of such a moment because their "wins" have been handed to them. If we had won third place and looked over to see the team we beat getting a trophy just for showing up, that would have deflated our victory enormously. Victory is sweet, defeat can be bitter. Millennials haven't tasted the bitterness of loss, until now.
Many Millennials wanted Bernie Sanders to be the nominee. Well, he is not and that's just a bitter pill to swallow. Say the Democratic selection was rigged. Perhaps it was. Should I be outraged? Maybe, but I'm not. The DNC is a private organization and after working most of my life I know life is not fair and neither are most selection processes. Better qualified people are passed by every day for multiple reasons. That's the unfortunate nature of human beings.
But when I felt defeat, unlike Millennials, I got up, dusted myself off, reorganized and fought another day. It seems to me that Millennials are so entrenched in wanting their way that they reject Hillary as the nominee and plan to throw a tantrum, just as that tennis player did years ago against my sister. That girls tantrum led to her loss. Millennials' tantrums could lead to a Hillary loss and Trump win.
Millennials need to ask themselves how many of Trump's policies do they like. Do they want a Supreme Court slanted against everything Bernie stood for? Do they want a president with the temperament of a spoiled brat? Do they want a man in the White House who feels women exist for his personal sexual pleasure and really, do we want a president who is empowering racists and divisiveness in the country?
I know people speak of the "lesser of two evils" but honestly, I do not see Hillary as evil. She is establishment and whatever corruption she has participated in was in existence before she was nominated. One could criticize everyone in both parties for the corruption because all, Democrats and Republicans, have willingly participated...including Trump. He's too rich to have clean hands when it comes to corruption. Therefore, if Millennials hate the system so much, they need to stop waiting for their "participation trophy" and get up and work for real change. If they aren't willing to do that, then they have no leg to stand on and complain.
