24 Years and Counting

If you were born in 1962 and proudly stepped into the voting booth for the first time in 1980 you most likely voted for either Regan/Bush or Carter/Mondale. Over the course of the next 24 years if you continued to cast your vote every 4 years you would be faced every time with either a Clinton or a Bush on the ballot, and in 5 of those elections you would see one of those names at the top of the ticket.

If Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination as is expected, it would mean that if you were born in 1959 (during Eisenhower's Presidency) and you voted in every presidential election since you turn 18, including the 2008 election, you would be 49 and never seen a Presidential ballot without the names Bush or Clinton. Furthermore, if we assume a Clinton wins in 2008 (which despite my previous posts is not that unlikely) and runs for reelction in 2012, then our imaginary voter would be 57 before he actually cast a vote on a ballot without a Clinton or Bush.

I am note sure if this trend is a problem, but I am a little surprised that that could happen. I am sure this is not what our founding fathers envisioned when they set up our representative democracy.