时代周刊:“千禧一代”即将成为时代的主宰(2)（在线收听）

Trump’s Senate allies are similarly geriatric.

特朗普在参议院的盟友也都年事已高了。

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, 77, graduated from the University of Louisville when tuition ran just $330 a year,

参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔，现年77岁，毕业于路易斯维尔大学，当时的学费仅330美元/年。

and Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, 86, was kindergarten age before the chocolate-chip cookie was invented, in 1938.

共和党参议员查克·格拉斯利，现年86岁，他上幼儿园的时候，都还没有巧克力曲奇，巧克力曲奇发明于1938年。

It’s not just Republicans.

不仅共和党一侧是如此。

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, 79,

众议院议长南希·佩洛西，现年79岁，

and two of the top Democratic presidential candidates—former Vice President Joe Biden, 77, and Senator Bernie Sanders, 78—

以及民主党两名第一梯队的总统候选人——前副总统乔·拜登，77岁，参议员伯尼·桑德斯，78岁——出生时，

were born before the discovery of the polio vaccine and the bikini.

都还没有脊髓灰质炎疫苗和比基尼。

Many of the lawmakers who must now grapple with questions of net neutrality, cyberwarfare and how to regulate Facebook

社交媒体才刚出现，不少正与网络中立、网络战

were approaching retirement age when social media was invented.

以及如何监管Facebook等问题缠斗的议员就已经离退休不远了。

Of course, age isn’t everything.

当然，年龄并不能代表一切。

Sanders, whose politics broadly reflect the preferences of the rising millennial electorate,

桑德斯，他的政治思想基本都能反映正在崛起的千禧一代选民的偏好，

has emerged as a Democratic front runner in part because of his popularity among young voters,

之所以成为民主党一方的领跑者，部分原因就在于他在年轻选民中间颇受欢迎，

while Buttigieg is most popular among older, more moderate Democrats.

布蒂吉格则在年纪较大、较为温和的民主党人中最受欢迎。

And Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 86, has become a hero among young liberal women.

86岁的最高法院大法官鲁斯·巴德·金斯伯格成了自由派青年女性心目中的英雄。

Nor will a generational uprising come all at once.

新一代的起义也不会瞬时到来。

Young people have historically voted at much lower rates than older people,

据以往的经验来看，年轻人的投票率要比更为年长的人的投票率低得多，

and factors like geography, gerrymandering and votersuppression efforts —

地理因素，选区划分不公以及压制选民的行径——

which tend to disenfranchise college students and new voters—

这些因素往往会令大学生和新登记的选民失去他们的投票资格——

will conspire to diminish the power of millennials as the largest voting bloc.

均会削弱千禧一代作为最大规模的投票人群的权力.

It may take years or even decades for millennials to be proportionally represented in the halls of power.

他们要在权力的殿堂上拥有足够的话语权可能还需要数年甚至数十年时间。

But a progressive youthquake is coming.

但一场破旧立新的青年震荡已经呼之欲出。

Research has shown that people’s experiences in early adulthood have the greatest impact on their lifelong political leanings,

研究表明，对一个人一辈子的政治倾向影响最大的是他刚进入成年期的经历，

and millennials, for the most part, have experienced an America riven by inequality, endless wars,

而大多数千禧一代的感受都是美国已经被不平等，无休无止的战争，

a financial collapse, a student debt crisis, and inertia in the face of climate change.

金融危机，学生贷款危机以及面对气候变化的无动于衷等问题折磨得四分五裂。

All that has made them distinctly more liberal than their elders.

所有这些感受导致他们在政治思想上比老一辈自由得多。

“The America we grew up in is nothing like the America our parents or our grandparents grew up in,”

“陪伴我们成长的美国与陪伴我们的父母或祖父母成长的美国是截然不同的两个美国，”

Ocasio-Cortez told me in an interview in her Capitol Hill office last year.

奥卡西奥-科尔特斯去年在国会山办公室接受采访时告诉我。

“A lot of what we have to deal with are issues and decisions that were made by people in generations before us.”

“我们要面临的很多问题其实都是比我们早了好几代出生的那些人制造的问题以及他们做出的决定。”

According to Pew, 57% of millennials hold “consistently” or “mostly liberal” opinions,

皮尤研究中心的数据显示，57%的千禧一代持“一贯自由”或“大多数时候都比较自由”的观点，

while only 12% report having conservative views.

只有12%的人持保守观点。

Even Buttigieg, who is often cast as a moderate in this Democratic presidential primary,

即使是在这次民主党总统初选中经常被塑造成温和派的布蒂吉格

is significantly more liberal than centrists of the previous generation,

也明显比上一代的中间派更自由，

favoring universal health care, student debt relief and urgent action on climate change.

他对全民医保、减免学生债务和采取紧急行动应对气候变化等问题都持支持态度。

He is also openly gay—which just a generation ago might have disqualified him from the South Bend mayor’s office,

他也是公开的同性恋——仅仅往前推一代人，他都可能因此被取消出任南本德市市长的资格，

let alone the presidency.

更不用说出任总统了。