Politics is not a game of random outcomes, nor is it a Blackjack table where rainmen card-count chip monopolies for corporate braintrusts. At it’s heart, politics is still about superior local organization spiderwebbed into a grander national network, where in the end we establish winners and losers.

Examples:

Senior Citizens – WINNERS

Trade Unions – WINNERS

Corporations – WINNERS

Banks – WINNERS

Youth Ages 18-34 – LOSERS

Wait don’t go! This is not a boilerplate call to Rock The Vote, I promise! On the contrary, I support your right to punt the ballot. If The Founders intended for the fatuous peer-pressuring of civic duty, they would have crafted an anti-Lebowski clause preventing all disengagement from the root. Ill-informed people have no business voting – mouthbreathers stay home!

For those who are active, it will come as no surprise that Americans ages 18-34 have the lowest voter turnout among all age demographics. Shrink the age bracket, and turnout only decreases. What doesn’t get stated is that this is not a proper explanation of why politicians mostly ignore youth constituencies.

Let’s go with the premise that elected officials pander to senior citizens far more than they do young adults – reasonable, considering what happens when you touch third rail senior-driven issues like medicare, medicaid, and social security.

Exit polls from the 2008 presidential election show that the youngest demo (18-29) was a slightly larger share of the vote than the oldest (65 & older). Furthermore, the 65+ crowd was the only demo that voted in a majority for John McCain. Based on the logic that turnout determines political capital, President Barack Obama should give less than two shits about the elderly and focus more time on people in their 20’s.

And yet, the “senior vote” will continue to dominate much of the political context from now until election day. There are different factors that contribute to this (such as the “soon-to-be-seniors” often voting with the older crowd), but if you do accept the very conventional premise that seniors get their way on policy far more than young adults, then it is clear that turnout is not the driving factor.

So why does American youth get a raw deal? Simple: lack of issue-driven bloc voting.

Debates over drug reform, health reform, fixing the entitlement system, and the impending student loan crisis are not being driven by young voices – the very demographic these issues affect most. Largely it’s the other age demos speaking on our behalf, if and when the youth factor is raised.

Take a look at the biggest lobbying clients in the U.S. See any businesses or associations that have a vested interest in youth issues? Neither do I. The AARP, big Rx, and multiple health associations are well-placed – that’s who’s looking out for seniors. Then we have realtors, Big Oil, defense contractors, telecommunications companies (i.e. the people who sell our phone records to police departments without warrants), and commerce groups. Google and Facebook, while making a serious push into lobbying, have nowhere near the K-Street clout as those on the list.

How about grassroots organizations? Out of the top 50 527’s, only a relative few are youth-focused. The two major groups, the College Republicans (the #1 spender) and Young Democrats, are woefully ineffective at advocating for youth, and really aren’t youth interest groups to begin with. Why? Because their stated purpose is to elect Republicans/Democrats, not improve conditions for their constituency. College Reps/Dems have always been “little sibling” wings of the major parties, as is implied in their names. They want internships, not action. And politicians, frankly, could care less about the opinions of perpetual volunteers.

Young adults already bloc vote – for Democrats. But it’s time to organize non-partisan, issue-based bloc voting for state, local, and federal candidates who sign our pledges, attend our events (not the other way around), and promise not to betray us. And when they do betray? We do what every successful interest group does – we send money to their opponent, and bloc vote them out of office. (Note to Occupy Wall Street: that means having tangible demands backed by votes and fundraising, not “starting a conversation” only to bitch about pepper spray)

What good is it to indefinitely support one side? Voting 60-70% in favor of Democrats will get us the same thing it’s gotten the African American community: taken for granted. They know we will always be there for them, and at worst, we’ll just stay home. But if President Obama, for instance, thought Mitt Romney had any chance at grabbing a big portion of the 66% young voters who helped elect him to office, you’d hear a lot more from the White House than “y’know, we better get off our ass soon and pump some Yes-We-Can into the young people before it’s too late!” Republicans would also have incentive to pander to us. Maybe students would even get their first bailout before the banks get their third! (!)

No single group in the U.S. has more at stake than adults 18-34. Entitlement reform, energy independence, internet privacy, personal freedom, housing, healthcare, innovative tech and transportation, student loans, drug reform…little-to-no headway is being made on these issues, the fates of which are often decided by people who won’t live to see the reaping of inaction.

Imagine that: a society compelling people in the prime of life to leverage their future for the benefit of those nearest to the end. How frighteningly backwards and absurd.

This isn’t a call for social Darwinism. But I think it’s time for the voting bloc with the biggest stake in 21st century America to start playing it’s hand a little better.

Or, you can think of it like this: if politicians aren’t scared of what’ll happen when we come home and dinner isn’t on the table, they probably won’t start cooking.