Amanda Litman, pictured, is the leader of a group called "Run For Something." If you click the link to her name, which will take you to her personal website, you will find out that she is working "to end the gerontocracy."
I first heard about Litman and "Run For Something" by way of an article in The New York Times. That article, by Shane Goldmacher, was titled as follows: "Upstart Democrats' Anger Rises Over Old Guard's Grip on Party." That is the hard-copy headline.
While the article I just referenced appeared in an edition of The Times dated March 16, 2025, a few months back, I don't think anything has fundamentally changed since then. Many Democrats, including many "young" Democrats, have been frustrated with the approach taken by Democratic Party leaders, as the so-called "Old Guard" of the Democratic Party responds to the things that President Trump and his appointees are doing, and that they are attempting to do, and that they are promising and/or threatening to do.
Bernie Sanders, who is not really an official member of the Democratic Party, though he caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate, cannot really be called "young." I am not exactly young, either, and I share, along with Bernie Sanders, almost all of the concerns outlined in The Times' article, and that Litman associates with "the gerontocracy."
I would like humbly to suggest that "age" should not, per se, be the way we decide who to elect and who to look to for leadership. We need to vote for people who have made commitments to the kind of changes we want to see, whatever their age.
Maybe I am just being too "sensitive," getting older as I am, but our politics often goes awry when we make political decisions based on a "category," as opposed to making our decisions about who to vote for based on ideas, commitments, and the actions and the personal qualities of the candidates we support. When you review the "Run For Something" website, you will find that this group does not (as The Times' article seems to suggest), focus on "age" as the key qualifier. The group focuses on policy. That is just the way it ought to be!
Let's focus on the changes we want, in the spirit that advises us that noting is "inevitable." Taking action is the most important thing, I think, and I think that the "Run For Something" name should be appropriated by anyone who cares enough to do something to change the world for the better. As I keep saying in my blog postings, we can't have "self-government" unless we get involved ourselves.
If you do want to get involved, if you care enough about self-government to do that, there is no better way than to "Run For Something."
Take it from someone who did exactly that. I was "young" when I first ran for public office - 29 years old. Running for office changed my life. It changed the life of my community, too.
Don't think someone else is going to do it for you. Don't think someone else is going to do it for us. Get involved. Get serious. Get organized. And if you do (and age is not the key factor):
Foundation of Freedom
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