By Gabbie Burton
Contributing Writer

Bridging gaps has seemingly never been a problem for Andy Dinniman. In over 45 years in public service, including serving as a State Senator for the 19th District in Chester County, Dinniman has worked across the aisle countless times in order to do what he feels is best for Pennsylvanians and communities here in the county. 

On May 22, Dinniman met with me to bridge a different gap – the generation gap. Just one year ago, my friends and I graduated from college to face the unknowns of career and adulthood and admittedly, we haven’t found it easy. We are confronted with a cost-of-living crisis and tumultuous political and social changes at the start of our adulthood, and struggling to find a footing in a new landscape made even more difficult by present realities. I spoke with Dinniman about the pressing questions on my generation’s minds in order to gauge his perspective on those same issues. 

Gabbie: Do you think the rising cost of living threatens the draw for people to move into the county?

I would say that it does, because you need young people, you need entrepreneurs, you need creative people, but at the beginning of their careers, they are certainly not at the top economically to be able to afford the cost of living. If housing and apartments cost too much, then you’re losing lots of creative, talented young people. In fact, what you’re seeing is a tremendous growth in older people and if you look around Chester County, you see all the Plus- 55 communities so really, that focus does impact young adults.

Do you think that young adults are being hurt disproportionately more with the increase in cost of living? Do you think current leaders at the county level or at the state level are prioritizing this cost-of-living crisis, one that is affecting young people?

Everyone’s being hurt, but I think young adults are one of the groups that’s being most hurt. I think leaders understand, so I think it’s a start. One has to understand the nature of politics to get this to be a top priority and the reason why senior issues are a top priority in Pennsylvania. Most politicians are decent and good people but they certainly, like any other human being, operate in their own self-interest, and the self-interest for the politician is, ‘How do I get reelected?’ 

If you want to get elected again, then you have to structure much of your work to that group who votes the most, and senior citizens vote much more. So, what do young people have to do? They can certainly get more active in terms and vote, which isn’t that hard anymore with mail-in ballots. You can vote from college anywhere else. Second, they can get involved in political organizations or in interest groups that have interests similar to their own. Third, they can begin to articulate policies that will be in their interest. 

I look upon your story here as a call to young people to define more clearly what your condition is. We have to then put this in understandable form, so that the politicians, the community leaders and older residents know what you’re saying.

When you mention young people not voting it reminds me of another topic: political extremism. When you hear news about political extremism and accusations that both parties have gone more extreme, would you agree with that sentiment?

Both sides have gotten more extreme, and not only that, they have also ignored the great middle that wants progress and results. If I was a young person who wanted to create a more equitable society in which people had greater opportunities and better educational systems, I would condemn both parties. Maybe it’s time that young people start to talk about the third way - a third party. Maybe it’s time young people start to say, “Were not going to get involved with your party so we’re going to show it by being independents.” 

In this county, in this state and in the nation, the number of independents is growing more quickly than the number of Republicans or Democrats. Everyone is fed up. The question is, what does the new generation have to offer to take us away from extremism and to create the special nature of what we want America to be?

To continue with these topics of why young people aren’t voting and the rise in political extremism, I would counter that a lot of people I know don’t want to vote for the Democratic Party, even though they lean left, because they perceive that the Democratic Party is not doing enough, not putting the people first and are still beholden to economic and political interests first.

Both parties aren’t doing enough, because they are both controlled by wealthy political interests and it’s about time that both parties admit that. It’s up to young people to insist on reform of the political system.

You are passionate about term limits. How would term limits address these concerns of young voters?

The whole political system is based on the same people being reelected again and again, and the districts are made to help one party or another party. The leadership doesn’t understand young People or the key issues that affect them. What term limits are getting at are the very questions you’re asking. The government, whether it’s the state or the federal, but especially the federal government, is under the control of people who are in their seventies and eighties. 

So, what do young people do about it? What do you do about a political system that is essentially oligarchic in terms of both parties? The same people on Wall Street - the same people who are heads of companies and corporations - give money to both parties, and they get special privileges as a result of that. It is hurting young people, because their concerns and interests aren’t being addressed. You stop it by politically organizing yourself and by letting both parties know you’re not going to deal with them until they begin to deal with you. 

Remember what we talked about before, the question of what does every politician want? They want to be re-elected, and how do you get re-elected? By having people vote for you. If you think they’re not going to vote for you, then you get scared and you start to serve their interests.

As a concluding question, what do you think is the biggest threat to young people’s path to success right now?

I would say the biggest threat is the failure of young people to start to talk to each other. It is their failure to have a conversation that will lead to action on their part to reform the educational and the political systems. Young people need to be empowered. Empowerment comes through two ways: through organizing so your voice cannot be ignored in the political and economic system. It also comes from when you understand the nature of change. You make sure that you have, both as a group and as individuals, your plan of how to deal with change and how to keep up with knowledge and change in order to be successful. You have to understand that every generation has the same emotion, same feelings. 

The difference today is the rate of change, and no generation has ever been tested on this rate of change. Some sociologists would argue that we’re going to be done in not by a nuclear catastrophe, but by our own inability to deal with the change. The fundamental norms of our society are not clear. 

It’s up to you to create it. You are now going to create the society that your children will complain about so create it well and empower yourself. You have the power. You have the power through numbers. You have the power through education. You have the power economically to do it but don’t do it alone. Bring other young people in with you.

To contact Contributing Writer Gabbie Burton, email [email protected].