Reply #30: But it IS [View All]

Look, people vote for their own self interests. Vietnam was extremely important to youth 30+ years ago because they were the ones being sent to die or burying their friends.

Vietnam is important, just like the Holocaust, but it's no longer a pressing issue and it doesn't register on the radar of todays youth. They can tell you why it was fought, why so many fought against it, and nearly all will tell you that it wasn't a just war, but they feel as emotionally attached to it as you do World War I.

As someone else posted, most of the kids in college today (and especially in my class) were born 1985 to 1986. Many of these kids PARENTS were still in junior high or early high school when the war ended, and all were in elementary school during the late 60's. Not only did these kids never know Vietnam, but in most cases their parents didn't either. Without that connection Vietnam is slowly being relegated to a "chapter in a history book" among todays youth. That doesn't make the lessons of Vietnam any less valid, but there is no longer that emotional attachment.

Making someones participation in that war a major election issue holds about the same relevance to them as arguing about who has a better looking suit. It's a turnoff and costs us votes.