Welcome to the HoosLeft podcast, a show about Indiana politics, history, and culture from the unapologetic perspective of the Hoosier left. My name is Scott Aaron Rogers and I’m recording from Bloomington.
Today’s guest is Bloomington City Councilwoman for District 6, Sydney Zulich. On January 1st of this year, Sydney was sworn in as the youngest person to ever serve on the council in the city’s history, having won her election last November just days after turning 21.
In today’s conversation, we’ll talk about what brought Zulich to Bloomington, her early political awakening, heroes and inspirations, and being taken seriously despite her age. We’ll review her first few months on the council, engaging with Bloomington’s student population, and her vision for the future of the city. Finally, we’ll talk about Gen Z’s political motivations, the roadblocks standing in their way, and what our current crop of leaders can do to help cultivate the next generation.
But first, the pitch…
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Here’s my interview with Sydney Zulich.
Once again, that was Bloomington City Councilwoman for District 6, Sydney Zulich.
In a year when the political headlines are dominated by a presidential race between an 81 year old incumbent and an obese, possibly dementia-addled, soon-to-be 78 year-old, it is important to point out that this is not normal. Joe Biden is already the oldest president to hold the office. The median age of Congress has been climbing consistently since 1980, peaking with the class of 2021 before ticking down ever so slightly with the current crop of legislators. From FiveThirtyEight, “across all senators and representatives, the median age of the 118th Congress is 59 years old. The median senator is 65 years old, a record high; the median representative is about 58, for the fourth Congress in a row. Congress has notably aged since 2001: From 1919 to 1999, the median senator never eclipsed 60 years old and the median representative never surpassed 55.2.”
This trend is not limited to the upper echelons of government, as state and local elected officials also tend to be significantly older than the communities they represent. Continuing from that FiveThirtyEight piece, “No group is more responsible for this trajectory…than the baby boomer generation. While immigration has augmented the population, 76 million boomers were born between 1946 and 1964, far more than the 47 million in the preceding Silent Generation, and greater than the 55 million and 62 million in the subsequent generations of Generation X and millennials, respectively. Boomers have been described as “the pig in the python” because, over time, they have formed an unusually large bulge in the nation’s population distribution.”
Though millennials passed boomers as the largest generation in 2019, they only make up 10% of Congress. With such a discrepancy between the population and their leaders, we see skewed priorities in governance. Our geriatric political class is far more likely to be attuned to the concerns of their own generation than the issues of importance to younger Americans like LGBTQ rights, climate change, and home affordability.
And now the oldest members of Gen Z are coming of age and running for office themselves, the first congressman of that generation winning a seat in 2022 - Maxwell Frost, who Sydney mentioned. That means we’ve got a logjam of new ideas, new energy, and new leadership backed up, waiting for the python to pass that pig.
Turns out that gem of a quote she brought up “for the first six months you wonder how the hell you ever got here. For the next six months you wonder how the hell the rest of them ever got here,” came from Harry Truman. And he made a damn good point. The elders occupying positions of power aren’t special. They’re fallible people just like the rest of us. Hell, most of ‘em got where they are because of who they know, not what they know. Sure, with their age and experience, there are some things they know that younger generations don’t. But there’s plenty the young’uns know that the old folks can’t even begin to comprehend, like the difference between TikTok and Tic Tacs. It’s long past time for the gerontocracy to go. If there’s a whole crop of Sydney Zulichs ready to step into leadership roles over the coming years, we might be okay after all. The kids are alright. Let them take the wheel.
Thanks for listening. Follow me on facebook, Bluesky, YouTube and Tik Tok at hoosleft and on most other social media sites at scottrog78. If you want to reach me, send me a DM on the socials or email me at scottrog78@gmail.com. Please, please subscribe at the paid level over on scottaaronrogers.substack.com. Until next time, this has been the HoosLeft podcast. I’m Scott Aaron Rogers. Love each other, Indiana.
HoosLeft #28: The Kids Are Alright
Guest: Sydney Zulich, Bloomington City Councilwoman, District 6
Subscribe at https://scottaaronrogers.substack.com
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