Cynicism is a default that lends cover for some. Rather than risk being wrong, or having their hopes smashed, the position is an easier one to adopt, especially paired with a smug demeanor, allowing an attitude of being “above it all.” I know this all too well because I run to that place more than I care to admit. I’m also big enough to admit that I’m wrong when I do.

I don’t want to come down too hard on those who have opted-out of the political process. Our current political milieu breeds cynicism in batches. Politicians pander to it and keep it well-fed. Is hope even possible at this time? Are we delusional to harbor it?

On Friday, I visited Hyde School in Bath for their seventh annual Maine Youth Leadership Day. For the purposes of full disclosure, I tutor at Hyde five nights a week. This is my second year. I rarely participate in the daytime activities, though. I wouldn’t have been there on Friday if one of my fellow tutors  hadn’t encouraged me to attend and mentioned that U.S. Senate candidate Zak Ringelstein would be there.

Zak Ringelstein with students at Hyde’s Youth Leadership Day.

At last year’s event, Travis Mills was the morning keynote. The young man I spent most of last year working with each night was enthralled by Mills, a true American hero, and his message. I knew that the day was a big event at Hyde and that they attract presenters worth showing up for.

This year, well over 1,200 students attended. These are youth committed to being leaders in their communities, who come along with faculty and other mentors. There were upwards of 50 schools there from across the state.

I am in the throes of Medicare’s AEP window. This week and next is filled with seminars. I actually had an appointment scheduled with a beneficiary later in the morning, but I decided to make the short drive to the school and catch the first workshop of the day. It happened to be the one that Ringelstein was facilitating. I am glad I went.

If the Boomers have run America into the ditch, then the Millennials will need to be the ones to set things right, or at least point us in a more favorable direction. The optimist that battles my cynical side wants to believe that.

According to Ringelstein, if he were to beat incumbent Angus King, he’d be the first Millennial elected to the Senate. Right now, there are only a handful of Millennials in the entire Congress. I was amazed by that statement. Of course, anytime I see a group of senators, like during the Kavanaugh travesty, it’s almost always a group of white, male seniors doing all the talking. If you surveyed a list of senators based on age, you’d find that nearly a third of them are between the age of 70 and 85. Pass whatever judgment you want on that factoid. For me, that’s too old. According to others, there’s agreement.

Zak Ringelstein for U.S. Senate

Ringelstein believes that big money taints our political process. He has refused all contributions from corporations and lobbyists, including PAC funding. Senator King on the other hand is in the opposite camp.

King’s image of being a political independent is carefully cultivated. A closer look at recent positions since he’s been senator show that King’s voted for deregulating banks, and finance, insurance, and real estate are his largest contributors. He’s also approved three-quarters of President Trump’s nominees and has voted with the president 47 percent of the time. If you care to look back further into King’s pre-Senate political past, this older article in The Bollard by the inimitable Crash Barry tells you plenty about King and whether a progressive should vote for what could certainly be characterized as the types of insider politics that breed cynicism.

Like his predecessor Olympia Snowe, King skates by with a certain political goodwill that’s unwarranted. It’s the kind of free pass that’s unearned.

Ringelstein is working-class to the core. His father was a social worker. In many ways, his background and positions put him in a class with House candidate, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Both are similar politically, both running as Democrats, even if their party would prefer that they go away. Ocasio-Cortez shocked the world of politics when she beat 10-term incumbent, Joe Crowley, in New York’s June Democratic primary election with no support from corporate Democrats. Her win proved that running an issue-oriented campaign targeting those issues that resonate with most middle and working-class voters can be victorious.

Will Ringelstein win? The pundits would say, “no.” But in Maine, a state on the cutting edge of electoral politics given that we now have Instant Run-off Voting (IRV), it’s now possible for candidates like Ringelstein to have a chance against well-funded incumbents. And like Ocasio-Cortez, he’s received nearly nothing from the state’s party machine.

Being there in-person, watching him an environment he’s familiar with (he’s a former teacher), sharing what he’s passionate about with what is hopefully Maine’s and our nation’s future leaders made me happy that I’d already cast my vote for him when I voted absentee, two weeks ago. I’m hoping that others will do the same on Election Day.

A recent New York Times article indicated that Ringelstein’s generation “thinks American capitalism does not work.” He believes that the system has “fostered inequality, robbed young people of opportunity, and perverted the values of a just society. His positions and his belief in taking steps towards “being the change we want” reminded me so much of my late son, Mark. It’s what he was engaged in during what was to be his final act, walking across America. If they’d have had a chance to meet, I know they would have had a lot to talk about.

Senate candidate Zac Ringelstein on the issues.