I have tried my best to refrain from starting a discussion here on the Democratic primary since my views are not fair and balanced. For upfront and full disclosure I campaigned for Barack Obama in New Hampshire and am still trying to get my hands on an Obamaca for temple. However, recent events have illuminated a pertinent consideration for our personal brands. What role does politics play in the shaping of our identity? Put aside voting patterns for a second and think about whether demographics have a strong influence on our behavior.

Based on the social networking and technology trends of the last decade I do not believe we can any longer effectively measure behavior by slicing and dicing groups into red states and blue states, into white, black, Latino, and Asian, and into rural and urban. The one exception that has slipped through to the “era of the individual” is age. A recent New York Times article, ” “, suggested the only reliable voting blocs in this election have been age groups. All other groups including class, race, sex and region have defied significant patterns. I will take this as a “I told you so moment.” My post last week on the Age of Age explained how age is the most significant signal of behavior and values.

Remember two years ago when Time Magazine named “You” as the Person of the Year. This was the beginning of a wide recognition that Generation Y and the Millenials want to be viewed as individuals and not put into categories of people. While we want to be part of communities, we don’t want to be defined by them. So keep up the good work adding pictures to Facebook, letting us know where you are on Twitter, and developing your thoughts on Wordpress or Blogspot. And continue buying clothes that are fashionable in your world, listening to music that says something about you, and of course trying to change to the world in a way only you can.

Politics is recognition of an ideology, not an identity.