Last Tuesday demonstrated just how old my generation has become. We gave into the fears of age and voted for a corporate hack over a true revolutionary. Back in the day with another war raging and dividing the country we supported Eugene McCarthy, Bobby Kennedy and George McGovern. Now the 60+ plus "liberal" vote went to pro-war, pro-death penalty, pro-Wall Street Hillary Clinton.
Another Clinton, nearly another Bush. What happened to us?
I am disappointed in my peers and I am surprised. Have memories faded over the years or have aging fears and 401Ks become more significant than the progressive values we once held together?
I get it that enemies foreign and domestic are on your minds. ISIS, ISIL and all the other threats seem too big and scary. And Hillary has experience with those demons. She bombs them and supports right wing leaders to suppress them.
At home, Trump is looming but poll after poll have shown that Bernie beats Trump by a much wider margin than Hillary. You get no excuse on the home front.
So, to my aging Boomer friends, I say and will say again. I am disappointed in what the years have done to our values and to our fervor. Where did it all go? Why did so many of you, of us, never even look at Bernie Sanders.
I leave you with this memory. When we were protesting Vietnam, do you not remember how it was us (the young) against them (our elders). Families were divided. Parents and children did not speak.
Remember?
U.S. Senator Bernard Sanders is getting 80% of the youth vote.
How can we not remember when we were right where those kids are today.
Do you think we were wrong?
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4 comments:
While Bernie is our McCarthy/McGavern for today, Kennedy was just as right of center as Clinton is, especially in foreign policy
I'm remembering what happened to Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern (both of whom were superior to Senator Sanders in my humble opinion) and I much prefer HRC to Trump and will happily vote for her in November.
As Mike said, Bobbie Kennedy was a late-born radical, and for a long time before that a mmm let us seek a euphemism for Eastern Irish Ward-heeler Democrat.
Having (so far) made 332 calls for Sanders, I feel free to say that he too has weaknesses - his tendency to turn to ideology as a solution. It just doesn't work when you are facing lunatics on the international or even the national scene. You need some of that ward-heeler practicality.
So I will go on working for Bernie to advance his agenda - but I will not weep when Hillary is nominated. I think that position is not cringing surrender, but recognizing that lookie, the world is complex. Am I missing it?
I am sorry you are disappointed in your boomer friends Tim. I am not disappointed in you, despite the fact that I support Hillary this time around. I like Bernie very much and believe in much of his ideology. But as someone already mentioned, ideology doesn't work when you have soulless terrorists using the world as killing grounds. I was volunteering last night at the Hillary speech in Seattle, and felt physically sick as I looked around at the thousands and wondered, "will something happen here? Am I in danger?"
I'd like to see revolution in the political system. But I cannot force people to stop following the news every time Trump burps and farts. And frankly, I don't know any decent people who would run for office, only to be ridiculed in public for something trivial or unrelated to doing a good job as a public servant. We have the worst of humanity serving in Congress, and nut jobs who bring parasites out of the woodwork to vote for them.
I am OK with Hillary. I know what I got. She is battle-weary--she knows more than most of us, and certainly more than any other candidate currently running, about foreign affairs. Do I love her? No, but I respect her. And frankly, I want the glass ceiling ripped apart. I wished Bernie had run many years ago. I hope Hillary considers him as VP.
My fear is those supporting Bernie will come back at me, and like the earnest Bible thumper, try to point out through verse, what is wrong with my choice. I am still liberal, I am still idealistic in many ways, and I would take rock n roll over anything played today. I am proud to be a feminist and still like the word, as much as it's been maligned. And I honestly hope that I live for the day when I feel great joy about a candidate. That's hard to do when you are standing in a crowd of thousands and wondering if you are in danger.
Thanks for sending me the link to your blog. My caucus is Saturday, and you've given me thought about what I will say. Take care.
Christina
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