It's Just A Family Squabble
I am starting to grasp the big political chasm, or at least part of it. It is the wars and infighting of the 1960s all over again.
The big fights we are seeing in Washington right now remind of family. It is a family barbeque where two brothers who parted ways in their 20s are now pushed together to man the grill at a big picnic and they cant stop the fighting from so many years back.
As baby boomers of so many years ago took different sides during the turbulent 60s, they have now grown. Some still hold on to their younger idealism. Some have found Jesus, some have made money and let greed guide their day.
And now, as the power brokers, to 50-year-old white men who run our country, we are forced to sit back and let this family squabble continue until one side wins.
And, because they are baby boomers, from that less-than-greatest generation, we must watch, because it is always all about them - Public temper tantrums.
Soon, this little fight, this squabble and this power grab will be over and the next generation, a generation raised in healthy cynicism, a generation much less idealistic, a generation guided more by MTV-soaked realism rather than Ozzie and Harriet idealism will take the helm.
Perhaps, they will clean up the mess. Perhaps when Generation X and Y gives up its hackey sacks and its soccer balls and takes up the reins, we can get past the petty fights over who loves Jesus more (or less) fights over every little nuance in parliamentary procedure and screams of injustice as to where men are placing their penis.
Its an idyllic wish, but I dont think I am too far wrong. As the avenged leaders of the lost generation realize that the world they were given by the greatest generation no longer existsperhaps that world of Ozzie and Harriet and Father Knows Best never did exist), they have no other response than to lash out leaving a tremendous mess.
The power struggles of the right-wing conservative movement wont last forever. The mess they are making in Washington and the rest of the nation can be cleaned up. Soon, they will be pushed aside, letting the next generation at the wheel. What course they take is still up for grabs. They say it is rare for someone to change their political course after they turn 30. And the 3518-year-old crowd is demographically much less conservative than those in power today. Hopefully, they will bring that cynicism and that anger that Generation X is so famous for with them into their turn at bat. And perhaps, inside of all of that anger and cynicism is some hope.
I am hoping. I am waiting it out and I am hopeful.. 
posted by majikwah @ 5/18/2005 11:18:00 AM
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