When The Has-Beens Are All By-Gones

First published in the print column, Strictly Haresay

On more than one occasion I’ve said I believe it will take the passing of at least one generation before anything can really change in our political landscape.  Those raised up in this country in those golden glowing decades of post World War II don’t have the same holographic vision these millennials possess.  For all our railing against our youth—their work ethic, their addiction to devices, their overly sensitive natures—they are in touch with an intangible, though increasingly influential, reality that escapes most of us older than 40.  They see a world, and its potential, that is so different from the one the Boomers and X-ers inhabit, we haven’t even the imagination to pretend their perspective could be relevant.  But I have a sense that the short shrift with which we are so eager to shoot them down, is doomed to backfire like the great, ancient and rusted weapon that ignorance is.

These young Americans aren’t as oblivious as you may think.  Don’t mistake the mask of apathy for disinterest, or the lack of engagement for unawareness.  And don’t assume their unwillingness to play by the current rule book means they aren’t keen to the sport.     

While those of us with gray wings at our temples sit around and debate a future built with hush-money and hookers, the millennials don’t even bother to roll their eyes as they swipe up.  They don’t need to see the replay to know the score.  It’s just another day in this, their inherited farce until the has-beens are all by-gones and they can finally get down to the business of mopping up the mess we’re leaving behind.

Who could blame them for not feeling particularly patriotic?  What have the nation’s leaders (eh-hem, corporate interest puppets) of the last half century done to secure their life, liberty and chance to pursue happiness?  Crippling debt, environmental devastation, volatile foreign relations, and a hand-me-down ticket to hell where Big Ag, Big Oil, and Big Pharma rule the roost?

While partisan politics rage on like a toxic marriage that no amount of therapy can save, our young people plug their ears to the fighting and watch in silent horror as the pieces of their broken home fall apart—waiting for the time to come when they can strike out on their own, and do things differently.