There's a diary on the recommended list right now written by a dismayed supporter of Hillary Clinton, suggesting a threat of leaving the author's party of many years in favor of John McCain in the general election; this being due to the potential nomination of Barack Obama, and the rhetoric of his campaign and of his supporters (perceived by the author of that diary to be offensive to people of some indeterminate older age).
Before I begin, I would like to say that I am an Obama supporter, and I do find myself discouraged at the least by the actions and statements of a small minority of my fellow supporters, as they often are not a positive reflection upon Senator Obama and his body of support, and are sometimes tinged with words hurtful to those who may be older or of a different sex; that said, the existence of an offensive minority of supporters (especially on DailyKos) is equally true of Clinton or Edwards, and Dodd and Richardson and Kucinich previously, so I would hope that all of us would put our worst subjective emotions in check when considering the statements of these minorities.
But there are some important notes that I must make, despite the fact that prudent judgment suggests to me I might be better suited to step away from this particular conflict.
I cannot do so because as a young person, I have been deeply insulted: only slightly by the diarist, to a larger extent by the Clinton campaign, and to the largest extent by the nature of our political process and the results manifest in our governments and its budgets.
I honestly try not to think of things in a generational context; no one generation can completely destroy America, nor can one generation completely heal America. I believe this to be especially true of the Baby Boom generation, around much of which this debate is centered. Many in that generation point out the progress achieved by it, that women's rights, civil rights, gay rights, protesting the Vietnam War, social justice, etc. can all be attributed to the efforts of their generation. All of which is true, but leads me to ask the following:
Are women completely equal to men in all matters and manners on this day?
Do we have perfect racial equality in all matters and manners on this day?
Are the GLBT members of our society completely equal to heterosexuals in all matters and manners on this day?
Do we live in a day when wars with no reason to be started and no way to be ended still take place?
Have we reached a point on this day where all people recognize the fundamental humanity of all their brothers and sisters, and speak and act accordingly in the political sphere, so as to ensure none of us anywhere must know what it is like to feel the pangs of hunger, to feel the destitution of homelessness, to know the pain of an untreated malady, the emptiness of a poor education?
Can members of the baby boom truly answer yes to any of those questions? I honestly do not think so, but I do not blame them for these failures, because no generation is perfect -- I can only admire them for their successes and learn from their failures, just as I'd imagine they admire their own mothers and fathers for liberating Europe and the Pacific, and learned from their failures in racism, sexism and the like.
Yet some wish not to have this frank discussion of successes and failures. Some wish more to denigrate young people for our laziness, our apathy, our lack of appreciation for the terrific society in which we live.
So you know what? I'm insulted when myself and people my age get called out here on DailyKos for how much we're fucking up, and ruining the Democratic Party. Because you know what? At the age of 20 and now voting in my first primary ever, it's absolutely my fault for how much things suck in a party that has consistently failed its supporters for years. As a supporter of Barack Obama, I can say I am doing so because it is reflecting the best wisdom I have, just as I suspect older voters who supported the losing candidates of years past conditioned their support upon the best wisdom they had.
It is for that reason that I'm not going out and blaming my parents and people their age, saying "HOW COULD YOU HAVE SUPPORTED WALTER MONDALE! WHAT AN ASSHOLE! THERE'S NO WAY HE'S GOING TO WIN!", even though he did fail, and I could complain that our party as a whole has been largely weak and incompetent for years, through no fault of my own.
Yet there is a persistence of opinion with regards to the notion that young people and Barack Obama, generally our candidate of choice, have no respect for anyone older than us and that we are the ones at fault.
I suppose that's because Barack Obama likes to insult old people. They're worthless and aren't doing much for society. Hey, you know what what would probably be a great way to describe them? That they don't know what work is - they think WORK is a four letter word.
Oh, one other thing Barack Obama thinks about old people. They're not really entitled to vote. Even though they pay taxes in a particular state, work in a particular state, and are completely legally registered to vote in a particular state, they're not "real" voters, and should fuck off, go back to where they came from, and let wise, "real" young people decide what's best for them.
Wouldn't it be great if all of that were true? Wouldn't it be awesome if Barack Obama actually did those things?
Wouldn't it be terrible if you switched every instance of "Barack Obama" with "Hillary Clinton" and reversed every instance of "old" with "young" and "young" with "old" that all of the above were completely true?
So please excuse me for feeling insulted. Hillary Clinton thinks jobs my friends and I work for minimum wage (which, when adjusted for inflation, is 55% less than the minimum wage in 1968) when we're not studying for a college education that has grown in price 47% above inflation in just the last 15 years (53% in a private university), is actually pretty sweet (not to mention debts far more crushing than any ever experienced before - if used for eventual retirement savings, the costs of paying down student debt could yield $2 million when they turn 65). I suppose there are no worries if you're one of the 2 million kids who don't attend college every year simply because it's not affordable.
Oh, and I'm absolutely sure you think work is a four letter word, because after you didn't go to college, working full time at the job that pays less than half what it paid your mother and father when they were working it is a lot more awesome than you realize, especially because inflation hasn't made the cost of living higher than ever before.
One last thing: say you do manage to afford college, but it's not in the state where you lived before. So you move to the other state and live there legally, work part time there and pay taxes there and all -- just PLEASE don't concern yourself when a politician is suppressing your vote in favor of the wisdom of your elders. They know what's best for you.
But more than anything else, I'm insulted by the government, which sees it fit to dump the trillions in debt incurred by both Democrats and Republicans over the last 30 years directly into my lap 10, 20, 30 years from now, probably right after the government has doubled my taxes to give me half the benefits my parents got. In an even more insulting and blatant display of pandering for votes, the same government of both Democrats and Republicans that will bend over backwards to suck up to any retiree (despite the costs, whatever they may be), will completely ignores the fact that if you're a child, you're 33% more likely to live in poverty than if you're a senior citizen.
So when I encounter a politician who I believe will implement durable, effective progressive policy that helps everyone, young and old, and who speaks to me and inspires me instead of denigrating me or ignoring me, I will support that candidate without apology. I do so not out of any resentment for my elders, despite their insults and attributions of blame for failures, as spoken by some; I do so only in the hopes that one day those failures may be made into successes, that time heals all wounds, and that I can give my children better than I will have myself.