Justice & Hope, day 25
2008 has been cast as a watershed year in US presidential politics. Consider the six leading candidates. From the Democrats, we might elect the first woman ever, the first black American ever, or the first Southern progressive ever. From the Republicans, they could elect the first Mormon ever, the first minister or the oldest person ever to hold the office.
After the 2000 election, conventional wisdom had the anticipated order of succession as a campaign between McCain and Clinton, yet after the first primary in Iowa just three weeks ago, the CW was in serious doubt. Since then, the corporate media and its corporate backers have re-asserted itself, trading in frontrunner Giuliani for the more stable old CW favorite McCain. And casting the boomer gal as the liberal divider and the youngsters’ favorite guy as the moderate uniter on the Democratic side.
The only problem is, for an old liberal like me, all those old definitions are and always were bullshit. From the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954, through the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the values and struggles of the Boomer generation were formed and played out. Yet the committed liberals of that generation were a minority then and have remained so ever since. Some middle class liberals moved to the center and were derided by committed liberals as yuppie sellouts. Most Republican moderates moved further right between 1980 and 2000. Those two groups have dominated American presidential politics for 30 years while the true liberals - roughly 20% of all voters - kept pushing for liberal ideals.
The nuclear freeze movement. An end to South African apartheid. The push for alternate energy development. The fight against AIDS. Gay rights. Liberation movements in Latin America. Nationalized healthcare. Treatment, not prison, for substance abuse and addiction. The fight to outlaw landmines. The struggle to reduce homelessness. During the past 3 decades, these were driven by that minority of liberals, not the moderate and conservative majority. The results, predictably, have been mixed, yet in every instance, the goals of real liberals have not been defeated by reason. In every instance, the aims of liberals have proven farsighted and each remains an important goal for the nation to obtain.
Now the media narrative casts all boomers as a generation whose time has passed, even though we’ve only had two Boomer presidents to represent an 18 year baby boom (1946-1964). Presidents Clinton and Bush. Both advocates of global trade, the death penalty, invasions of civil liberties in the name of national security, and both pro-big business. The primary distinction between the two has been in a few areas of civil rights, and a slower, smaller type of foreign policy interventionism on the part of Clinton. But real liberalism has remained largely sidelined since Nixon’s resignation.
Boomer liberals are used to the marginalization that the media has pushed to the forefront in this election year. Youthful idealists pushing for Obama are the ‘new way’. Hillary is the ‘old way.’
Uh-huh. Right.
Except Obama, born in 1961, is also a boomer. His corporate backing and Beltway consultancy looks awfully similar to Hillary’s. His party backing comes largely from Blue Dog Dems in the South and Midwest. And his youth movement? Puh-leaze. We heard that siren’s song with Eugene McCarthy, George McGovern, Howard Dean. Idealism and the enthusiasm of the young to push aside the older order. It’s always a good way to get a fresh bunch of volunteers to donate their time to another losing effort.
That’s the problem with media narratives. They cast everything in simplistic categories that create division between natural allies who could, together, create a truly progressive political dynamic that has been missing in action for a third of a century. In every instance when the media promotes a generational divide, progressivism declines or disappears.
It’ll be different this time. The check’s in the mail. You’re a highly valued employee. You geezers never knew love like we know love.
Been there, done that. Youthful idealism, however, is not the enemy either. Artificial constructs of division lines promoted by the powerful remains the obstacle. That baited line always gets bitten by fresh schools of fish.
So here’s to the old liberals, whose ideals remain, even though many of their goals remain unfulfilled. We won a few. We lost many. But no one will cast us aside as long as we remain sentient. We were right in the Sixties and we’re still fighting for the same rights today.
Deal with it. This is the seminal song by Country Joe and the Fish for all those committed boomer liberals who refuse to ever fade away.
.
.
January 26th, 2008 at 6:47 am
Here, Obama is almost right; where many Americans run the spectrum of being Conservative, Independent, or Liberal. Like myself, sometimes I think Conservative, sometimes think Independent, and sometimes Liberal. Yes, we are one America but we all think in different ways at different times.
What’s funny, Obama talks about his heritage as cousin to dick Cheney, then we all know Obama totally dismisses his father as a very devoted Islamic believer that is half the blood that runs through him. Plus being attracted to Lieberman as a Senate mentor is striking, even Karol Rove likes to comment in nice ways about him, praised by the king George too, couple that with ample commercials that support Republicans all lead to when is his personal epiphany going to be realized that he is on the wrong team. All the real experts know and waiting for the “Change” you can believe in. Their all waiting for Obama to go Republican. Sheesh.
Which leads me to my argument that there are, by Media bias, a very narrow group that are focused in each of those categories that have core believes staying in that category, even if they are filled with unhealthy ideals pushing the cultural envelope to decay. All, happening and mastermind by visual videos, musical and rhetorical contextual manipulation not only in today’s cable news medium, but also in the arts, cinema, music, and history documentaries, and adult and children education. Most of all, they are the major driving engine in modern hip hop black wrap, drug culture. They know what their doing and it’s not nice, the media and open market openly sell violence black wrap with divisive vulgar language that builds hate, bias that exists as a poison of fundamentals of the Neo-Con Right.
Its no wonder writers want a fair share of intellectual capital. All leading to a deliberate hodgepodge, collage, and scaled ignorance where the electorate is easily manipulated by the rich elitist. Surprise all which gives the rich a very sensible argument that the citizens don’t know how to be good citizens. Therefore those in power need to crack down and take away your liberties.
Across the board, FOX, MSNBC,CNN,CBS,ABE,CNBC, etc… all participate in this wild instigation that fails the mission responsibilities in public electromagnetic domain. Licensed to work in a mission to serve the public but is now in a mission that controls and abuses this domain with biased working belligerently through criminal rhetorical actions. That is oppressed reporting, failure of clear in depth education to the public, and the most important part of the quality control process of culture development, deception in over sight which is totally abusive to out right criminal. News cable Journalism is going to be accountable finally.
Oh, don’t always agree with Democrats but I will vote Democrat this round. I’m going for Hillary Clinton because I think America is in terrible shape. The Republicans can not change it. And, Obama has no clue on how to change. He even expresses that ideal in his book “Audacity of Hope” where he makes a stupid racial slur at the end of the first chapter. Southern White men say Niger this and Niger that. Yes he wrote it, and published it. Hell I feel guilty of even consider saying the “N” word in public but this goof can publish it nationally and not be called on it by Mainstream media. Sheesh. America we have millions in a black hip hop drug entertainment society out of control with more millions of illegal Mexican aliens undocumented out of control here in America. On the other side of the spectrum America now has twenty three million Iraqi citizens out of control that do not know how to govern themselves.
In both cases, the rich sucked up all the profiteering they could before they dump this economic trauma to the middle class. Here, Clinton has the hind sight and ambition to make his first ugly impeachment about that personal sex lie be corrected by redeeming himself and dedicating this period to untangle the mess domestically and internationally. I know, giving Hillary the chance to call the shots is frightful to some of the Republicans and some of the Democrats, but they all know Hillary will bring in new people, not the same old crowd. And don’t be surprised if she takes a, your fired, “Donald Trump” approach when things don’t work.
January 26th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Some good points, Zorro. You might also be interested in Paul Rosenberg at Open Left, who I mention in a Saturday post, above.
January 26th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
To some extent, this continual back and forth is part of youthful idealism by its very nature. Politics, as in life, is based on compromise. You win some, you lose some, but the ultimate hope is that you’re moving forward, not backwards in the process.