Politics-What's on your mind?

[tantalizingfemme]

I am pretty politically active in my state. There has been so much infighting that there is a huge divide within the democratic party. Splinter groups are created regularly. If this is indicative of what is happening nationally, I believe we will have Trump back for 4 more years.

[C0LLETTE]

I'm curious. What exactly is so appealing about Beto except that he is tall ? What desperate battle has he ever fought; what position has he ever defended that would have have threatened his position of white (tall ) privilege?

Non- Americans may have no say in the voting in American political elections. But I assure you we have a huge stake in the outcome.

[Kätzchen]

I'm choosing to believe in people making a better choice, come the next presidential election. I know that for me, I will be voting a democratic ticket, for whoever the Democratic nominee turns out to be.

I don't believe that Americans will stand by and watch out country go down in flames. It's seems fairly obvious, each day that goes by, that journalists are keeping Americans apprised of the highly politically charged issues our country is facing.

It's never too late to do the right thing, so that's what's been on my mind and it's what I'm choosing to believe in.

I also feel that Democrats in the US House are working a relentless schedule, and keeping on top of things that needs the attention it deserves, as well as The Press.

<<<<<<<~~~ Voting Blue (Democratic Ticket).

[dark_crystal]

Originally Posted by tantalizingfemme

I am pretty politically active in my state. There has been so much infighting that there is a huge divide within the democratic party. Splinter groups are created regularly. If this is indicative of what is happening nationally, I believe we will have Trump back for 4 more years.

I feel like that divide is very generational, and we have to address it as generational

I listened to two episodes of Chapo Traphouse this week-- one where the hosts had attended CPAC and one where Costas Lapavitsas explained how the EU is undemocratic.

One thing that stood out in each podcast was their observation that Generation X is missing from the extremes on both sides: CPAC was all Boomers or Millennials, and the Socialist movement in Europe is the same-- either young folks or older folks, no Xers.

Both Boomers and Millennials are overrepresented in the online discourse, bc one group has lots of time and one group has lots of skills. Xers are underrepresented.

This has allowed the extremes to disproportionately drive the discourse.

This has worked out OK for Republicans, bc they are ultrapartisan, and vote in lockstep even if they have to hold their nose-- but it is NOT going to work for Democrats. We are tribal, too, but on a much smaller scale.

Tons of Dems held their nose and voted for Hillary, but i believe even more Republicans were holding their nose for Trump.

That is why we're screwed. Republicans can elect a hold-your-nose candidate. Dems can't.

[tantalizingfemme]

Originally Posted by dark_crystal

I feel like that divide is very generational, and we have to address it as generational

I listened to two episodes of Chapo Traphouse this week-- one where the hosts had attended CPAC and one where Costas Lapavitsas explained how the EU is undemocratic.

One thing that stood out in each podcast was their observation that Generation X is missing from the extremes on both sides: CPAC was all Boomers or Millennials, and the Socialist movement in Europe is the same-- either young folks or older folks, no Xers.

Both Boomers and Millennials are overrepresented in the online discourse, bc one group has lots of time and one group has lots of skills. Xers are underrepresented.

This has allowed the extremes to disproportionately drive the discourse.

This has worked out OK for Republicans, bc they are ultrapartisan, and vote in lockstep even if they have to hold their nose-- but it is NOT going to work for Democrats. We are tribal, too, but on a much smaller scale.

Tons of Dems held their nose and voted for Hillary, but i believe even more Republicans were holding their nose for Trump.

That is why we're screwed. Republicans can elect a hold-your-nose candidate. Dems can't.

Bingo. This is exactly what is happening.

[cathexis]

Originally Posted by dark_crystal

I feel like that divide is very generational, and we have to address it as generational

I listened to two episodes of Chapo Traphouse this week-- one where the hosts had attended CPAC and one where Costas Lapavitsas explained how the EU is undemocratic.

One thing that stood out in each podcast was their observation that Generation X is missing from the extremes on both sides: CPAC was all Boomers or Millennials, and the Socialist movement in Europe is the same-- either young folks or older folks, no Xers.

Both Boomers and Millennials are overrepresented in the online discourse, bc one group has lots of time and one group has lots of skills. Xers are underrepresented.

This has allowed the extremes to disproportionately drive the discourse.

This has worked out OK for Republicans, bc they are ultrapartisan, and vote in lockstep even if they have to hold their nose-- but it is NOT going to work for Democrats. We are tribal, too, but on a much smaller scale.

Tons of Dems held their nose and voted for Hillary, but i believe even more Republicans were holding their nose for Trump.

That is why we're screwed. Republicans can elect a hold-your-nose candidate. Dems can't.

Many of us who were Boomer activists, observed in the '80s that Gen X had dropped the Left political baton, not wanting to be active. Some tried to analyze this apathy. One of the prevailing theories was that Gen X had seen how much energy their parents had put out with mixed results, and did not wish to "waste" their energy.

[dark_crystal]

Originally Posted by cathexis

Many of us who were Boomer activists, observed in the '80s that Gen X had dropped the Left political baton, not wanting to be active. Some tried to analyze this apathy. One of the prevailing theories was that Gen X had seen how much energy their parents had put out with mixed results, and did not wish to "waste" their energy.

The boomers dropped the baton when they turned into yuppies.

Gen X saw all the hippies turn hypocrite and then a whole bunch of hippie parents chose their kids' childhood as a time to "find themselves," embracing divorce like sliced bread.

The generation that said "never trust anyone under 30" turned 40 while we were watching and it wasn't pretty.

[Martina]

I'm a boomer, and my friends are all teachers, social workers, admins at colleges, plus an under employed architect and an MPH who works construction. I have one friend in tech, so there's an exception. She makes a ton of money, but never seems to have a dime. Living in the Bay Area, I guess.

We never became real yuppies IMO. We never owned McMansions or bought new cars or valued that stuff. Good thing. We could not have afforded it.

We swim at public pools and go camping for vacations. I do think everyone has taken their kids to Europe once or twice, which is a privilege lots of folk do not have. People in my circle found work arounds for paying for their kids' college. Two of them got work at colleges so their kids could get free tuition. Two families relied on grandparents to help fund it. One was poor enough that her kids got good financial aid. That's it. The rest of us don't have kids.

My point is not all boomers became yuppies. Most of my friends did things like devoting huge amounts of time to their food coops or la leche league or slightly alternative institutions.

I do have connections, friends of friends, who did the yuppie transformation. They became lawyers, and after ten years at the ACLU or being a public defender, took a job at a firm and made serious money. Probably the most politically radical guy from my graduate school ended up at Harvard Law and then afterwards became a labor lawyer who helps big corporations fight discrimination lawsuits. What was that? A brain transplant? Actually he was originally from wealth. None of the rest of my friends were. One had lawyer parents but they grew up poor.

I am very wary of the entrenched upper middle class. They will do whatever it takes to keep their status, and they seem very anxious about it. I had an acquaintance, a lawyer, who didn't have a generous bone in his body. He ripped his ex-wife off in a divorce settlement. His lawyer daughter was the same. She lied on a mortgage application, which could have gotten her disbarred, to save a few bucks. One of his kids made a shitload of money in software, but didn't help another sister when she was transitioning out of a relationship. When my acquaintance's house got robbed, and his insurance didn't cover an expensive bike, his family members all made him feel like a fool. Right after he got robbed. Lovely people.

From my point of view, yuppies are a different breed. I know that a lot of people in my circle are relatively privileged. Home owners, health insurance, etc. But that is not the same as being wealth and status obsessed.

[cathexis]

Originally Posted by dark_crystal

The boomers dropped the baton when they turned into yuppies.

Gen X saw all the hippies turn hypocrite and then a whole bunch of hippie parents chose their kids' childhood as a time to "find themselves," embracing divorce like sliced bread.

The generation that said "never trust anyone under 30" turned 40 while we were watching and it wasn't pretty.

Perhaps, some Boomers turned into yuppies. Folks I went to college with did so on full financial aid (tuition, books, fees, housing) with part-time jobs in the evening and weekend hours. We still found time to protest the Vietnam Conflict, attempt to get the E.R.A. passed, work with NARAL for women's right to choose, participate in actions for racial equality, and other causes that needed help.

Very few of the people I went to school with, were able to buy houses or have a stock portfolio. We lived in rehabbed areas of cities with used or given furniture. Yes, I had 7 bookcases in my place, but they were of the sort bought at Wal-mart and assembled with a screwdriver and 2 friends.
I rode a bike most places, if I didn't ride the bus on my discounted bus pass.
Worked my tail off for a double degree, Marxist Studies/Political Philosophy and Professional Nursing at the same time.

I have known several months of homelessness, not knowing where an open couch would be or how we would get something to eat. Have spent many a day panhandling at the end of freeway exits for food or a bed. Lived in a homeless shelter for a month, and had to make "midnight moves" to leave apartment to avoid court eviction leaving a majority of my belongings behind. This is just a sample of one Boomer. I have several friends with similar stories. Most of us were not well off, and did not live a privileged life.

We did; however, make a difference and improve the lives of who we could.

[dark_crystal]

I spent the 90s clerking in bookstores, record shops, and coffeehouses-- while attending art school. I met TONS of aging hippies. The women were cool. The men were universally pervs.

"Hippies and Yuppies are two different groups" coming from Boomers is awfully similar to the "we never lived in the South" language that lets white people claim they can't be complicit in white supremacy.

Boomers cannot freeze their legacy at the 60s. Gen X met the baby boom in the 70s and 80s.

Generation X As children and adolescents

Demographers William Strauss and Neil Howe, who authored several books on generations, including the 1993 book specifically on Generation X 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?, reported that Gen Xers were children at a time when society was less focused on children and more focused on adults. Gen Xers were children during a time of increasing divorce rates, with divorce rates doubling in the mid-1960s, before peaking in 1980.

Strauss and Howe described a cultural shift where the long-held societal value of staying together for the sake of the children was replaced with a societal value of parental and individual self-actualization. Strauss wrote that society "moved from what Leslie Fiedler called a 1950s-era 'cult of the child' to what Landon Jones called a 1970s-era 'cult of the adult'."

The "Me" generation

The "Me" generation in the United States is a term referring to the baby boomers generation and the self-involved qualities that some people associate with it. The 1970s were dubbed the "Me" decade by writer Tom Wolfe; Christopher Lasch was another writer who commented on the rise of a culture of narcissism among the younger generation of that era. The phrase caught on with the general public, at a time when "self-realization" and "self-fulfillment" were becoming cultural aspirations to which young people supposedly ascribed higher importance than social responsibility.

The cultural change in the United States during the 1970s that was experienced by the baby boomers is complex. The 1960s are remembered as a time of political protests, radical experimentation with new cultural experiences (the Sexual Revolution, happenings, mainstream awareness of Eastern religions). The Civil Rights Movement gave rebellious young people serious goals to work towards. Cultural experimentation was justified as being directed toward spiritual or intellectual enlightenment. The mid to late 1970s, in contrast, were a time of increased economic crisis and disillusionment with idealistic politics among the young, particularly after the resignation of Richard Nixon and the end of the Vietnam War. Unapologetic hedonism became acceptable among the young, expressed in the Disco music popular at the time.

The new introspectiveness announced the demise of an established set of traditional faiths centred on work and the postponement of gratification, and the emergence of a consumption-oriented lifestyle ethic centred on lived experience and the immediacy of daily lifestyle choices.

By the mid-1970s, Tom Wolfe and Christopher Lasch were speaking out critically against the culture of narcissism. These criticisms were widely repeated throughout American popular media.

The 1970s have been described as a transitional era when the self-help of the 1960s became self-gratification, and eventually devolved into the selfishness of the 1980s

The Me Decade was toxic as hell, and the hippies are implicated, i'm sorry.

Xers are never going to remember the Boom the way the Boom remember themselves. We were there for the 70s. The 60s are a story.

We watch Millennials squaring off against the Boom, and-- while we are crossing our fingers for them-- we suspect they've underestimated just how ugly the response is going to be.

Like, the Millennials didn't watch an entire generation of their brothers die. Someone who came of age under Obama is going to have a different idea of what's possible than people growing up under Reagan-- who, I know, was not a Boomer, he would be 109 y/o by now.

But Rush Limbaugh was a Boomer, and that's what pushed me into activism. I was behind the counter when a flood of Boomers bought his first book, and wanted to tell me about it while they wrote their checks.

I was in ACT-UP, I was in the Lesbian Avengers, I was on Q-Patrol, I protested the Iraq War,
I spent the night before election day 1990(?) driving around Shreveport Louisiana, stealing David Duke signs out of people's yards.

Millennials know that the government killed a bunch of queers, but they did not watch it. The idea that the US could descend into theocracy is mostly hypothetical to them. Xers agree with Millennials' goals, but we have less confidence in the methods-- extremes make us nervous.

Like the girl who confronted Chelsea Clinton at the memorial last week. She was wearing a Bernie shirt. That makes this Xer nervous.

[Martina]

I'm a late boomer, born 1958. I certainly saw a generation die.

My friends who had kids conformed to another stereotype, suddenly becoming serious householders, super concerned with their kids and being good parents. Of the friends I've known for thirty plus years, none of those who married got divorced. One, a gay male without kids, really needs to. I think my experience is a little different.

[kittygrrl]

Originally Posted by cathexis

Perhaps, some Boomers turned into yuppies. Folks I went to college with did so on full financial aid (tuition, books, fees, housing) with part-time jobs in the evening and weekend hours. We still found time to protest the Vietnam Conflict, attempt to get the E.R.A. passed, work with NARAL for women's right to choose, participate in actions for racial equality, and other causes that needed help.

Very few of the people I went to school with, were able to buy houses or have a stock portfolio. We lived in rehabbed areas of cities with used or given furniture. Yes, I had 7 bookcases in my place, but they were of the sort bought at Wal-mart and assembled with a screwdriver and 2 friends.
I rode a bike most places, if I didn't ride the bus on my discounted bus pass.
Worked my tail off for a double degree, Marxist Studies/Political Philosophy and Professional Nursing at the same time.

I have known several months of homelessness, not knowing where an open couch would be or how we would get something to eat. Have spent many a day panhandling at the end of freeway exits for food or a bed. Lived in a homeless shelter for a month, and had to make "midnight moves" to leave apartment to avoid court eviction leaving a majority of my belongings behind. This is just a sample of one Boomer. I have several friends with similar stories. Most of us were not well off, and did not live a privileged life.

We did; however, make a difference and improve the lives of who we could.

quite a story cat..so interesting