You go a long way in explaining the current state of affairs in politics.  I would love to see this as an LTE, or an Op/Ed piece.  Maybe it would be a turning point for more than a few Virginians.

Incidentally, Thomas Jefferson said: 

The spirit of 1776 is not dead.  It has only been slumbering.  The body of the American people is substantially republican.  But their virtuous feelings have been played upon by some fact with more fiction; they have been the dupes of artful maneuvers, and made for a moment to be willing instruments for forging chains for themselves.  But times and truth dissipated the delusion and opened their eyes.

 

Sounds like Felix forgot to read that Jefferson quote.

... I am tired of Felix trying to wrap himself in Jefferson's coattails.

I'd like to add a bit more to corroborate. We're close to the same age.

While our generation was privileged to grow up without fighting in a war or enduring the Great Depression or having an adult experience of the 50's-60's Civil Rights movement, we also grew up in the shadow of all those things. Growing up in the shadow of our grandparents and parents experience lent a feeling of inauthenticity to our lives.

I remember living in Middletown, PA during the Three Mile Island incident. I worried about the effects of possible radiation exposure, yet felt a kind of satisfaction that by helping out at the shelter in the Hershey Arena at what could be the expense of my health or life, I would gain greater meaning and purpose.

There was a lot disillusionment and frustration in the recession of the late 70's- remember Billy Joel's song Allentown? While many of my peers expected to find opportunities and exceed their parent's standard of living, I had grown up in a much poorer environment, and didn't have quite the same expectation. Nevertheless, the frustration or fear of unemployment or underemployment, distrust of a post-Watergate/post-Vietnam government and collapse of traditional family and other social constructs really screwed up the idealism that had characterized folks just a few years older.

I never bought into the Reagan ideal. He always seemed fake to me. I can see why many of my peers went for it, though.

As I have studied my family history I have found many examples of courage and honor that I can never equal (I am related to William Gass who was on the Lewis and Clark expedition, My fourth great grandfather had to rescue my fourth great grandmother from indians, I have letters written to my thrid great grandmother from my great great grandfather while he served in the Northern Army during the Civil War, My fifth great grandfather fought the British in the American Revolution).

About the bravest thing I have ever done for my community is stand next to Dick Black on Back to School night and election day handing out Dem lit (I was surprised the first time I saw that he could come out during daylight).

Loudon Dem, what a great, thought-provoking diary. It really set me to thinking:

The boomers fought the good fight in the 60s and 70s, but once we had the chance to grab a piece of the American pie, many of us  gobbled up as much as we could. Not all of us grabbed houses and cars -- some of us pigged out on sex, drugs, and rock and roll -- or just became obsessed careerists.

For myself, I was political during the Vietnam War era and, when it was over, congratulated myself that everything would work out and promptly went into a prolonged political doze. Now I'm suddenly awake -- only to find that the worst of the inmates have taken over the asylum and have embarked on an irrational, even incomprehensible, post-modern destructive orgy.

I just put up a piece on YouTube that I shot in LA's Skid Row. It is so sad and discouraging to know that my grandparents (poor as they were) and my parents (the Depression and WWII generation) both did a far better job of taking care of people when they held the power.

Your generation may feel entitled, but I'm afraid that many of the people in mine have been indifferent and piggish, as exemplified in the Silicon Valley aphorism: "He who dies with the most toys wins."

...toward the dark side as communal memory of true struggle fades.

I purposely avoided analysis of the generation following mine because I do not have first hand knowledge of how they perceive the world they are inheriting (although anecdotal evidence seems to show that they are not happy with things as they are).

Although your generation may have relaxed a bit after the fact, you achieved more progressive accomplishments in your collective 20's then my generation has to date. I have nothing but admiration for the generations that preceeded my own.

Thank you for your thoughts...

Especially intrigued by your reference to the fairness doctrine, and the outcome of its demise.  Television became a prime source of information long ago, but it has become a strange form of indoctrination where nearly any truthiness can  be dispensed, real or not.  And people do love to sit infront of the tube to be served their understanding, so we are going to have to fix that.

All the generations are threaded together in getting us to where we are.  There is a direct arch from the hungry folks of the Depression era, to the groomed and protected kids sitting in college today - a striving to spare the suffering. 

While my parents (WWII)generation sought to get me an education as their highest goal, their parents were satisfied to see them not starve, and survive disease to adulthood.

My generation assumed that the improvement they could offer was to extend the protection of childhood, well into adulthood.  This was supposed to raise creativity, enlightenment, and foster greater kindness.  And then we went back to work, and forgot about being parents, and teachers of the first order. The results were mixed.

Along the line we missed the truth that in good times nearly any fool can keep a powerful economy and stable nation moving along. Hoover brought us Roosevelt.  And George Bush brought us Jim Webb.  So the cycle continues, and any fool can see that we are at a low.  We'll need to remind ourselves that Democracy requires constant attention. 

The rise of blogs and on-line communities plays right to this end. I also have hope, and enthusiasm for a change that has been a long time coming.  We owe that to those who struggled with so much hope for the better day that we would enjoy.  And like them, we are banding together in defense of the common dream - a more perfect union.

I'm glad to (virtually) know you, and share a common vision.

...it knocked out the keystone in the bridge of media impartiality (appologies for the strained metaphor). The right was prepositioned to take advantage of the ability to tilt the playing field and the left was caught unprepared. While I don't completely agree that we have to mirror the right in building what are essentially progaganda machines, until we reestablish the Fairness Doctrine I don't see where we have any choice.

I also see your point that removing all responsibility from our children can distort their world view (see Bush, George Walker; Allen, George Felix; Hussein, Uday and Qusay) ultimately the character of a person is their own responsibility, one can be raised a child of priviledge and still understand that they owe the world something in return (see Roosevelt, Franklin Delano; Kennedy, John Fitzgerald and Robert Francis; Kerry, John Forbes).