Your friend Jim George thinks you'd be a great addition to Ricochet, so we'd like to offer you a special deal: You can become a member for no initial charge for one month!
Ricochet is a community of like-minded people who enjoy writing about and discussing politics (usually of the center-right nature), culture, sports, history, and just about every other topic under the sun in a fully moderated environment. We’re so sure you’ll like Ricochet, we’ll let you join and get your first month for free. Kick the tires: read the always eclectic member feed, write some posts, join discussions, participate in a live chat or two, and listen to a few of our over 50 (free) podcasts on every conceivable topic, hosted by some of the biggest names on the right, for 30 days on us. We’re confident you’re gonna love it.
As I close in on 60 years on this earth, it occurs that the absolute last thing I want to be is one of those people. You know the type. Every time they inhale they feel compelled to exhale their inexhaustible disdain for everything new and for the latest iteration of “young people these days.” I myself stopped keeping tabs on the accepted terminology for this or that iteration of the species after Generation X. “They must be good at algebra,” I thought, and then pressed on with life.
We are about to see if America can be saved or if the cancer is terminal.
If you don’t get it right, you get what’s left.
But there’s this:
From “Christmas Bells”
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
And in despair I bowed my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.”
The most annoying thing about those people is that on the long road of victory in the Cold War, those self-same knuckleheads were nothing but speed bumps. We won anyway, but now, a diminished Russia and its 50% of Italy’s economy, its rusting tanks, listing navy, and out-of-date air force terrifies their socks off. Where were you twerps when we could have used you?
Back on Feb. 7-8 2018, a force of Russian ‘little green men’ got too close to a US position in Syria. They were warned to keep their distance. They ignored the warning. They received a limited demonstration of combined arms combat in the 21st century. They didn’t enjoy it.
No, we aren’t scared of the Russians. If we should be worried about anything, it should be a candidate for President of the United States with shadowy business dealings with the Chinese Communist Party.
God also destroyed Israel for turning from Him.
Either of these young people could have, in their moments, contributed something constructive to the narrative. The highly charged atmosphere has, however, catapulted these pawns into the toxic cauldron of righteous progressive rage. Parental & societal malpractice abound.
It always helps to remember that half a century ago, the progressives of the early 1970s were counting on the tsunami of Baby Boomers who were reaching voting age, and the new constitutional amendment giving 18-20 year olds the vote, to turn America into the Socialist utopia the dreamed of, and today, the 2020 iterations of those same people can’t wait for those geezer Trump-supporting Boomers to die off, so that the vast sea of millennials and Gen Zers can turn America into the Socialist utopia they dream of.
Things do change, and we’ll find out in a few days if the left is going to get it’s way at the voting booth. But a Biden loss would be a rebuke to the current conventional wisdom about millenlials that unlike every other generation in the past, they’re not moving to the right as they get older. That was part of the larger theory formulated almost 20 years ago and which became mantra after Obama’s 2012 win, that changing demographics and the inherent leftism of the millennial generation had given the Democrats a Permanent Electoral College Majority.
The crony capitalist Dems thought merely nominating a ‘historic first’ candidate like Obama or Hillary would cause specific parts of their coalition to robotically support one of their own, while the far left believed their ideology was so dominant now, you didn’t even have to do that, and could nominate someone like Bernie. The result has been the struggle of the last two presidential primaries for the Democrats, and the situation now, where Biden is pushed as a moderate, but has to run either endorsing or paying ongoing lip service to the Sanders’ positions, because they think that’s what will get millennial and Gen Z voters to the polls.
Biden’s campaign rallies don’t seem to be bearing that out — if anyone was going to show up, it would be excited 40-and-unders with less fear of COVID — but we’ll see if that tepid support shows up at the polls.
The disease has been terminal throughout history. But we were new in a new way. Maybe we have a chance.
This makes me feel better about my daughters who, despite my best efforts, have swallowed the Woke Religion, hook, line, sinker and fishing pole.
I blame football. When this country was dominated by baseball brains, most people had enough mathematical skill to compute ERA, batting average, slugging percentage, and such like.
The NFL delenda est.
This sustains me! God will prevail! We need to act on our faith and trust in Him. This gets me through the day.
Dave, I love your articles. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Great article, Dave. Keep in mind, though, that when Charles Krauthammer was the age David Hogg currently is, Krauthammer was a Democrat. Just because a young person is on the left today doesn’t mean they are fixed there for life.
Good point. So there is a capacity for growth. At least one can hope that’s the case.
Great points. And thanks so much!
In the case of Hogg, I suspect his monetary and other compensation — he doesn’t get into Harvard unless he’s an angry progressive others think has PR benefits to their case — will keep him on the left. Krauthammer moved to the right from being a Mondale supporter pretty much under the radar, in that he was writing during his transition phase, but he wasn’t a celebrity prior to his transition phase. Hogg has nothing but his anger to promote himself, and would get Cindy Sheehan non-personed into obscurity if he ever shifted away from saying and doing what his benefactors want him to do.
Yeah, I don’t expect David Hogg himself will become conservative, but in this post he is being used as a symbol for his generation. And that’s what I’m talking about, that I think many people who are under 25 today and identify with the left may have a very different perspective at age 40. Right here on good old Ricochet I bet there are a lot of middle-aged and older people whose views have shifted rightward from where they were at age 20.
Agreed. When you’re working and have a family to take care of, a home to pay off, or retirement to fund, progressive policies that are both financially and socially destructive suddenly don’t seem like such great ideas anymore.
Great article, Dave! Thank you!!