I am sixty-four years old. I’ve lived my life learning things and forming opinions. I am a New Deal, Liberal, Progressive, Democrat. I believe in and will defend most of the domestic and foreign policy programs adopted in the years when I was growing up: Medicare, Social Security, NATO, the UN, anti- fascism, support of Israel, reproductive freedom of choice, decriminalization of marijuana and legal acceptance of alternative lifestyles.
It is said that as most people become older they become more conservative. Not so with me, I have become more liberal. But I always remember reading the words that Woodrow Wilson spoke as he left office. He was of course heartbroken with the failure of the US to enter the League of Nations. He said to his closest aides “I do not doubt the ultimate triumph of what we have fought for. But I will concede it may come about in a better way.”
Democracy is based on the idea that people come together in society and govern themselves. It works when the government they institute has the support of those people by accomplishing things the people admire. It cannot succeed, as dictatorship cannot, in the long run, if it loses the inherent support of the populace. A new generation of Americans is beginning not only to vote for leaders but to become those leaders. People who were born in the 1980’s are now beginning to hold decision making positions in business and in government; and that will increase as the economic and political leaders of our country age out. Over the next two decades even many of the generation of the 1980's will begin to be the “old” folks as today’s teenagers begin to assert themselves into leadership roles.
And it may be that new ideas, or old ideas once rejected, may begin to attract the interest of the populace. I believe the gold standard is an old idea that was properly rejected by a past generation. But perhaps the populace will demand it or something like it again. And maybe the fact that it was once the nations’ monetary policy and was discarded will not be enough of an answer to those who would revert to past ways of doing things. Perhaps we will as a body politic again debate the efficacy of tying our currency to a precious metal like Gold or perhaps even Gold and Silver (bimetallism)
It may well be that our people are going to have to re-decide what our generation thought were settled matters. It is not enough to answer those who would say “take the US out of the UN” with “we did that after WWII and we were right”. Instead it is incumbent upon us to reargue the value of collective security and nations working together for Peace. It is not enough to tell the Ryanites that they can’t mess with Social Security or Medicare because it is a contract with our people. We must make those under fifty understand why Social Security and Medicare were put in place to protect seniors and reduce the burden of caring for the elderly upon the younger generation so they could concentrate their resources on their children. We can’t just say “we tried that” “it didn’t work” or “we’ve done that for a hundred years” because it was “the right thing to do”. As frustrating as it may be to defenders of the way it is -- we must educate our citizenry as to the value of things we did to make life better than the way it was.
In the midst of the Great Depression we built the infrastructure of America, roads, school buildings, public works, dams etc. that served America for half a century and many still do today. At the close of our devastating Civil War we built the intercontinental railroad and after World War II we built the interstate highway system. These mammoth undertakings unified the country and opened it up to all Americans.
I believe we can convince the citizens of today that these were worthwhile projects and that others that the this federal government should be fully engaged in; e.g., continued space travel, expanding broadband access, reinvesting in manufacturing and providing quality education, from pre-K through college, for all.
Going back to old ways simply because some think they worked long ago – going Back to the Future is not the answer to America’s problems. Moving forward, guaranteeing new freedoms, and building a greater society is the way we assure a fair deal for all Americans of the generations to come.
25 July 2011
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