Dear Millennials: I'm sorry we didn't stop them

[thucythucy]

18. But the Senate was controlled by Republicans

and the Supreme Court--as stacked by Nixon--was already leaning to the right.

Tip O'Neal fought like hell to stop the Reagan agenda, as did Senators Kennedy and Harkin and others, unfortunately the mass of the general public bought into Reagan's "aw shucks I'd like to have a beer with him persona," especially after he survived an assassination attempt. "Morning in America" and all that. The national media doted on everything Reagan did, ignoring the corruption and downright incompetence of his regime.

Lots of folks were also busy trying to survive the AIDS epidemic, which wiped out a generation of activists, and to prevent an outright invasion of Central America. They were successful in stopping Reagan and Haig from dragging us into another Vietnam, but that too took an enormous effort.

Activism against the powers that be and entrenched wealth has always been difficult. I imagine fifty years from now there will be some who will accuse you of not doing enough to stop our current drift towards disaster. I wonder what your reaction will be.