Ticked off millennials are taking on the Democrats

[thucythucy]

69. I pretty much agree with you.

I don't think we're that far apart (I did vote for Bernie, after all).

And I'm not saying, or at any rate don't mean to say "we had it tough, so deal with it." I just am very wary of viewing the past through rose colored glasses. For very many people, the past wasn't at all the easy ride that this poster seems to imply. And if you don't have a more realistic view of the past, it's impossible to gauge the progress that has been made, and therefore impossible to move forward with strategies that will work to affect change in the future.

One or two further points: perpetual war. I grew up (as you did, I'm sure) in the shadow of the Vietnam War as the "hot war" and the cold war of mutually assured destruction, duck and cover, MIRVs, etc. As they used to say, "It takes only one hydrogen bomb to ruin your whole day."

"Unchecked ACA costs...." I see this as quite an improvement over millions of people--including very many friends of mine with disabilities--who had little or no health coverage at all.

College costs--that's huge. I was able to go to undergraduate school for a pittance of what kids have to pay today. That's not an accident--I think the right identified the universities as hotbeds of social change, and starting under Reagan to work to close off higher education to anyone but the rich. This, by the way, was how the system worked before the GI Bill of 1944--which is what created the state college and university systems as we know them today, and opened the world to working class people. I think the Clinton criticism of Bernie's idea is not only tone deaf, but also politically near sighted. Without radical reform of the way we pay for higher ed., to make it accessible to all who can benefit, the progressive movement in general and Democrats specifically will be closing off a major source of future activism and progress.

One other issue that's far worse today is the environment, particularly climate change. This is every bit, perhaps even more, as threatening and disheartening as the prospect of nuclear war was to us. Clinton's support of fracking was one of several deal killers for me--since I think what we need is an all-out effort to move away from all fossil fuels.

Here too, though, it's important to note that Trump has said there's no such thing as climate change. That there's no drought in California. That sticking our heads in the sand is a viable way to preserve the planet.

Here's a thought I've had for a while now:

Presidential politics are rarely about moving us forward. That happens from the bottom up. Civil rights, LGBT rights, disability rights, environmentalism, antiwar and anti-imperialism, women's rights--we've made progress on these by organizing at the grass roots, and forcing the national agenda to pay attention.

BUT--presidential politics can very definitely impede such grassroots organizing. That's what Reagan did by destroying PATCO, what Bush II did by launching his invasion of Iraq, and tilting the Supreme Court to give us Citizens United. (Quick side note: as a person with a disability I noticed how Bush II abolished the President's Committee on the Employment of Persons with Disabilities--which was established under Truman. Hardly a whimper from progressives--but hugely important to the people I know and love, and something Gore would NEVER have done).

I'm at the point now where I feel the best I can hope for is for presidents and national parties to stay the fuck out of my way. I think Hillary is far more likely to do that than Trump. Another reason why I think Trump would be an absolute disaster.

Sorry to be so longwinded. Best wishes to you and yours.