Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Not all heroes wear capes.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

Bark louder, little dog.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Petty moves from a petty man.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

He really is that stupid.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Because of wow. / Kids these days

Kids these days

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The kids will be alright.

———————————————————————

My first presidential vote was for Al Gore.

My first presidential donation was for Howard Dean.

My first presidential win was for Obama.

I’ve been pretty happy with my choices and my votes.  And the losses have been clusterfucks.

I don’t think that I am too unusual for the people of my generation and the generation that is younger than me.

 

Everyone my age and younger has seen Republican presidents lead us into dumb wars, insult, bully and harass our friends and family members  of color and/or non-hetero-cis gender identity and loot our futures while exacerbating large, long term climate problems.  We’ve seen that.  We’ve also seen the opposite.

Kids who are entering high school will have their political memories formed by the contrast of Trump and Obama.  Just think about that for a while.

The kids are all right; it is our job as old and not so old fogies to give them the time and space to grow.

Reader Interactions

45Comments

  2. 2.

    gbear

    Yep. I am 63.7, and my first vote was for McGovern when I was 18, because there was no way in hell that I would ever vote for Nixon.

  3. 3.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I saw a tweet earlier that a lot of the young organizers for the March 24 rally are asking about how to coordinate voter registration

  5. 5.

    japa21

    First vote was for Humphrey. Only vote not for a Dem was for John Anderson. I’m allowed one mistake, right?

    Of course I was a kid in the 60’s and people viewed us as being far left, etc. Then Nixon got elected, then Reagan. And my age group were significant in pushing both GW and Trump across the finish line. So not sure you can predict the future by what you are seeing now.

    But on the whole, I am impressed by what I see happening.

  6. 6.

    Amir Khalid

    There’s a whole lot of stuff at the top of your post that doesn’t look like an embedded tweet.

  8. 8.

    efgoldman

    @gbear:

    Yep. I am 63.7, and my first vote was for McGovern when I was 18

    The age was still 21 when I was first eligible to vote for president. HHH. I certainly would have voted for Bobby Kennedy had he been available.
    Hell of a year for first time voters

  9. 9.

    Wyatt Derp

    My first vote, full disclosure, was for Reagan, then HW in 1988. My last R vote to this point and frankly ever, unless Mueller runs someday – then maybe…

  10. 10.

    NotMax

    Good a place as any to throw in a mention of parts of a song from Camelot intermittently running through the cranial area as a synopsis of sorts of present day Ruspublican philosophy. The beginning:

    Fie on goodness, fie
    Fie on goodness, fie
    Eight years of kindness to your neighbor
    Making sure that the meek are treated well
    Eight years of philanthropic labor
    Derry down dell
    Damn, but it’s hell
    Oh, fie on goodness, fie
    Fie, fie, fie

    and the end:

    Oh, fie on virtue, fie
    Fie on mercy, fie
    Fie on justice
    Fie on goodness
    Fie, fie, fie, fie, fie    .

  11. 11.

    Mnemosyne

    I forgot to register before I left IL and failed to vote for Dukakis. I fixed that by the time Bill Clinton ran.

  12. 12.

    gene108

    A 16 year old today was 7 years old in 2009. They grew up watching Obama and started high school watching Trump.

    The contrast must be jarring.

  17. 17.

    efgoldman

    @JPL:

    he won in the great state of Massachusetts.

    Prompting the creation of the “Don’t Blame Me” bumper sticker
    351 cities and towns

  18. 18.

    raven

    It’s old business around here but I came home from Vietnam in Sept, 69 and I was still 19 until November. A year after I turned 21 they lowered the age to 18.

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: That used to make me crazy. Old enough to be drafted and die for your country, but not old enough to vote. Same thing with drinking. Ugh.

  22. 22.

    Boussinesque

    Didn’t realize I was contemporaneous with you, David—that timeline pretty much exactly matches mine. Pisses me off to see the Repubs (probably) steal 40% of the presidential elections I’ve ever voted in, but at least I’ve never been under any illusions about exactly what the Republican Party represents =/

    Also, I’ve been doing tutoring for HS Physics and Calculus since the beginning of this school year, and when I think about any of my students in the situation of the Parkland students, I just lose it. We’re sick as a country, and I hope I’ll be able to help them change that.

  27. 27.

    Ohio Mom

    The video I saw today that sent chills through me was of the crowd of students streaming out of the train station in D.C., chanting. As they say, the kids *are* all right.

    Made me feel like such an old lady because it made me nostalgic for my youthful anti-war marches. I’m thrilled for them in a way — they are fully immersed in experiencing “what democracy looks like.” It is feeling that has stayed with me and I think it can inspire a life of activism.

  28. 28.

    eclare

    I’ll admit it, first vote was for HW over Dukakis. Solid D ever since, and I vote every chance I get. In the middle of Hillary’s book.

  30. 30.

    frosty

    First vote was for Shirley Chisholm in the CA primary, then McGovern. Then I fucked up and never voted for Carter — Ford and Anderson. Learned my lesson and I’ve been Yellow Dog Democrat since, top of the ballot all the way down.

  31. 31.

    Ohio Mom

    @frosty: I wrote a high school report on Shirley Chisholm. She was a great person.

    So funny, I can remember the topic of almost every report I wrote on public school. Vitamin B, the history of the NYC subway, Thomas Edison…

  34. 34.

    Tom

    @raven: Regarding “old enough”, my favorite quote of the day was “The same people who claimed that 13 and 14 year olds were mature enough to date Roy Moore are now claiming that 17 and 18 year olds are too immature to have an opinion about guns.”

  40. 40.

    DHD

    @raven: Indeed. I was rooting for the Swedes but really… anybody but Norway :) What a fabulous finish. Kalla and Stina were very gracious losers too unlike the Norwegians (don’t they have enough gold medals already?)

  44. 44.

    Sherparick

    I don’t know how the ages can be different for Carter and Ford since they were both on the ballot in 1976. Ford was selected by Nixon and Congress to replace Agnew after he resigned in disgrace in the Fall of 1973. Ford then became President after Nixon resigned in disgrace in 1974 (interesting times, eh). Ford was only on the ballot in 1976. You would have to be born in 1958 to have been eligible to vote for Ford or Carter in 1976. If you voted for Carter or Reagan in 1980, then 1962 was the earliest birth year to be eligible to vote in the 1980 election and would now at least be 55 going on 56.

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