Post 644 - August 22, 2024

Joy might be the least likely theme of any political convention I have ever witnessed in my lifetime. Whether someone had the idea to go with it, or whether it just sort of naturally evolved, it’s brilliant. I can be as cynical as they come, but I am watching these people speak over the last few days, and time and time again, I find myself moved to tears by what they are saying.

What better emotion to run with than joy to appeal to the entire generation of brand-new voters fresh out of the starting gate?

I once had a conversation with the nephew of a friend of mine. This guy was in college and studying journalism. We got to talking and it soon became apparent that his idea and my idea of what the job he was going into was, were radically different.

He was not interested in covering violence. Period. I couldn’t understand what he was saying. A quick glance through our country’s newspapers and online streaming channels will reveal that an overwhelming percentage of the stories we are fed are violent. It is almost inevitable. We are a brutally warlike species. We like nothing more than a good fight against each other. The entire animal kingdom is awash in violence. Even plants fight each other.

This guy didn’t accept that. He felt that there were plenty of other stories that could be covered that were far gentler in tone than wartime reporting. War stories weren’t what we should be reading.

As much as I would like to agree with that, if there is a war going on, I want to know about it. The only thing, I think, that might be worse than a war fought out in the open, would be one fought out of sight behind a screen of silence.

He and I never did come to any sort of agreement about what the role of news reportage should be. It was a relaxed discussion, tempers never flared. From the standpoint of my advanced years, his young opinions seemed naïve. Nonetheless, what he said has stuck with me.

The generational shift in attitudes that I am seeing seems monumental. I am sure it must have been equally hard for the parents of my generation of Boomers to process what they were seeing in us kids. I am trying not to roll my eyes at this, but instead take in what I am seeing.  Instead of criticizing this new youth culture, I am trying to understand it.

The world outlook of a twenty-year-old is not remotely the same as that of a sixty-year-old. It never has been. A lifetime of experience changes you. It sometimes becomes difficult to remember what it is like to be young. You can’t use the eyes of either age to judge the actions of the other. Seen through the filter of my older eyes, of course, I see plenty to be critical of in twenty-year-olds. I am more than certain that it’s the same in reverse. The only way to critically assess the actions and ideas of a twenty-year-old is to try and understand and empathize with the twenty-year-old’s point of view.

During a national election, the candidates for office ask people of all ages to support them and their policies. It would be hard enough to convince a room full of people your own age to agree with you, let alone a room full of people ranging from the very young all the way up to the elderly and infirm.

Each generation throughout history has made a mess of something that they then passed on to their kids to clean up. Some problems are new to that generation, and some are the screwed-up cans that have been kicked down the road forever. Nobody can figure out how to solve the problem, so they stop trying and give it to the next lot to tackle.

We, unfortunately, are seeing some of those issues, unchecked for decades, demanding to be attended to now. There are aspects of our culture that are nearing crisis mode.

A single issue has those who are directly impacted by it and those who are allies of those who’ve been impacted. The level of commitment to the fight won’t be the same for those two groups. We can be affected by one or more issues and be allied on many others. Our list of priorities in terms of what to fix first won’t necessarily be the same. Oh, all the problems that need fixing may be on all our lists, but they probably won’t be in the same order.

A party’s platform usually develops around a hit-or-miss assessment of which issues are the most important to the greatest number of voters. Somebody’s always going to be bent out of shape that their number one issue isn’t at the top of the party’s hit list. A suggestion is floated that ignites a nationwide response and it ends up on the platform. Another one is announced that seems to fall on deaf ears, and it disappears.

Politics is a popularity contest. The results are affected by peoples’ emotions far more than they are by cold, hard facts. If that weren’t true, then the GOP would be getting trounced in the polls. The few things the Republicans are concretely proposing are mostly things that nobody, but their party elite wants. Many of the proposals will actually harm the average citizen. The voters, however, are not looking at the facts, they are coasting with their feelings.

The thing on everyone’s mind before President Biden dropped out of the race, was how on earth was either of the two parties going to energize young voters enough to get them out to the polls. The fight was between two ancient men over issues that are far down the list of the average twenty-year-old’s checklist. They didn’t care.

That’s not remotely the case now. Now there is a a candidate who is potentially the right age to be this younger generation’s mother. The vice-presidential nominee is the same age as the coaches and teachers they just left behind in their schools.

Coach Walz makes everyone feel taken care of. The young whose lives have recently been impacted by coaches of their own, and the older folks who can remember what that feels like are both solidly behind him. Mamala Harris inspires respect in all of us. None of us want to be there when that infectious laughter and bright smile go away. We know what she’s capable of. In the meantime, she just may be the coolest mom ever.

The world is a brutally hard place as most of these new graduates are just now discovering for themselves. With this new Democratic ticket, they are being offered a return to the security of the lives they may have had before they graduated.

It feels good. It feels joyful. The spectacle of those thousands of people partying in that enormous arena in Chicago makes the whiny, bitter, incoherent rallies led by the weird old guy on the right seem ever more pathetic and repellant.

If we all need to choose something, and as citizens in a Democracy we do, why shouldn’t we all choose joy?

We will get the detailed party platform eventually. (at least I hope we do). For now, though, it’s the frat’s opening kegger during the first few days of school. Whoever throws the best party gets the coolest kids to want to sign up. So far, the Dem’s party slaps!

(That even made me cringe. I’m trying, here. )

Wow, what a difference a few weeks makes. A month ago, it was nearly impossible to watch the news without feeling smothered by a heavy blanket of pure dread. Now it feels like we are lying on a sunny beach together drinking colorful drinks decorated with mini umbrellas.

It feels better. It’s a better way to live.

I, for one, will never lose the image of Tim Walz’s son so choked up with pride towards his dad last night, that he couldn’t stop crying. That kid and I feel exactly the same way.

That’s what I want. I want joy. Don’t we all?