No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up.
That Lily Tomlin joke written by Jane Wagner came out of the 1970s, when Vietnam, Watergate, the oil crisis, stagflation, and the end of the economic boom after the second World War combined to make Americans pessimistic, withdrawn, and hopeless.
I was born in the 60s, and I watched adults withdraw from political engagement in the 1970s. Some were drawn to bizarre weirdo politics, and a lot of the roots of the Jacobin left were created in the aftermath of the breakdown of Western culture in the late '60s and early '70s.
When Americans realized that their political institutions would not work, the ethos became: drop out. Join the counter culture. Don't expect electoral politics to work.
"Hairstyles and attitudes" became the dominant focus of pop culture in the 1970s.
I was worried that the Trump administration would result in Americans withdrawing from political engagement, but I have been pleasantly surprised by the outpouring of fierce energy. I worry about the safety of protesters, but they are doing God's work here.
Dropping out was never a solution. I love the adults that I saw in the 1970s, but I wish that they had been a little bit more engaged. I get why people got cynical, but we're living in the consequences of the Jacobin negativism of 50 years ago.
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