NYT Op-Ed: "The Generation Gap Is Back"

[daaron]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/opinion/sunday/the-generation-gap-is-back.html?_r=1&hp

“They don’t think the Republican Party thinks like them,” much as older voters feel alienated by what they see as today’s immigrant-embracing, gay-friendly, activist-government Democratic Party, Mr. Dowd said last week. “I don’t expect these younger voters to wake up all of a sudden when they’re 38 years old and say, ‘I was for gay marriage before, but now I’m against it.’ ”
....
What seems clear is that the marketing gurus are finally right: today’s young really are different. They view a boisterously diverse United States as a fact of life, and they view life as clearly better than it used to be. But they are also products of the longest economic slump in 70 years, and they would like a little help. They wish the country would devote more attention to its future, especially on education and the climate. They, of course, will have to live with that future.

ETA: I love the 'most popular' comment below, too (not!) Typical Boomerism to say, in a nutshell, "What about MEEEEEEEE???!?!?!" Here's an excerpt:

Today's youth in my view posses no where near the depth of intelligence, clarity and vision of the youth of the 60s and 70s.

'Nuff said.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. By contrast, I've notice anyone-but-republicans tend to bond together notwithstanding

the differences in age, culture, ethnicity, income levels, backgrounds, etc.

[RKP5637]

2. Same here, many people I know bond together, wanting fairness, etc. Then you

get a republican in the room and all hell breaks loose. The republican party to me is all about selfishness and greed. Well, another thing, around here at least, when someone cuts you off in traffic often they have a fish symbol on their trunk and/or a flag on the bumper. This is red republican territory.

[Romulox]

3. It's bizarre and wrong to extrapolate into infinity from today's trends. Future right wingers

may well come to embrace gay marriage while simultaneously engaging in the politics of greed and gluttony. The idea that the nature of power will be different in the future and that gay marriage, e.g., will determine if those who have it will want to share it in the future is wishful thinking, at best.

Surely the "Pink Elephant" groups point the way toward a possible future for a "more inclusive" rightwing psycopathy?

[treestar]

4. Go to you tube for 60s music

There are tons of comments of young people saying that music is no good now and was so good back then and wishes to have been born earlier.

The only thing different for young people now is that they aren't greater in number, which they usually were before birth control.

[brewens]

5. "I just hope it doesn't effect me." A 70ish lady volunteer that works

with us a blood center has said that a couple times. That's her basic attitude. She's got hers and doesn't think she should have to sacrifice anything. She's a retired nurse that spent most of her career at a union paper mill, as did her husband.

She's really a good person, just a little confused. She'll tell you she's pro-union but is Republican in every other way. She hates Obama and loves "Sheriff Joe". She gets most of her news from Newsmax online.

I can talk to her about the labor movement and how that was so important to her and everything she's got. I can seem to get her agreeing with me about how it's the Republicans that would deny all that to everyone else. The next time I talk to her it's like the conversation never happened.

She only understands that the union put money in her pocket and that was good. She really doesn't get it that she's anti-union for everyone else, or how that's actually a bad thing.

She's definitely one of the people that really only identifies with the white authoritarian types. It's hard to blame her for that. It's how she was raised and everything and everyone she was ever around probably reinforced that. You just can't get her to understand that it could have been very much different no matter how hard she worked.