The Sixties and Now

So many people see the 60s as the time of "peace, love and flowers." Well, it's true. Partly. There was peace; there was love; and there were flowers. I know. I was part of all that. And many aspects of it were beautiful (even if Woodstock was a very muddy, rainy occasion). But there was also a war and race riots and killings. And the US was fractured by that war in Vietnam.

In some ways, the issues which divided us as a nation back then were articulated by the split arising from the passage of Voting Rights Legislation, which finally extended the Vote to African-Americans. LBJ managed that, a Democrat. Ever since, the Republicans have been the party of white people and many whites- a visible slice of the electorate-  have gotten more and more reactionary.

In 2013, what we have is a replay of the 60s, in a way. Only this time it's more serious. Partly, it's because the country isn't as rich as it was; it's in debt. Once again, we have confusing foreign wars and a serious divide in the country, which takes form in the fractious debate over social issues. In the 60s, it was ending the war, civil rights and, to a degree, women's rights. Now it's the economy, not so thinly veiled racist attacks on an African-American President, the issue of guns and gay rights.

I admit the fact that we have an African-American President is a step forward; and the fact that gay people have the right to marry in 14 (soon to be 15) states is another major accomplishment. But what I see is the similarity between the eras, as well as some disturbing parallels.

Despite the real gains that women have made, they still earn less than men; despite the solid gains, gay people like myself have made, we're still not accorded full equality. Yes, it is coming. But why, I wonder, is the country still stalked by ugly racism? Why are people still even arguing over guns and abortion? No one seems to care about marijuana any more but a woman's right to choose- indeed, even a woman's ability to vote is imperiled in Texas, which has  set voter ID laws almost impossibly high, with the effect of disenfranchising 24% of the women voters. And that is another Republican effort to suppress the changing demographics of the country and ignore the facts of a nation which is no longer under the control of straight white men.

When people are afraid they behave irrationally. They become fearful. They get angrier. I think we can agree we see people feeling more raw. And for good reason. We're seeing ecological destruction on a scale never before witnessed. It seems as overwhelming or incomprehensible as the Plague must have seemed to people in the Middle Ages. The fact that there are clear reasons gets buried in the bewilderment of what has to be done to change; no one, including myself, seems able to keep up with the changes that need to be made.

I see one strange aspect in the tension between people. Dialogue is becoming shrill; polarized; underscored by "positions"- people wanting to hear their own opinions re-enforced rather than deal with facts or make rational decisions based on facts. On the Republican side, politically, the moderate middle has disappeared; the Dems aren't quite as divided but there is still a great sense of anger. I'm not sure where it comes from. Is it a sense of anger at the promise of a nation going unfulfilled? In the 60s, when the country was rich, my peers and I felt that the country had betrayed its principles (in Vietnam etc). Now it seems that understanding our collective history is made doubly- or triply- challenging by decades of blunders and over-reactions.

When Reagan was first elected, my father spoke of the country going through 40 year cycles. What he meant was that the country had, essentially, been governed by Democrats from 1930 to 1980. I believe that the swing is the other way now: that Obama's election and the disintegration of the GOP (which appears to be at the beginning of a search for identity through what looks to be/come a nasty bloodletting) will be a long process, possibly lasting several decades.

But do we have decades in a country where children are killed by guns every day and where we face catastrophic debts? Where the environment is showing us ecological ruin has consequences? I hate to be a pessimistic- I am an optimist by nature- but I'm afraid I'm doubtful that there can be progress when such shredding is underway. I know it makes me feel nervous, that I anticipate harder times. It makes me sad. I don't know what to do so I write. But that is hardly much to speak of.