Both my parents were Democrats, though I doubt either were registered. They lived, as do I, in one of our nation's liberal bastions.
I remember where I was when Kennedy was killed. Like many who lived through that, it seemed like the country was never the same. After that event, we descended into more assassinations, the Vietnam War, and Watergate. I have spoken to many people about that
time, and most agree some kind of innocence was lost, and it all began with JFK's death. It's probably not true, but to many it did, and still does, feel that way. It just feels like the country entered a downward spiral, and we all see the JFK murder as the start of it.
When I came of voting age, I voted for Lyndon Johnson, who had a very ambitious domestic policy. The Great Society and all.
But I was in college and grad school during the Johnson and Nixon years, and the Vietnam War radicalized me. I was very active in the anti war movement, and the broad cultural revolution of the 60's and early 70's. There is something about being part of such a revolutionary movement that is enlivening. It seemed like we were part of something larger then ourselves, poised and ready to change the world. Well, that's youth for you. I do very much miss those days and those feelings. I am friends with many Vietnam vets, and I recognize that somebody must have served in my place, at least I look at it that way, even if it's not really true. My close friends say that is foolish, but those who served and survived still hurt very much, and I know that might have been me, were I not a privlaged kid in college.
I remember voting for Carter in 1976. But from that election until the 2016 election, I stayed asleep politically. I think the radicalization of the 60's and 70's turned me off to our politics. I just saw my country as another empire, one of many in the world's history. I guess I felt like a stranger in a strange land.
Trump changed everything for me. I woke up again politically, the last thing I expected to happen at this late stage of my life. It hurts, it really does. Trump hurts. I thought I didn't care anymore, but found out I did. I'm torn between wanting to just ignore it all, and not being able to take my eyes off it. I understood why people were turned off by Clinton, but I did not want to see Trump happen. But he did, and here we are, but I don't see today's youth caring as much as my generation did back in the 60's.
