2020 elections will determine our future

Nostalgia for Trump Not Likely

Whether or not I like to admit it, I am now at the age where I look back on the world and see how it has changed over the course of my 60 years. There is a tendency to fall in love with the past and wish for life as it once was. For those of you who are much younger than me, don’t fall for this when you get older. Nostalgia is a load of crap.

If, in 40 years, there are Americans wishing for the good old days when Donald Trump was in power, let me warn you, you are in a world of trouble. Chances are, there will no longer be a United States if people are longing for a president who resembles Fat Bastard more than he does the leader of the free world.

Remembering History Matters

The biggest challenge facing today’s youthful protesters is to learn and remember from history. There is truth in the phrase that those who fail to learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat it. If you do not believe me, keep in mind, many of the strongest supporters of our current president were once part of the “hippie” generation. Over the course of their lives, hippies moved from free love to me first. Their desire to create a world centered around acceptance, peace, love, and let’s not forget, understanding, is nowhere to be found in the maze of present culture they created.

Okay, maybe not all hippies moved this far right. However, children of the 1960s and 70s are the ones who created the political mess we currently have and long since forgot the importance of doing more than just resisting power. My generation caved to thinking there is nothing we can do about leadership and in its place went on to create a “me centered” world designed to block out the two headed beast we know as the DNC and GOP.

You see, it takes more than just pinning your hopes on a candidate who seems to get what you want. Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton were both brilliant men who failed for different reasons to make a significant positive impact on our culture. Instead, they learned to govern from within the existing framework while fighting the ugliest evils of conservatism.

In my life, it has always been Democrats who looked to move the nation forward in both thought and actions while conservatives always ran on more nostalgic themes of yesteryear and the fears of a dangerous world headed our way. As a result, they created a great excuse to build a massive war machine to which we remain beholden.

Democrats Have Themselves to Blame

Then along came a young man named Barrack Obama who even many lifelong moderates could pin their hopes on for significant change. Unfortunately, under him, we learned the lengths some people will go to fight change. In the end, we ended up with Donald Trump rather than an extension to Obama’s forward thinking.

Democrats are to blame for his rise as much as any other group. You see, it was the DNC who rigged their primary process in 2016 long before the Russians got involved in the general election. When you bypass a forward-thinking man like Bernie Sanders who connected with the future voters of America for a one time admitted hippie turned politician who felt she was entitled to a job despite never really connecting with voters, we end up with agent orange and his team of rich bullies running the show.

While Jimmy Carter never fell for the trappings of power that come with being president, you cannot say the same about Bill or Hillary Clinton. Their love affair for all that comes to those who rule was proof of the adage that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Will Future Leaders Be Different?

If the 20 and 30 somethings of today who see the ills of the world my generation has created fall to the offerings that come to those in power, they will eventually end up repeating history. If the young who go on to inherit the wealth of the nation from men like Trump continue to manipulate power to suit them over the good of others, they will become no different than the greedy who caused our economy to collapse ten years ago.

However, if they can continue to grow on the work of people like Bill Gates and use their wealth to advance the lives of those in need, they cannot just correct the ills of Baby Boomers, they can build a planet that offers a future of hope for all its inhabitants.

If the masses of today’s youth who grow up to become nothing more than just one of the drops of water that make up the bucket of American culture and end up believing there is nothing they can do to bring about real change, then the bad guys will have won. No one will feel sorry for you while more forward-thinking people from other nations do what you are capable of doing.

Who Should Dems Turn To?

Today, we are moving backwards on more levels than there is room to cover in this space. Are we closer to peace, love, and happiness now that our leader has gone to great lengths to undo the forward-thinking work of Obama? Think the LGBT community embraces Trump? Women? Minorities? The poor? Non-Christians? Despite what he wants us to believe, Donald Trump connects with a smattering of our populace and yet, if we are not careful, he will rule this nation for another six years.

In 2020, Democrats have a major decision. Who will they move forward with who can connect with voters without scaring the crap out of voters on the fence to defeat Trump? There is no doubt Joe Biden is well qualified to pick up the fight to continue the Obama legacy, but then we just end up with another career politician, and an old one at that. While he will represent stability at both home and with our allies abroad, is that enough to ignite voters to oust 45?

In 2004, I voted to reelect George W. Bush, not because of what he accomplished in his first term, but because I felt the nation needed a serious change in direction. I knew Bush had just four more years in office and felt there was nothing in John Kerry that indicated anything other than politics as usual. I wasn’t going to risk eight years of him before we changed. In 2008, I was happy for the rise of Obama to the White House.

Will Biden be a 2020 version of Kerry and fail to connect with enough voters to run Trump out of office or will Democrats decide to turn to someone younger and more attractive to the farther left voters? At the same time, will a younger candidate, say a Corey Booker or Kamala Harris, know how to fend off the barbs and personal attacks of team Trump to win an election or is the left better suited with someone with that proven skill set, someone like Joe Biden?

2020 Is Here

It may seem strange to be asking these questions now considering the midterm elections have yet to happen. If they result in the GOP losing control of both houses, it will mean nothing more than a small victory for the left because Trump knows he carries the power of his pen backed by the Supreme Court. The results will mean little to him. He will continue to lie, distract, and bully as he always does so do not expect a contrite Trump if the GOP loses big time next month.

Believe it or not, the future is now. It’s always now. The power brokers prefer to lull an electorate into complacency so as not to have their Yachts rocked. It’s time to rock all the yachts. It’s time for my generation to help future generations correct what we have created. We failed to exercise our vote to create real and lasting change. We have accepted the horrific form of leadership we have on multiple levels because we did not want to be bothered to work for change.

It’s time we all admit this and to do our part to help today’s movers and shakers make this country the kind of nation it once was (insert nostalgic music). We blew our chance. Let’s at least give the people behind us a fighting chance to right our wrongs before we leave this planet. Maybe then we can look back with pride over how we helped change this nation for the better in 2020 and lived long enough to enjoy it.

Top photo by Tim Forkes