Our Struggle for Freedom and Civility: A Boomer’s Perspective

Don’t know about you, but I’m so tired of politics and all the things that go with it I could vomit.

There is no such thing as news anymore. The days of Walter Cronkite taking off his glasses and crying while reporting the assassination of President Kennedy or being overjoyed at Neil Armstrong taking that first step on the moon are long gone. Now it is beeps on your phone or watch giving you whatever it is that’s happening with the spin you choose to hear or see it with. It’s not news, it’s someone giving you their opinion on what’s happening.

There is something for everyone in the land of “let me tell you what’s wrong, and who to blame for it.” We have all drawn lines in the sand. You’re either with us, or you’re against us. Common ground, along with common sense, has disappeared from the face of the earth.

There are flags and signs and banners and buttons for everything on homes, in yards, on cars, buses, hats and t-shirts.

I honestly don’t know what most of them mean.

Whatever happened to every life matters? How have we gotten to one life is more important than another?

And money – The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class – well, there is no middle class. There are people living in their cars, under bridges, in cardboard boxes, and federal and local governments argue on how or if to help them. People are working 2 and 3 jobs to support their families, and keep food on the table. Owning a home, or even renting an apartment is just a pipe dream, and still – federal and local governments argue on how to help them. They argue from their well-paid jobs with their lifetime health care on how or if to help them. The system is so broken.

Perhaps the fact that I’m a Boomer (I was born in 1952) is another reason I’m so tired of the game. I don’t long for the “good old days” because honestly, some of them were not so good. However, I do long for the days when no matter who was President, we had some sort of respect for the Office of President. I’m not sure there is respect or civility, for any part of our government these days.

We are a Country born from Pilgrims, with whom I share some DNA, coming to these shores in 1620 on the pretense of freedom of religion. As others came to join them in this New World, hundreds of Native Americans were killed or sold into slavery, and their land stolen. A Country born from that – and a Constitution written totally by and for white men – well. it was inevitable, even with added amendments, that this is what we would become in 2024.

We like to wave our flags and speak of freedom, but until every citizen in this Country is free – there really is no freedom. You can wave your flag and fly your banners, but until the woman next door to you is free to make her own choice about birth control -there is no freedom. Until our Supreme Court is really about the law and not money or power – there will be no freedom for any of us. Until our Representatives and Senators truly and honestly do the work of the people who sent them to Washington – there will be no freedom for any of us. And – until said Representatives, Senators and Presidents stop trying to regulate love and beliefs and focus on equal rights and a decent life for every American regardless of race, gender, income and religion – there will be no freedom for any of us.

This election – if it’s the two front runners right now – will change nothing. These would be lame-duck Presidents unable to make any changes that will truly matter. They will serve four years – and they will be done. They, along with our rights and our freedoms for which we continue to fight, are basically done before they even begin.

I’m just so tired.

Until next time…

XOXO