A different point of view

by David Leslie, Corvallis

First my conclusion: “We the people” are in the midst of a national conversation about the core questions of ”who we are,” “what we believe” and “what can be expected of us.” Our answers will govern us for the next 10-50 years. Now for my reasoning.

In my view, the conversation is proceeding quite satisfactorily, thanks to our Constitution. In documents wise beyond their years, our founders gave us goals we can never fully reach but must always strive for. They gave us a structure for organizing our self-governance over time. They gave us processes to resolve our disagreements so we could move on.  They delineated principles they deemed essential to our success, e.g. separation of church and state, all are equal and majority rule. Nothing is broken. 

The post-WWII paradigm has framed western thought for forty years. It said contain communism; world peace happens through global trade; a lightly managed free market is good; maintain a strong military; and government should be used for the common good. It was a we-are-all-in-this-together model. “We” was the operative word.

The Baby Boom generation (mine) inherited that paradigm from our parents. Our contribution was to invent “Me-ism” in the sixties as a rejection of the paradigm, or naively thinking it didn’t matter. And we have imposed that on our society ever since.

My fellow Baby Boomers and I are heading inexorably for the big buffalo jump. By 2050 most will be gone. For one thing, that takes some pressure off Social Security and Medicare, allowing time for it to be re-thought for the coming Millennials (larger than the Baby Boomers).

Bigger than that though, is that Gen X, Gen Y and Millennials experience our society very differently than Baby Boomers. They want a different work-life balance; their expectations of aging differ; they have a different understanding of technology; they are rethinking the role of government in society and the U.S. role in the world. And, they will inherit issues we have not dealt with very well, e.g. climate.

The world has changed. The issues humans face now are different than fifty years ago. It’s time for a generational leadership change. The good news is that it is underway; the caution is that there is no guarantee that it will work out for the best.

I conclude three things: first, we must all stay in the conversation. And it helps to articulate what you think is the “right answer” versus demonizing your opponents. Secondly, those efforts afoot that would alter the Constitution’s principles and processes to favor one view or another must be completely stopped. And finally, we will know this is over when most of the population turns their attention back to their daily lives.