Somehow there has got to be a way to move from getting angry to getting even.
A really big problem is that those of us who are getting by are not angry. We have just enough that the problem of joblessness is not our problem, our student loans are behind us and weren’t all that heavy in any event. We are not among the 1-2% but we aren’t all that uncomfortable. Our SS checks get automatically deposited and our pensions and IRA drawdowns are enough. We still spend more at Starbucks in a couple of weeks than some families have for a starch-laden month’s supply of groceries. We feel the left side of our minds engage and the left side of our hearts speed up when people like Elizabeth Warren speak, but there are simply not enough of the likes of us who are willing to sacrifice even a little of our comfort to make changes. We are stirred by videos, assiduously avoid Faux News, tune in Madow and let PBS lull us to sleep, but we are not going to do anything that really costs us. Hence little will change no matter who is elected.
I used to be angry, now I’m just cynical. Go ahead, prove me wrong; I dare you.
Sanchismos 
Superb post. I, too, am extremely cynical. I do not see improvement coming. Ever. I also hope I’m wrong, but I doubt it.
Inspired- thanks for reading and approving this blog about my frustration. I hope we are both wrong, for the nation and for our grandkids.
Pingback: Passing the Torch: Going from Hope to Despair in two Generations | The Secular Jurist
Very observant. It is sadly true that we who fought so actively and so passionately against the Vietnam War, against corporate polluters, and against racial and sexual injustice, have become uninspiring in our old age. But, I would submit that the revolutionary fervor of civil disobedience is no longer our generation’s responsibility. That duty – fairly or unfairly – always falls upon the young.
We performed that duty in the 60s to early 70s, and some of us paid the ultimate price (e.g. Kent State massacre). We forced an end to the Vietnam War. We raised the environmental consciousness of the nation. We marched alongside the likes of Martin Luther King, Jr. We supported our sisters in their struggle for choice and equality. No, we weren’t perfect. Far from it. But, we did our duty.
Forty years later, I marched again with Occupy Wall Street joined by other aging Boomers. It was a commendable effort, but it could not be sustained. Millennials provided the energetic fuel, but the spigots quickly ran dry. When push came to shove, they retreated from real society and lost themselves in a virtual world of commercial bliss.
Today, I march no longer. I do my best to inform Americans about the grave imminent threat of global corporatism. I watch with great horror as the police henchmen of the ruling establishment abuse and treat black people like vermin. I see the pain of their desperation. What I don’t see is many white faces willing to march with them. And that really makes me mad.
Bob, your response is an eloquent reply. Thank you. I do recognize that, for some of us, it is enfeeblement and not mere indifference that put us on the sidelines. I too am disappointed that too few of the generations following us have taken up the fight. But I struggle, not only with hoarseness from my shouting, but a cynicism that borders on despair about the future of this fallen republic.
I share your cynicism and despair. Our nation is in big, big trouble and it seems there is nothing that can be done to stop the decline.
Sadly true. Also our loss of revolutionary energy comes with age. Bernie-Elizabeth 2016. With Pope Francis as Secty. of State.
Indeed, Cindy. I like your phrase ‘loss of revolutionary energy;’ Bob V’s comment says it well.