Watch '1968' to see last days of hope
If anyone hasn't seen Tom Brokow's "1968," they should make every effort to do so. As a member of that generation, I was totally involved.
It was the days of John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. and the hoped-for ideals of the times. We who didn't get into the drug scene worked hard to get JFK and Bobby Kennedy elected.
It was the first time many of us got involved in the political system. I grew up in a Republican family where social Darwinism was in force. I got mine and I keep mine. You get yours as long as it isn't mine.
The local country club was an isolated place out of the reach of "them": blacks, Catholics, Jews, anything ending in "-can". I was of the privileged class and was expected to pull myself up by my "boot straps."
I believed it until I came up against Martin Luther King, Jr. and his dreams. I realized that not everyone had "boot straps" and were not able to get a head start in life when starting from nothing. So, I went on the road with Martin.
It was a time of hope and a chance to realize our dreams as a world-wide community where no one was hungry, unclothed or homeless.
With the assassinations of all three of our icons, the endless war in Vietnam and an oppressive government (1968 Democratic Party convention in Chicago and the police riot, the shootings at Kent State), our dreams were hard-pressed.
And then came Richard Nixon, when wholesale nastiness entered politics. Our dreams faded pretty quickly and it hasn't let up since, with one uncaring administration after another. I can muster up very little hope for the future.
The Republicans that are running for president are no more than a pandering rabble and with the arrival of Alan Keyes, all hope is gone. Some years ago, a book was sold titled "A Parliament of Whores." It was all about the Congress. I'll let the title speak for itself and it's timeliness to today.
The Democrats are not much better, if at all. The front-runner seems to think that experience is acquired by osmosis by just living in the White House: "I don't know anything about being president, but I stayed in a Holiday Inn" attitude.
One look at the number of scandals being generated by George Bush in his second term isn't much of a glowing testimonial for having experience, is it? Edwards and Obama seem to be the only ones that offer a fresh approach and the best bet for us old hippies. I can only hope (a little anyway).
Raleigh Sutton
Elgin