I'm 62. Perhaps it is time for younger blood in the D Party to take over

[stopbush]

I'll admit it, the Nov election really kicked the crap out of me.

I have voted D my entire life, starting in 1972 when I cast my very first vote for president. Nixon won. I thought that was a tough pill to swallow. Little did I know...

Last year, my decades-long journey looked to be finally about to pay off big time with Hillary winning in a landslide, and with the forces of evil and make believe (Rs and the religious right) kicked to the corner for the foreseeable future. It was as if Americans had finally come to their senses and were ready to embrace reality for the first time since, oh, WWII.

And then the opposite happened. Either by outright theft, Russian and FBI interference, whatever, that brief, shining moment was turned into the shitstorm we're experiencing today.

Frankly, I think I'm running out of steam. Being engaged and engaging in politics is a tough slog. It's an all-day sucker that needs constant attention. It takes time, it takes a commitment, it takes money. It takes energy.

I think I've reached the point where I will keep sending money when I can, but damn! After over 40 years of internalizing the political wars, I'm ready for an extended break...and maybe a break that morphs into retirement.

Sure, I'll keep up with the no-effort efforts like reading and posting on DU, FB etc. How hard is that? But I've turned off the network news since 11/8. MSNBC and CNN are no longer programmed into the favorite channels function on the remote. Hell, I've even deleted them as viewing options when I'm mindlessly surfing the channels. They just don't show up.

Yes, I know there are many people my age and older who still have the fire in their guts. But frankly, I'm feeling worn down. At my age, gainful employment has been a sketchy proposition for the last decade. Full time employment seems to be a distant memory, and along with it, decent healthcare insurance and hopes of being able to retire with any kind of real financial security. Believe me, it's a scary thing to be facing down retirement age knowing that actually retiring isn't an option, and that the things you counted on as a safety net - Medicare and SS - may well be eliminated before I hit 65 in just over 2 years.

It's time for the youngsters to step up and fill the shoes of we oldsters. We need new blood and new thinking that gets beyond the default position of many of us oldsters. By that I mean, we need people who can think beyond just basic survival, because believe me, that's the kind of thinking that occupies a lot of the waking hours of the older-but-not-so-rich segment of the population, be it D or R.

We need that promising generation to step up and take on the mantle of progressive politics, and we need it now.

Sorry for the rant. Take it how you will.

[redstatebluegirl]

1. I will be 62 in a month and I agree.

I have been politically active since I was 17 years old. I have worked hard for my party, given money when I didn't have it, given time away from my family. Then this morning, a young grad student suggested "you are the problem", it should have been Bernie and your generation stole it from him.

I am tired, I am worn out. This election did me in for many reasons. My health is failing and I am no longer able to be silent when accused of being the problem. Honestly, i let her have it this morning. I have no tolerance for the crazy side of our party any more. I want to win, I want to win state, local and national elections. I realize that by going to either the far right or the far left you lose.

Time for the young ones to take over and get frustrated like we are.

[angstlessk]

2. Twice in my life I went to bed thinking the Democrat won, only to wake up IN a mightmare.

The first was Gore....thought he won Florida...woke up to find out Ms harris stole it for bush

The biggest shock to my system was when my husband woke me up to say trump won...I was so certain he was joking I got mad at him for waking me...till I saw it for myself...I have been in the dumps ever since...with a few highlights.

The take away from this....do not go to bed till the winner is certain!

[Warpy]

3. I've voted D for national offices, with one exception, Ed Brooke

but I've voted Socialist Worker's Party in Boston when they had the best local candidates.

I'm perfectly content to be the older voice telling the kids how it used to be in this country when we had the protections of the surviving part of the New Deal, including a minimum wage that actually supported the workers earning it. Decent wages at the bottom were the key to having a booming economy with shallow recessions plus a strong and stable middle class.

I think it's important for younger folks to know that's the case, so I'll continue to rant until I croak.

However, yes, it's time for younger folks. Let them see if they can end this conservative botch of everything while I sit in my chair at the old folks' home, grumbling into my pureed peas.

[yallerdawg]

4. I have two millenial children.

If I didn't hound them, they wouldn't vote! And I have to fill out a sample ballot for them!

No. It's not time for us to pass the torch. It's time for us to show them how to do it, how important it is cradle to grave!

[stopbush]

8. I well remember back in 1972 when my HS friends and I

- Ds and Rs alike - jumped into a car pool and drove the 12 miles to the county seat to register as first-time voters, and to make sure that those of us who would be away at college would be able to vote absentee.

We were so excited about the idea of voting. We felt it was empowering. But then, this was during an era where kids our age were being sent off to die in the jungles of Nam. We had little to say about that: the draft was in full force, and it you drew the short straw, well, sorry...all of your young hopes and dreams just got put on hold...maybe forever.

There was an urgency about making our voices heard. Times have changed. Back then, the mantra of the political system being rigged and there being no difference between Ds and Rs was something you heard only from edgy comedians. It hadn't been harped on like it is today. No wonder kids today can't be bothered to vote - they've been told it's ultimately a worthless exercise.

[butdiduvote]

5. I guess I don't understand this "new blood" mentality.

Why can't we all work together? Those who want to, of course; if someone is too tired to continue like the OP, by all means, no one should begrudge them that. I just don't get the either/or mindset. Usually when I see someone calling for new blood, they really mean, "I'm tired of hearing from Hillary Clinton and want her to go away already ughh," which I don't think the OP is saying, but I hate it as a 20-something who very much enjoys hearing what Hillary has to say.

[stopbush]

6. I am a big Hillary supporter. I donated money and time this year.

It's just that it adds up.

What's the saying? It's not the years, it's the mileage.

[phleshdef]

7. I am 37 and age matters not a damn to me.

[frazzled]

9. What's stopping them from taking over?

Nothing, that I can think of. There is no conspiracy preventing younger members from getting elected or rising to leadership positions. They're just not achieving it. Democracy is a bitch sometimes, but it's all we've got.

[LanternWaste]

10. unsupported allegations and simplistic guess-work on which we often predicate a premise...

"I know there are many people my age and older who still have the fire in their guts..."

It's these unsupported allegations... this simplistic, self-validating guess-work on which we often predicate an entire premise that frustrates me.



Observe, measure, test... then conclude. Or reduce rational thought to bumper-stickers and fortune cookies on the whim of bias.

[stopbush]

12. Sorry to tell you, but plenty of my friends my age still have the fire in their guts.

That is not an unsupported allegation.

Do I need to provide you with names, ages and addresses? Fuck no.

I'll tell you what's simplistic: your response to my OP.

[UTUSN]

11. I'm 70, diehard Dem, have had the gut punch more often than not, but the most this time.

Just today in my circle of friends and relatives I send political e-mails to, I was about to stop the e-mails, but DRUMPF's ignorance about health care being "so complicated" and last week's where he LEARNED that nukes going off would be "very very bad," were so gobsmacking that I sent the e-mail adding that I might be reaching the end of this rope, since nothing of DRUMPF's atrocities seem to matter.

So I understand where the o.p. is coming from, but disagree about the olds (like me) giving up and the young taking over. I've seen the same severely disappointing things over these fifty years of voting, have seen a new batch of young voters going down the primrose path of Third Parties and Single Issue latest thing. At first I thought the o.p. was going to talk about Old vs. Young and I was thinking that KKKarl ROVE's playing Dem constituencies against one another was going on. But I see the different thing the o.p. is talking about.

I'll just say that all these years there have been heavy blows and disappointments and precious few victories. I don't want to give up. I admit I am verging on withdrawing, concentrating on writing the book I've been ragging about for 60 years, withdrawing from time wasting internet and time wasting politics talk. The cliché about the Romans' "bread and circuses" leaves out the deeper point: That the masses had no role in bothering their heads about affairs of State, that they just needed to focus on being provided the bread and circuses. Politics were ONLY to be dealt with by the actual PLAYERS on the actual Big Stage. Not us.

Bread and circuses. NFL, NBA, Academy Awards, cable t.v. (circuses). Little jobs to have a place to go to every day (bread).

********What's keeping me going so far is the tantalizing possibility that DRUMPF will go down in a gigantic NIXON flame.

[stopbush]

14. Yes, you understand what I was trying to say.

it's not about old v young at all.

[UTUSN]

15. What's keeping me going is the tantalizing possibility that DRUMPF is going down bigger than NIXON

[lunatica]

13. No. We need all of us, old and young

and of all races to work together for a better future for all of us.

I'm 68 and I'm not anywhere close to giving up! I'm still working full time in a job I'm not crazy about but I have no desire to retire or give up or lay back or let life pass me by. Fuck that shit.

[stopbush]

16. If I was able to secure a fulltime job - even one that I wasn't crazy about -

I might feel differently.

But I'm not so fortunate.

BTW - I continue to search the job boards and network every day. I send resumes, every day. Ageism is a real thing out there in the job market. Experience only gets you so far these days. Employers have real issues hiring seniors - they have to pay them higher salaries and higher premiums for their employer-provided healthcare, they can't expect them to have the energy of workers half their age. Seniors have age-related issues, like sickness and chronic health conditions. Employers are not pre-disposed to look favorably on older workers.

I get that. That's the reality.

[lunatica]

17. I'm here because I've worked here for 20 years

I'm sure I couldn't get a job here now, in spite of the fact that I'm one of those go to people who know a hell of a lot about the job.

Maybe you've already done this, but I would try temp work. EVery time it led to me getting more work and full time work too. I started working where I am now in their temp pool and got my first full time job because of it.

I also have my groceries delivered to my house because I have some physical problems and most of the drivers are advanced in age or in some way physically handicapped. I order from Costco now because I can give tips. Making a living from tips is something I did in my youth for many years as a single mom working as a waitress.

[stopbush]

20. I do temp work, mostly as a marketing and fund-raising consultant.

No benefits, and clients can come and go when they want, so no guarantees of income.

I'd resist the urge to think like a Republican, and believe that people have issues simply because they're not trying hard enough. I've had my share of McJobs as well.

[Elwood P Dowd]

18. I will be 70 soon and never dreamed this country would fall so far

it would make me long for the days of Nixon. Hell, even my 2 years in the US Army (drafted) were better than this shit.

[LWolf]

19. Yes and no.

I have embraced the energy for change exuding from the "younger blood." I'm 57. I stand with anyone, of any age, who stands for positive progressive change.