Legal Commentary

I don't mean to sound as if I'm endorsing a candidate in this post, Democrat or Republican.  But after listening to Senator Clinton's combative speech last night, I find myself wondering again why so many people persist in seeing the Democratic race as being about race, or gender, when it is also and obviously so clearly about an endless and increasingly tiresome generational struggle. 

Can anyone fail to ignore the endlessly pivoting justifications of Senator Clinton's generation for their permanent place in the driver's seat of American life?  In 1968 it was a question of trust: the famous slogan, of course, was "don't trust anyone over 30," and all those best-and-brightest types in the generation in power were mere technocrats who failed, in one person's words, to "consider a more human and eventually a more progressive perspective."  In 1992, in the face of any number of economic and political crises that arguably required experienced leadership, the line was that "the defenders of the status quo" must step aside: "Your time has come and gone.  It's time for a change in America."  It was enough to "know the old ways don't work," even if one had to admit, "I don't have all the answers."  And those who mocked anyone who would exalt mere "vision" over experience were derided.  Last night, lo and behold, the message was one of experience: "Who is tested and ready to be commander in chief on Day One?"  (Aside from, you know, that other guy.)

May one indulge a fantasy and look forward to other campaign slogans as the baby boom generation continues to grasp at power in the years to come, albeit with increasingly arthritic fingers?  For 2020, perhaps: "Gerontocracy -- A New Vision for Democracy," or "Superannuated!," or, in a little bit of double entendre, "For Our Social Security." 

And for 2120?  How about "Heads Floating in a Jar -- Because It's About Using Your Head -- Not Your Body."