Youngters, The GOP, and the Political Future

Speaking of aging boomers, liberals, and dance show hosts, and the march of time,  Michael Barone brings to our attention today the droopy, silver haired antiquity of the House Democratic leadership in the new Congress. ("Wily Old Dems take on Whippersnapper Republicans," January 6, 2011) The GOP landslide in the 2010 midterm election brought a lot of young Republicans into the House, swept some young Democrats out, and left the liberal Old Bulls in the same seats they have occupied for thirty and forty years or more.

Democrats like to think of themselves as the young party, the party of new ideas. And in 2010, they remained the choice of the youngest voters, though by only half the margin in 2008.

But when you look at the top Democrats in the House, you don't see young faces. The ages of the ranking Democrats on the Appropriations, Ways and Means, Education, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Foreign Affairs and Judiciary committees are 70, 79, 65, 71, 70, 69 and 81. The three party leaders are 70, 71 and 70.

Think of the implications of the "Big Unit America" view of the country that these Old Bull liberals hold and that Barone describes, and of the "personal preferences" and "privacy settings" view of the world that the rising generation has (to say nothing of fast and efficient delivery). Where is the political future and which party is philosophically better positioned to seize it?

The Virtual Generation and Their Corresponding Selves

My wife, Jessica, recently posted this question to her Facebook friends in her "status update" regarding the effect of electronic social networking on relationships.

Do these constant updates meaningfully communicate to the people we love, or are they narcissistic compulsions brought on by an increasingly detached and disconnected society in which real life is being submerged under a weighty flow of chat, IM, email, twitter, and other forms of virtual reality?

Her colleague at the school, Jesse Clements, gave what I thought was a wise response.

As long as one primarily recognizes the playful superficiality of this type of discourse and does not mistake it for "meaningful" communication (as so many teens do), then it is harmless and even useful. But as I begin to notice kids who think simulating the symptoms of Tourette's at each other is adequate conversation, I have to wonder whether Facebook has completely erased any sense of entire personality that, say, a letter requires one to put forth. Given my virtual nostalgia for the epistolary age, I am enticed by this new kind of exchange but find it an inadequate, fragmented reincarnation. Letters were also vehicles for the creation of persona but at least one needed to be responsible for that creation and follow up on it. The new format provides too many opportunities for teens especially to hide behind broken or borrowed signposts as they do their clothes. When they see their friends at school, no one demands--it isn't even expected--that there be a correlation of selves.

Jessica Innes (B.A., Grove City College) teaches humanities at Grace Christian Academy, a classical Christian school in Merrick, NY, on Long Island. Jesse Clements (B.A., New York University) teaches humanities and Latin. Both have graciously given me permission to post the exchange.