Washington Watch
In his ground-breaking 2008 book, The Way We’ll Be, my brother John used his decades of polling to observe and define the values and worldviews that are unique to different age groups of Americans. It wasn’t their biological age that was determinate; it was the life experiences— the defining events and traumatic moments— they shared with their contemporaries that shaped their views, their values, and their sense of future possibilities. I’m speaking here of events and moments that have impacted the nation, not those that have occurred in our personal lives or those that have impacted groups or communities within the nation. And while this is true for every generation in every country, I want to look at how this has played out in my life in the USA.
My mother’s generation, for example, was shaped by the two world wars that bracketed the Great Depression. These dramatic events left scars, to be sure, but they also altered people’s outlook and behaviour. Because that generation knew hardship and loss, they scrimped and saved in their struggle to achieve security and stability in their lives and those of their offspring. The shared sacrifices that accompanied the great wars also fueled a patriotic fervour, a belief in government as a constructive agent for change and a commitment to national service.
My generation lived through the Cold War and the “Red scare.” In school we had regular drills where we were required to hide under our desks to protect ourselves from nuclear attacks. This, of course, provided no protection, but it did create a powerful fear both of “the bomb” and the Communists who we were told might attack us.
Then came the Vietnam War and the military draft which compelled millions of young men to fight in a war that could never be won. Reaction to Vietnam and the draft spawned an anti-war movement that divided the nation and shattered the Cold War notion of “patriotism.” Simultaneous with the transformative impact of the war was the rise of the civil rights movement, which not only saw advances in rights for Black Americans, but also created a growing awareness of racial injustice among many in the majority-white community. And finally, my generation was rocked by the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert, and Martin Luther King, and the demise of President Richard Nixon, who was forced to resign in disgrace. The trauma created by these momentous events combined, left the country in shock that ultimately challenged the dominant political and social culture that had held sway for a generation.
Then there is the toll taken by covid-19. Normal life has been disrupted for the past two years. For the greater part of this period, children, at different stages of development, were denied needed interaction and social development— not to speak of the impact it has had on their learning. And finally, there is the partisan anger, the weaponization of the hatred of “others,” and the vulgarity of the Trump era and its residual effects on our political and social culture.
My children came of age during a period that began with relative calm. The Cold War had ended with the USA feeling that it had emerged as the victorious sole superpower. There were also problems to be sure. Partisan politics became bitter. Economic disparities grew and racial injustices continued to boil. Yet, for nearly a decade and a half, many lived with a renewed sense of promise and hope in the future.
This calm was shattered by the terror attacks of 9/11 and the fear and national hysteria that followed. Americans didn’t just watch the attack on New York’s iconic World Trade Center. They lived and felt it personally, creating fear and feelings of vulnerability. Then came the two long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with the steep price they exacted in lost lives, innocence, and prestige. In their effort to recreate the patriotic fervour that sustained national unity during the great wars and the Cold War, ideologues in the Bush administration sought to elevate first Al Qaeda and then Saddam Hussein and the Islamic Republic of Iran as existential threats. As the wars dragged on, however, what became clear was that the USA was no longer the singular superpower. We were broken. Cynicism and division replaced patriotism.
Then came the great recession of 2008-2009. In just a few months, unemployment doubled, some Americans lost their entire life’s savings, and one in five homeowners were faced with foreclosure on their mortgaged homes. During this moment of national angst, Barack Obama was elected president with a message of hope and change. He succeeded for a time in inspiring many, but was soon undercut by a divisive campaign with subtle and not-so-subtle themes of racial resentment and racially infused fear of his “otherness.” This campaign gave way to deeper and now dysfunctional partisan polarization, xenophobia, a decline in public confidence in once revered institutions, ultimately paving the way for the election of Donald Trump.
With this backdrop, one cannot help but wonder what moments and events that will shape and/or scar the lives of our grandchildren? Over the past week, conversations with my children gave me some answers.
My daughter told me that a classmate of one of my granddaughters recently boasted of how during an “active shooter drill” he had secured the “best hiding place”— one where he would never be found by a gunman. I hadn’t realized that these drills are a common feature in schools that children now accept as routine.
And why wouldn’t they? With mass shootings occurring almost daily and an average of two school shootings each month, it is felt that such measures are in order. Add to this, the deepening racial divide, and the mass movements that erupted in response to wanton police and vigilante violence.
And then there is the toll taken by covid-19. Normal life has been disrupted for the past two years. For the greater part of this period, children, at different stages of development, were denied needed interaction and social development— not to speak of the impact it has had on their learning. And finally, there is the partisan anger, the weaponization of the hatred of “others,” and the vulgarity of the Trump era and its residual effects on our political and social culture.
These era-shaping developments will have a far-reaching effect on the generation that is coming of age in the third decade of this new century. How they play out and whether, in this context, it will be possible to recreate a sense of national purpose and unity remains to be seen.
