I am having difficulty understanding the rage that seems to be springingfrom older white men in America. Let me start by admitting that I am one, so my perplexity is based on my 65 years of direct experience. My confusion grows when none of the truly furious can directly answer the simple question, “What are you so angry about?”
As a class, we have enjoyed the lifelong and automatic privileges of anaccepted majority, the unfettered opportunity to engage with the education and profession of our choosing, the ability to avoid national service of any kind and access to health care in our dotage that is extending our comfort and longevity.
Few of us have been threatened with imprisonment, preventabledisease or even any real discomfort. We have been literally pampered by circumstances and the courage and foresight of our ancestors, many of whom sacrificed their lives to make this all possible.
Yet so many of my peers seem to be bent on the full support of a selfish andbitter list of counterproductive social objectives that you would expect to come from a long-abused group of outcasts. They include, to name just a few: Voter Suppression, Immigrant Registration, The Denial of Equality for Women, Denial of Equal Rights to those with Non-traditional Sexual Preferences, Hatred of Government in All Forms, Execution for Adults while Defending the Sanctity of the Unborn and an Absolute Rejection of Taxation for the Common Good.
This is not a “conservative agenda,” this is a toxic recipe for chaos. Thecontinued legitimization of these toxic notions inspires the violence that only a gun-soaked country can sustain.
America really is an exceptionalplace. Why do so many of us beneficiaries want to rip it up so badly?
Stephen Harris
Lincoln