Dana Blankenhorn

Democracy is Hard

Here’s a truth no one likes to admit.

Being a citizen in a democratic state is much harder, and takes much more work, than being a citizen in an autocratic state.

You need to think about things that may not matter to you. You should vote. If called upon, you have to drop what you’re doing and be a juror. Even if it takes weeks.

It’s a lot easier to just complain about government and keep your head down than take public affairs seriously. You have a life. You’re just trying to get by. Democracy, if you’re poor, comes off as a middle class affectation. Most people in this world are poor. Very poor. Even wretchedly poor.

The (New) Generation Gap

As we boomers aged, we avoided the Generation Gap that bedeviled our parents.

We didn’t disagree on the war. We let them indulge their passions. We tried to be friends and, while that wasn’t always a great idea, it did keep the peace.

But now that they’ve grown, that gap has finally arrived, in a way we never saw coming.

In a way it’s class warfare. Today’s millennials have less money than we boomers did. Most can’t afford a home. Many can’t even afford a car without help.

They’re not as heavily into things anyway. Their emphasis is on living. This is an over-generalization, of course. Some 30-somethings do have McMansions. Some own giant pick-ups. But most rent, and the rent’s too high.