Are You Experienced?
Just over 40 years ago Jimi Hendrix posed a musical question to a generation that today is a fault line separating John McCain from Barak Obama and running directly through Hillary Clinton. Hendrixs’ question then, as it does now, has several layers of meaning. But this meaning has changed over time.
Back in the 60’s no one knew about AIDs or cared little about other STDs. The effects of teen-age pregnancy, let alone abortions, and drug addiction on a large scale were either respectively a rarity or an unknown quantity when an entire generation became lab rats and crash test dummies in what were seen as the great experiments of the time.
Recreational drug use and guilt-free sex became the lure to privileged youth to break free of outdated mores and cultural values. They were seen as the ultimate weapons to further if not outright rebellion, at least “change”. Consequences whether good, bad, or fatal fell out of sight to “Do your own thing” and “If it feels nice don’t think twice.”
Today American voters are to be given the chance to again decide if they wish to follow the clarion call of rebels dressed up as being “agents of change”. The choices they have for President are clear if not ideal and the consequences of choosing poorly are every bit as consequential, if not more so, for the country as the cultural choices made in the 60’s.
In today’s contest for President consequences have narrowed the field to three individuals. Behind Door #1 is John McCain. He is a crusty war vet and career politician. He is “The Man” and ultimate Washington insider. Behind Door #2 is Hillary Clinton. She is “The Everyman” without the man part combining the beliefs of a radical chic socialist and feminist while masquerading as a shot and a beer blue-collar worker. And finally behind Door #3 is Barak Obama. He is “The Wiz” and trying to get any sense of his substance is made difficult as his style, as a glass darkly, clouds viewing his true self. As he eases down the road to change he asks us to pay no attention to those men behind the curtain.
All of these characters stress their experience for the job of President. And how are we as voters to define and judge “experience”? Few of us will ever aspire to be President let alone be President. So we do as we have done when previously deciding on a Chief Executive, we vote with our head and our heart. We trust and verify based largely through the prism of our own experience. The candidates seek to know and play upon our prism to cast their experience in the best light possible, our personal image of a good President. Failure to see the candidates as they truly are in the cold gray light of dawn and instead to once again be a captive of change can lead to making the same mistakes of past generations.
Change is always with us. But with the passing of time we can look back and legitimately ask “At what cost?” Regarding the 60’s and to quote a certain Reverend, “The chickens have come home to roost”. How will history judge us in 40 years?
Back in the 60’s no one knew about AIDs or cared little about other STDs. The effects of teen-age pregnancy, let alone abortions, and drug addiction on a large scale were either respectively a rarity or an unknown quantity when an entire generation became lab rats and crash test dummies in what were seen as the great experiments of the time.
Recreational drug use and guilt-free sex became the lure to privileged youth to break free of outdated mores and cultural values. They were seen as the ultimate weapons to further if not outright rebellion, at least “change”. Consequences whether good, bad, or fatal fell out of sight to “Do your own thing” and “If it feels nice don’t think twice.”
Today American voters are to be given the chance to again decide if they wish to follow the clarion call of rebels dressed up as being “agents of change”. The choices they have for President are clear if not ideal and the consequences of choosing poorly are every bit as consequential, if not more so, for the country as the cultural choices made in the 60’s.
In today’s contest for President consequences have narrowed the field to three individuals. Behind Door #1 is John McCain. He is a crusty war vet and career politician. He is “The Man” and ultimate Washington insider. Behind Door #2 is Hillary Clinton. She is “The Everyman” without the man part combining the beliefs of a radical chic socialist and feminist while masquerading as a shot and a beer blue-collar worker. And finally behind Door #3 is Barak Obama. He is “The Wiz” and trying to get any sense of his substance is made difficult as his style, as a glass darkly, clouds viewing his true self. As he eases down the road to change he asks us to pay no attention to those men behind the curtain.
All of these characters stress their experience for the job of President. And how are we as voters to define and judge “experience”? Few of us will ever aspire to be President let alone be President. So we do as we have done when previously deciding on a Chief Executive, we vote with our head and our heart. We trust and verify based largely through the prism of our own experience. The candidates seek to know and play upon our prism to cast their experience in the best light possible, our personal image of a good President. Failure to see the candidates as they truly are in the cold gray light of dawn and instead to once again be a captive of change can lead to making the same mistakes of past generations.
Change is always with us. But with the passing of time we can look back and legitimately ask “At what cost?” Regarding the 60’s and to quote a certain Reverend, “The chickens have come home to roost”. How will history judge us in 40 years?
posted by tovarich at 3:36 PM
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