Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right: The Story of the Moderate Millennials

The rope can only take so much before it snaps.

In a world of progressives vs. reactionaries, moderate millennials stand planted firmly in the center in an endless tug of war. Unfortunately for us, nobody likes the middle anymore.


It is rare to find an undecided millennial from a voting standpoint. Most decided since they were 18 that the Democratic Party would have their support for life, it seems. That the GOP is the party of the "old" and "backwards". The events of the past week, however, have reinforced my indecision towards which ideology I place myself.

Last night's particular GOP debate happened to be taking place on the eve of the resignation of the President of the University of Missouri as well as some protests at Yale about something stupid. (Don't believe me? Click the link. I dare you. Scarier than Halloween itself.)


Millennials are obsessed with being "progressive". And why wouldn't they be? "Progress" sounds great. It means we are moving past where we currently are into a bright new future. The one that we were promised growing up of a multi-cultural and post-racial society.


Anything that stands in the way of this progress will be destroyed. Just ask that Yale professor.


Herein lays my dilemma. I completely agree with supporting the middle class and a sane foreign policy. I also believe in free speech. It seems at this point I, like other moderates, have to choose between the two, and I don't want to have to.

I didn't simply chose the title of the blog to be this song lyric to be catchy - I think it illustrates a point very well about the state of the fringe wings of our culture. I will go in depth on each side to explain.


PROGRESSIVE CLOWNS

The recently-released video game Halo 5 has a villain named Cortana, an artificial intelligence who was alongside the hero for 4 games prior and has come back to rid the world of all evil. Her goals are laudable - peace in the galaxy. Her means are not - she seeks to actively punish anyone who stands against her perspective. This is the way to peace. Silencing - or outright eliminating - opposition. Only she understands what needs to be done to make society right again.

Similarly, VIKI from I, Robot had a plan to do the same using an army of human-built machines to enforce martial law in order to help eliminate violence from human society. Her mission was to protect humanity. Her idea of doing so was to eliminate all choice in the matter.

Cortana and VIKI are the perfect villain for this generation. They represents the hypocritical, passionate, but full of well-intention liberal millennials.


Going back to my prior analogy, a clown is funny, but knows exactly what it is trying to be. This is someone who is unabashed in their behavior because they are getting paid to do so.


At this point, this is how I would describe the left. Specifically the liberals of my generation. They have become a walking, talking mockery of what being a progressive is supposed to be about. And they are proud of it.

VIKI from I, Robot

The students at Yale knew exactly what they were doing when they were berating that professor. They sincerely believed they were doing the right thing. More power to them; that is what free speech is all about.


However, it is also about an exchange of ideas. About debate. About different viewpoints coming together and compromise. With progressive millennials, there is no debating. You either apologize for your transgressions or you suffer their internet-fueled wrath. So consumed are they with what they see as progress that they don't stop to think about the fact that the world their parents have so carefully crafted for them with the "everybody wins" mentality is not the world they will be entering after college.

For them, of course there is no compromise! We are talking about people's rights! We should never compromise when it comes to people's rights!

I completely agree. In fact, we have an entire document, The Constitution, in place to protect people's rights. It isn't perfect, and has not always worked in the past, so I can understand my generation's hesitance to trust it. What we can't do is say that one person's right to free speech is any less than someone else's right to not see an offensive image. If we start entering that territory, we have started to put one person's rights above another. Once we do that, we are no better than the generations of our ancestors before us.

Unfortunately, it looks like some of my generation has already gone the way of Cortana and decided that they know best how to solve our problems, and it starts with silencing those who oppose them.


I am not sure when the rubicon was crossed and at what point our generation crossed the line towards proto-fascism, but it has occurred and it frightens me.


Before I get raging emails about me comparing what they did to fascism, let me illustrate the point for you. The Nazi party was not the "government" of Germany until 1933. Sure, they had
some seats in the Reichstag. But they weren't the majority (and certainly Hitler wasn't dictator) before the Enabling Act.


However, during the years leading up to their victory, before even they had any seats in the parliament, they were still very active. They were physically and emotionally abusing those who disagreed with their beliefs, publicly and privately. They were creating a culture of fear in Germany, where people were afraid to speak about certain subjects for fear of Nazi reprisal.


To be clear, this was not the government of Germany doing this; these were private citizens who simply took it upon themselves to enforce their views as a brute gang that nobody, or at least very few, had the will to counter. Sound familiar? By the time anyone did, it was too late.


I mention that because the current progressive mantra is "the constitution means you can't get arrested for saying what you feel, not that you don't have to deal with consequences of what you say!" This is true, nobody is getting arrested for their views (yet). But like in Germany in the 30's, sometimes it isn't the government we have to be afraid of.


I do want to clarify that I often believe in the message of the progressives. Combating generations of systemic and systematic oppression is hard, and we have to work hard to make sure it happens. But delivery of that message is equally important, and at this point I am not comfortable that the current "progressives" will be able to maintain dignity and respect for the institutions they claim to be trying to fix.

As such, these are the clowns to my left who I simply do not nor will ever identify with. The pseudo-intellectual boys and girls who believe in hindering free speech and assailing those who disagree with them "for the greater good". I use boys and girls instead of men and women consciously; to call them the latter would be a disservice to the level of maturity those terms are meant to represent. There are millions of mature progressives who understand that this isn't how you treat people. Unfortunately they are being drowned out.

To make it worse, there is no "moderate" to many of them. They see "moderation" as part of the problem, as part of the "compromising" on people's rights. As such, their vitriol turns me and many other moderates away. We simply are not welcome among their ranks.

RIGHT WING JOKE



Unlike the clowns, who understand why they are funny, jokers are individuals who are funny without intent. I can think of no better way to describe the modern right wing than this: an enormous joke that is carrying on through life as though they are oblivious to their own idiocy. We are living through the death of the Republican party and aside from being fascinating to watch, it is utterly disheartening.

The debate last night was likely the most tame and issues-based that any of them have been. Even so, these caricatures of Republicanism seem to simply have embraced the ghost of Carnegie and Rockefeller and have decided that, voters be damned, they are going to tell us all that we don't work hard enough and make too much money anyway.

While on the opposite side we have progressives, on this side we have reactionaries. Increasingly, it seems that any form of moderation in the Republican Party is being stamped out with equal ferocity as on the left. This was most recently manifested in John Boehner, an absolute moderate in an extremist world, announcing he was leaving the position of speaker of the house.

Sometimes in the 80's, religion took over the Republican Party. Sometimes in the 2000s, the religious right had eliminated all but figurehead opposition to their reign. Today, what we have is the equivalent to a Theocratic party in many ways, where "which of your plans would God approve?" is a reasonable question to ask.

The problem isn't just conservative vs. liberal, but generational. Gen X and Baby Boomers simply look at societal issues very differently, as evidenced by millennial outlook on police (much more in line with the typical African American view) vs. older generations views on police (they can do no wrong!) These issues are pushing the older generations towards the right wing even if they didn't used to consider themselves as such.

Like many millennials, I do not profess to be overly religious. That reason alone should eliminate 99% of reasons to vote for the modern Republican Party. However, that is not the sole reason for my ire against the modern right wing. Instead, it is the fact that they seem to have entirely forgotten history with regards to corporations, and seem to actively fight intelligence in any sense of the word, replacing mathematics and science with God.

The Gilded Age was a time period in U.S. history where corporations ran amok. Progressives of that era (NOT "progressives" of today) fought very, very hard to obtain what we take for granted today - Unionization, 5-day work week, vacation, etc. Republicans avoid outright saying they would like to go back to that, and instead just hint that every modern problem seems to be that we just have too much money and time on our hands for our own goods.

Teddy Roosevelt, my favorite Republican President, used to actively break up large corporations to spur competition. Many large companies today he would have broken up long ago. Capitalism can only succeed with oversight, and Republicans seek to eliminate much of that.

There are some exceptions. The libertarian wing of the party is one that I until recently felt very aligned with, and every now and then a Republican comes along who is more "old school" than the preachers in suit and tie that we get typically from that party.

In a bizarre turn of events, conservatives today are more open with regards to ideas than their liberal counterparts. They may disagree with you, but rarely are conservatives actively trying to silence liberals for their views. (With the notable and large exception of the religious right - but that has been going on since the dawn of time.) For example, a conservative may not agree with Gay Marriage, but typically, they will not try to silence those who are for it.

Instead, conservatives choose to be closed with their own ideas rather than shutting out others. They look towards the institution to validate their own closed-mindedness, such as keeping gays from getting married, rather than silencing the opposition entirely. This is also something I can never profess to be a part of.

Any good that the conservative side used to have is being drowned out by bigotry. However, I can't wholly eliminate them from my roster because at the very least I can debate with them.

"They may disagree with what I say, but they will fight to the death for my right to say it." On the other end of the spectrum, they will fight to the death to shut me up. Which side would I rather be on? One who actively professes things I disagree with, but has no intention of shutting me up? Or one who actively professes what I tend to associate with, but goes against my views of open dialogue and allowing people to speak their minds?

HERE WE ARE, STUCK IN THE MIDDLE

The United States today is more polarized than any time before in its history save perhaps the civil war. The boundaries are not geographic, but instead intellectual and generational.

Yet this polarization alienates me and millions of others, regardless of age. We have no choice but to watch as each side reinforces itself and prepares for the next volley. Meanwhile, those of us who just want a government that works, keeps our families provided for and safe have no outlet. We have nobody to vote for.

Instead, we have to choose a demagogue, either right wing or left, and hope that this particular demagogue is at the opposite polarity from the rabid proto-fascist populace willing to use force to get their goals.

At the very least, at that point we will have some checks and balances as the two sides confront each other. At best, maybe we can get some dialogue. But I won't hold my breath.

Follow me on twitter @chris41336