A deep discrediting of the political process in Washington
Tuesday, November 9, 2010 at 9:08AM 
Economist story on party affiliation and op-ed from the NYT comparing now to the Gilded Age--a favorite theme of mine.
As I've long argued, the Boomers have been a terrible generation of political leaders. As in the case of most revolutionary generations in history, once the initial stab at change in their youth fell to the wayside, the real talent went into business and technology and changed the world--dramatically--for the better. The dregs went into politics and, in the process, have managed to thoroughly discredit it as a career and force for good in our society.
Last time it was this bad in America was those latter decades of the 19th century. The "revolution" then was the U.S. Civil War, and the crew that came out of that crucible was dramatically altered in character and vision and--most importantly--in personal connections. The bonds forged by war led to a lot of follow-on business development during a great and lengthy boom time. But it was an era much like today: frontier integration thanks to a rapidly expanding continental economy, the knitting together of a sectional economy into world-class "rising China" of its age, huge flows of people and FDI into the country--a miniature version of today's globalization.
And during that age of booms and busts and the early populism that accompanied it, politics became a very dirty profession, so much so that when progressive icon TR decided to step into the fray, his wealthy NYC family begged him not to do so--it was considered such a huge step down from respectable obscurity. Few of us came name any politicians from that era (distant relation Grant being my favorite), but we all remember the industrial-financial titans, whose very names equal wealth: Rockefeller, Carnegie, Morgan, etc.
We live in very much the same age now, poised to move into a progressive era. I know that word is a favorite target of Glen Beck with his whacked-out history lessons, but it's clear to me we need a cleaning-up period much like back then. Politics needs to be re-credentialized, but it can't happen so long as the current cast of small minds (I'm with Michael Bloomberg on this one) are on the stage. The downshifting in talent and vision over the past three decades has been supremely depressing. I grew up with WWII-era giants in politics, and I miss the class and the intelligence and professionalism and--most of all--the ability to forge deals. Now we suffer such unbearable fools.
And so we get "change" after "change" election, a good corollary to the Gilded Age. I think we'll need a few more before the next generation of leadership starts making itself known. Obama was an avatar of this movement; he just turned out to be too much like Jimmy Carter when he got into office.
The Economist piece demonstrates the popular disaffection with politics: we are more and more a one-third, one-third, one-third electorate--as in, one-third Dem, one-third GOP and one-third Independent. I would count myself in the Independent crowd, as I have a hard time imagining myself in either party.
When does the big change come? A peer-to-peer generation is already remaking a good chunk of our society/economy. Eventually the Millennials move into the political realm and have their impact.
Like so much of what I track, then, this is another thing that registers more in the 2020s/2030s, signifying the 2010s as a transition decade to be finessed--and survived.
We navigate an age where we should setting up the big deals that shape our future, like transitioning from old alliances to new.
Reader Comments (7)
Unfortunately, the political and academic classes, who have never worked in business and are totally ignorant of it, retain the abilibty to screw things up royally, as reflected in this latest bit of drivel from Peter Beinart. http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-11-08/obamas-asia-trip-takes-aim-at-china/
Amen. More statesmen, fewer partymen.
Hmmm . . . I could have sworn that you've previously identified yourself as a Democrat. When did you decide that you're an independent?
It seems to me that the premise for all arguments of this type have been drastically changed by the estimated and just released report in a financial IMF journal of the real U.S. debt including unfunded liabilities to be at the $200T mark. That is twice that of the Dallas Federal Reserve estimate and 14 times our present GDP. Now, it seems clear that all of this is part of the Progressive movement and their entitilement mentality over the past 100 years. Adding state debts and unfunded liabilities there is no end. Tell me about our survival and the reason for a new progressive era? It further seems to me that most discussions, including this one, are in denial about the looming bankruptycy facing the country and the ending that may be in store.
I have lived longer than most, and the history concerning the ending to the scenario we are facing is generally more violent than we are willing to concede. I do agree, after having witnessed all of the 60's, that their generation have been terrible leaders and spoiled brats!
The generational cycle you're referring to reminds me of John Xenakis' generational dynamics which he extended from Neil Howe and William Strauss' generational explanation American History with their "Fourth turning" theory of a 4 period cycle. That model was featured in the documentary "Generation 0," about the 2008 financial meltdown. Xenakis comes to rather different and gloomy conclusions though. For one thing he predicts another global depression, but he doesn't make such predictions out of hysteria or fear-mongering. If you're interested, here is the site. http://www.generationaldynamics.com/ww2010.htm
Your corporate overlords have robbed you blind. You complain about Social Security as a commie plot but almost none of the people who destroyed your economy will suffer anything at all. There should be many people in jail. There are not.
The present scenario is working out almost exactly as I predicted and I expect the USA to become just another country in a very short time.
You are flat broke and trying to convince those you stole from, almost the entire planet, to back you now is not working out. Austerity is coming. You have no idea how hard that will be for America. You are a spoiled people.
The downshifting in talent and vision over the past three decades has been supremely depressing. I grew up with WWII-era giants in politics, and I miss the class and the intelligence and professionalism and--most of all--the ability to forge deals.
This is pretty unrealistic nostalgia-mongering. We air-brush out the idiocy of earlier generations, but notice our contemporaries'.
Those "giants" of the WWII generation that you so admire made any number of mistakes ...mistakes rather more-serious than anything Mr. Bush or Mr. Obama can claim.
Those "giants" got us into a land war with China in Korea; brinksmanship with the Soviet Union, culminating in the Cuban missile crisis; a decade-long bloodbath in Indochina; the inflation/stagnation of the 1970s; aenergy no an anti-policy that nurtured, rather than abating, our dependence on imported oil;; and the mindlessly wasteful arms build-up and red-ink tsunami of the 1980s.
Consider Dwight Eisenhower, a leading WWII -era"giant", often presented as an epitome of judgment. In 1961, Eisenhower believed in the utterly-goofy "domino theory" ... believd it so completely that he believed if Laos, a land-locked country of two milion scratch-earth farmers, got a communist government, then South Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Burma would go communist too.