This thought occurred to me last night: Democratic presidential frontrunner Bernie Sanders is someone who asks all the right questions but provides all the wrong answers. Let me preempt the following screed by saying the following: No matter who the Democratic candidate is in November, this independent voter will vote for him (or hopefully, her) and not for the Republican incumbent. And I certainly will not Not Vote in protest. We should all vote, no?
But as for Bernie, it feels as if he’s appealing to the Get Off My Lawn! millennial crowd. See, what we older types find unappealing about millennials is that they seem immune to counsel; they’ve not experienced anything but they know it all. Whereas I imagine what they loathe about people like me is that we are completely useless around smartphones and iPads. that we’ll never acknowledge that LeBron is better than Jordan (he isn’t, but he’s very close), and that we’re stubborn and set in our ways.
Having gotten that out of the way, yes, it’s not fair that health care and college education have become prohibitively expensive. But just because your parents and/or grandparents enjoyed one standard of living does not mean that you deserve it, also. One thing you learn over the age of 35: “deserve” is a word for children, or adults who are emotionally children. You don’t deserve anything. And life’s not fair. Wear a helmet, as they say.
Here’s Bernie in an interview with Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes the other night. This wasn’t some gotcha interview that Bernie didn’t see coming. He knew he was going to sit down with the most intrepid and well-prepared journalist this side of Ronan Farrow. Watch:
Again, Bernie brings up excellent points about social injustice. He just doesn’t have a realistic solution. In fact, even he doesn’t know how much his solution will cost.
One example of my being verklempt: Can we all agree that college education is too expensive and yet also agree that that does not mean it should be free? Like, I don’t not order the lobster because it’s too expensive and then demand instead to pay nothing for it. Whatever you’re paying for your smart phone usage per month, that’s a good start to what your college tuition should be on a monthly basis. At least.
The Bernie Bros attitude doesn’t surprise me because I’ve been on Twitter for awhile. There’s no one so intolerant as a millennial who demands tolerance. And these folks are hyper-attuned not to listening, but to striking back. So I ask, Who’s going to pay for all this? The wealthy? Good luck with that.
America can be a much fairer place than it is today. No doubt. But to insist that everyone is going to get everything they want on the backs of those who are dead set against that happening? The only revolution that’ll make that happen is a violent one. And even if Bernie’s elected, those proposals are never getting through Congress.
I like Bernie. I do. And I wouldn’t mind seeing Larry David portray him on SNL for four years. I just wonder how many people supporting him are doing so because they love the “Free Shit!” mantra and are living in their parents’ houses rent-free while doing so.*
*I’ve lived in my parents’ house rent-free for brief spells as an adult. It’s awesome. But I’m not proud of it.
Should health care and college be more affordable? Definitely. Is the concentration of wealth in the top 1% only becoming more concentrated and does that have long-term ill effects on the country? Of course. Is the man in the Oval Office, as Bernie said the other night, “a pathological liar?” People are saying.
But there’s a better way to solve this than going to the extreme opposite ends. Save the hard lefts for Daytona and Indy. America would be better served by someone less radical.
