Several decades ago, Saul Bellow wrote this:
For the first time in history, the human species as a whole has gone into politics. Everyone is in the act, and there is no telling what may come of it.
At this point, however, we can say what has come of it: failure. Politics has failed to deliver on nearly every promise it has made since the 1960s, and I think it’s time to hold it to account.
50 Years In
I was still a child in 1966, but I remember it fairly well. And I remember a good deal of the politics of the era, because my mom was involved with it. In fact, she helped to rewrite the Illinois State Constitution during those years. (Adoption came in 1970, but there were several years of work preceding it.)
So, I know what people in that time were hoping to get out of politics… what they firmly believed they would get out of politics. Here’s the list:
- A solution to the race problem.
- An end to a pointless war.
- A solution to the Middle East problem.
- To improve education.
- A solution to the problems of poverty and welfare.
- An elimination of police brutality.
Bear in mind that the people who were seeking these things were decent, well-meaning people. They truly wanted the world to be better, and they believed politics would make it happen.
And to their credit, they worked to make it happen. Not only that, but their children and grandchildren have kept the faith and continued the fight. We now live in a world of all politics, all the time. And so, half a century in, I think we need to take a hard look at the results, which are these:
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