These are issues that keep our leaders up at night, but too many of us remain callous, dismissive, or suspicious of any change that might rock the boat
“After all,” Obama reassured his rapt audience, “if a parent or grandparent occasionally says something that makes us cringe, we don’t automatically assume they’re bad people. We recognize the world is moving fast, and that they need time and maybe a little encouragement to catch up. Our fellow citizens deserve the same grace we hope they’ll extend to us.”
To my relief, my kids grimaced when they heard the former president’s oozing condescension toward an older generation he clearly saw as obsolete and morally benighted. “That’s not how you talk to parents and grandparents!” was their instinctive response.
Yet many people today do talk and think that way. Obama’s preening moral superiority has continued to resonate as statues and ideals are toppled by youngsters who — thanks to their Qatar-sponsored education — deem themselves eons more enlightened than the visionary men who founded and fought for their country.
But even in the Democratic party, you can hear voices of caution regarding the radical progressive flank. New York Times business and economics editorial writer Binyamin Appelbaum pointed out this week that a purely progressive agenda is not a healthy one for the party’s future. “Healthy political parties…. cannot be solely progressive or conservative. They must be both. They necessarily embody a set of judgments about what to preserve and what to change.”
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