I remember back, waaay back — had to have been, maybe, January of aught-eight, so we’re talking 80, maybe even 90 days ago — participating in online discussions about the Democratic primaries. This will just sound crazy to you young ‘uns, but way back then, you could actually do that online without fisticuffs or weird, out-of-nowhere accusations.
I see some of you looking skeptical, but you kids’ll just have to take my word for it. It was another time — another world. I was there. It might have been a very long time ago, but I remember.
People would ask one another which way they were leaning and then they’d just, you know, talk about it. “I like Bill Richardson,” they would say, “but I’m leaning toward John Edwards.” Or, “I like John Edwards, but I’m leaning toward Chris Dodd.” Or even — and you kids today will just find this impossible to believe, but I swear it’s the truth — “I can’t make up my mind between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, I like them both.“
And the thing is — again, I know you won’t believe this, but it’s true — the thing is that back then we had conversations like that all the time and I don’t remember ever, not even once, hearing any hostility over such expressions of preference or support. If one person liked Candidate A and the other liked Candidate B, this wouldn’t be perceived as some kind of attack on Candidate A. If Candidate A gave a good speech you could say, “That was a good speech” without people screaming at you to stop attacking Candidate B.
Some of you kids are looking confused. Let me explain. Back then, back when your parents and your grandparents were several months younger than they are today, we had this idea about primaries as forums in which voters could support rival candidates. The thing that was different, the thing you kids today’ll have a hard time understanding, was that even though these candidates were rivals, running against one another, both were still viewed as legitimate.
What? Yes, really. As legitimate. Both the candidates themselves and the fact of their candidacies. It wasn’t like today, when the very act of running for office is perceived as an insult to one’s rival, when merely being in the race is taken as evidence that one is some kind of fifth-column front for right-wing attacks against …
Stop shaking your heads. It’s true and even though you kids don’t like to hear it things were better back then. There were civil debates on the issues that made you proud to be a part of the party … Stop laughing! It’s true, I …
Oh, just forget it. Kids today.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In