I think it's a good idea to remind myself once in a while that politicians are always in search of a unifying theme to shape the political narrative, and one of the most powerful is Self-Loathing.
How many of the TeaBaggers (eg) are people who absolutely deify "The Greatest Generation"? How many of them were too young - or not physically present on the planet - to have had much to do with either the Great Depression or WW2 (the events they keep telling us made that generation The Greatest)? How many of them look back at their own lives and "hold their manhoods cheap" because they didn't have the chance to test their mettle in the forges of hell?
How many Boomers are thinking they copped out on their opportunity to mount a protest and missed their chances to get "hassled by the pigs" or shot at by teenagers in Nat'l Guard uniforms? How many are thinking they should have stayed true to what they used to believe in because a lot of what they thought was wrong back then is coming back on them now? Or we can take that one in the other direction, and ask how many Boomers were happy to duck military service in the 60s and 70s, but now feel a little guilty about it?
And how many of us feel the need to make up for our past failings by finding ways to demonstrate how worthy we are now? Seems pretty natural - a shot at redemption is a powerful thing.
Nobody likes the feeling that their main problem is themselves. Smart politicians are always looking for ways for us to take the anger we all occasionally feel towards ourselves, and redirect it at a conveniently unpopular target. Starting to sound familiar?
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