What lies ahead? It would be wonderful if grumpy old white guys could find it within themselves to forego their age-old prejudices, but that's about as likely as a white Christmas in hell. No, being died-in-the-wool miscreants, as their influence diminishes grumpy old white guys are probably going to become even grumpier and more intransigent. Let's not forget how malicious South Africa's minuscule white minority became during its apartheid years.
Expect grumpy old white guys, purely out of spite, to do everything in their power to hamstring popular, but "non-traditional" leaders like Barack Obama and Angela Giron. In a democracy that was predicated on unvarnished slavery and genocide, one should always expect a measure of hypocrisy in the political arena. It may be naive to hope that there is any room for idealism in American politics, but, if we're going to be honest, we need to acknowledge that politics is first and foremost about winners and losers.
For too long, grumpy old white guys rigged the political game to their distinct advantage. Even though they have now become an increasingly fractious minority, grumpy white guys would like nothing more than to continue scoring political victories--no matter how underhanded. It's up to the supporters of America's new breed of politicians, like Barack Obama and Angela Giron, to show grumpy old white guys that their days of political ascendancy are over. As are their days of unfairly rigging America's democratic political system.
Forward!
Tim McGettigan is a middle-aged cuss who teaches sociology at CSU-Pueblo .
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
