My grandson, with whom I sometimes have contentious arguments about politics (he’s 24): “What we have in this country are more confident, but stupid, people.”

I can’t necessarily disagree with him about that when you’re looking at the internet and the kinds of reactionaries we’re seeing, but he also generalizes about politicians, none of whom he thinks is not a crook, including Pres Obama who he’s convinced is getting rich from being president. He disagrees with “Obamacare” and possibly having to pay a “fine” for not having insurance, even though his own mother gets ins for $20/mo. Unfortunately, he’s around a lot of “anti-Obama”, racist types (a huge disadvantage in living here), although he himself doesn’t consider himeslf racist—he wasnt brought up that way. He thinks voting is just spinning one’s wheels, because “all politicians are alike.” He understands neither compromise nor nuance. This is where we part ways. I really can’t figure out what kind of politics he holds, just that he has a pretty shitty attitude toward govt and doesn’t think it’s worth voting or trying to change it at all. I think he also has the same attitude many uneducated and uninformed millennials have, and there are more than you think.

He thinks the Constitution should be destroyed and we should start all over and we can have more “equality” then. He thinks the 2 major parties have a hold over us and that we should have a “parliamentary” style govt instead where every party has a chance. Like many young people, he has no patience for the slow grinding of our govt, and while he realizes his chances of “success” in an uber capitalist society are pretty damned limited, he still sort of clings to the idea that anyone can “make it” in this society while harboring the fear that he won’t, no matter how hard he works. Hope and cynicism at the same time and a bundle of contradictions with an almost anarchistic attitude. I don’t necessarily disagree with all his criticisms, but he hasn’t really thought beyond them for any real solutions.

It makes me want to tear my hair out, but he’s young and I truly hope he’s not developing a fixed attitude and will change his position as he matures. He’s a good person at heart but thinks he has to be “tough” all the time and is still picking up clues from others who don’t know any better than he does—his peers.