So, it looks like Robert Bly, author of “The Sibling Society,” was right about where the country had landed in the 1990s — an adolescent society in which there are no real grownups, and where, in classic adolescent behavior, a majority of of-age adults care little about the little ones coming up behind them. Bly feared that America had too many “half adults,” women and men in protracted adolescence, obsessed with personal pleasures, neglecting the next generation and the greater good. That sounds like cranky geezer stuff, but I think that late poet uttered a powerful truth. His critique, originally leveled during the Clinton presidency, came to mind frequently during the first Trump time, whenever I heard someone refer to the lack of “adults in the room.”

There have been many ways to explain the American tragedy of Trump — his fear mongering, appeals to racism, his demonization of immigrants, having Musk and other billionaires on his side — and all of that part of the answer.

But there was something else necessary for him to win two elections: The willingness of grownups to care little about the next generation. How anyone with children or grandchildren can support Trump — a felon and sexual predator, liar, racist and insurrectionist — is impossible for me to fathom.

Once upon a time, at least in the ideal, the country had standards; our parents and grandparents wanted presidents who they and we could admire and respect. It did not always work out — few presidents got out of Washington without scars or scandal of some kind — but it never started out that way; we never knowingly elected a vulgar man, a felon and aspiring autocrat. And now Americans have done it twice.

One last thing, but certainly a major thing: Trump believes climate change is a hoax and he will do nothing about it, another reason why his election shows a tragic and immoral disregard for the next generation.

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Published by Dan Rodricks

Dan Rodricks is a former long-time columnist for The Baltimore Sun, winner of numerous national and regional journalism awards, a radio and TV personality, podcaster and fly angler. His narrative memoir, "Father's Day Creek," was published in May 2019 by Apprentice House at Loyola University Maryland.

15 thoughts on “A tragic disregard for the next generation”

  1. Amen to your article!

    What a travesty!!?

    I don’t know what to say ! Or do?

    Sad state of affairs! Our country has no morals, no civility or decency!
    How sad for our collective children and our grandchildren!?

    how will we survive the next four years?

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  6. How long will the new regime use power to entrench and enrich itself?

    Remember when Germany occupied France in WWII?
    What you do going forward matters.

    1. Will you be part of the Vichy government catering to Hitler’s commands (including the roundup of Jews, think immigrants today, for deportation to death camps)?
    2. Will you join the Resistance and fight for free and fair elections?
    3. Will you ferret out and spread credible information to counteract the propaganda that will cover up atrocities committed against our people and our planet (as newspapers come under government control and the gutted federal agencies run by political operatives escape scrutiny and oversight)?
    4. Will you seek to profit financially under the new regime at the expense of women, families, minorities, communities, and future generations? Will you encourage the demise of the DOJ so that only middle class and poor have to pay taxes?
    5. Will you resist and fight to re-establish the guardrails of democracy that we just lost?
    6. Will you use religion and bigotry to bludgeon others into reading only what you want?
    7. Will you risk political persecution now that a convicted criminal and his cronies are empowered to seek revenge against anyone who opposes them? Remember, they face no legal or judicial consequences and they promised to use the military to put down protesters
    8. Will you collaborate and then lie to future generations because perception matters more than integrity?
    9. Will you empower girls and women to protect themselves from incest, rape, and other forms of male aggression and predatory dominance? That requires a robust judiciary committed to human rights – will you fight for that?
    10. Will you support the seniors and others when the new regime defunds Medicare and returns to “pre-existing conditions” policies? (How soon before the funds that seniors paid into Social Security for decades are plundered? How soon before Obamacare is overturned)?
    11. Will you be part of the Resistance or collaborate with the new GOP authoritarian era? They own the 3 branches of our government and the military. Their false messaging can cover up their actions but not your conscience nor the obvious declining health of our planet.
    12. Will you be complicit in silence or will you strengthen our Resistance?

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  7. I keep asking myself why are people so cruel, gullible, and even stupid. Thinking in terms of living in a country of “half-adults” offers a partial explanation.
    This is devastating, heartbreaking, and crushing.

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  8. I can live with policy differences, put forth by reasonable people for whom I have a measure of respect. The problem for me is I can’t find any personal attribute or character trait in Trump that is worthy of respect. I am even more perplexed by his supporters who tell me that they too are put off by his demeanor and personal behavior and lack of civility, but still find him worthy of their vote. Sadly, I fear we are headed down a most difficult road ahead.

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  9. Gonna be work. Right up front, for Ukrainians and the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza, but for children of immigrants — American citizens — in Ohio, Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania. People need to stop grieving fast because very soon they are going to need to be able to do work and to show compassion.

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  13. This gave me a little comfort today after the soul-crushing loss last night. I kept thinking of climate change as I picked tomatoes in my garden—in November!! His help us.

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  14. I feel like I just attended a funeral of a close friend, and I continue to mourn the loss. The idea of having to listen to DJT for 4 years fills me with dread. I can’t believe that 10 million more people have voted for him now than in 2016, after all his scandals, impeachments and indictments.

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