Real Revolutions are always driven by the Youth
The average age of the 2400 soldiers who crossed the Delaware with George Washington was 18. Most of the older Soldiers gave up, either went home to try and make money selling provisions to the British for hard currency instead of Continental Scrip, or to do nothing. In some cases deserters went over to the side of the loyalists. The young soldiers were the stalwarts. They were the idealists, fighting for the future, for a cause which was just, and were willing to put it all on the line, even if it meant dying of disease and exposure. (The main cause of death for the Army) They were imperfect and not fully formed, like today. They needed some support and guidance from the Elders, like today. What they did after they won was not perfect, as it will not be now. But they are the ones who fight.
Older people today are risk averse, and not prepared to give up their comfort zones, for the most part. We can still do a lot of good, but we are not going to lead a Revolution at our age, which is what is needed. This is how it has always been. When people my age ask me why I spend most of my time with Millennials and younger people in general, I tell them it's not because I don't like people my age. It's because that is where the next American Revolution is building, where the changes are coming from. And that's where I want to be. Any Presidential Candidate who cannot represent the interests of the younger generation, and risk everything to do so, is not qualified, and will likely lose to Trump.
I would add the following example of historic developments in our recent lifetimes.
Some of you may have heard that the Soviet Union collapsed a few years ago. It was on the News. How did that happen?
Well, having been involved at that time in shaping strategic policies that affected that situation, having been in the middle of it from the US side, I have some insights. There were several factors which led to the developments of 1989-1992, not the least of which were the Soviet Economic crisis due to the failed reforms under Gorbachev, combined with the unsustainable military expenditures under Marshal Ogarkov, both in Afghanistan and the massive SS-20 Missle build up in Eastern Europe. Add in some Vatican organized Resistance in Poland through Solidarnosc, and it was very unstable. But the turning point were the Pro-Democracy demonstrations in China, leading up to the massacre of the students in Tiannenmen Square, Beijing. The willingness of the Chinese students to stand up for Democracy, symbolized by the solitary stand of the famous "Tank Man" holding up an entire Tank column himself, created a global political shock, that was immediately felt in East Germany and Hungary. The televised events from the China Massacre, triggered mass uprisings against Soviet backed regimes, leading to mass defections, protests, and demonstrations, which culminated in tens of thousands of young East Germans tearing down the Berlin Wall with tools from their garages, in the face of enormous firepower in the form of the Army and Secret Police forces which controlled these countries for more than 40 years.
Young people sparked the resistance and uprising which led to the collapse of the Communist System. They didn't cause it, because it was an unsustainable system. But the Youth pushed it over the edge, and inspired the political changes that followed.
If one student can defeat an entire Tank Brigade of the People's Republic Of China, and help inspire millions to overthrow the USSR, then why can't some American young people get organized to throw out the pathetic cretin, Donald Trump?
