Okay, this entry will be short, because I have little time. Nonetheless, yesterday, the voters of the town of Hilldale, Michigan, voted (in a write-in campaign) a high school senior to be their mayor. If I was the incumbent, I'd retire from politics immediately. Losing to a high-school senior whose campaign was funded by summer job proceeds probably ranks high on the list of most-embarassing events ever.
It is good to see my fellow young people taking a great interest, even in the civic politics of a Michigan town struggling with a declining job base due to outsourcing to lands where "Wassup" becomes "Ap kese ho?" (For those who do not know this obscure reference, it is a Hindi term that means "how are you doing," which I picked up in my time as a campus taxi driver (!) at the University of Southern California). After all, the current generation of leaders in the United States comes from the Baby Boomers, a generation I have little good to say about (sorry, you guys, but you're really easy to pick on--self-absorbed, self-important, lacking qualities of reflection and humility). For those interested in a fuller analysis of my thoughts on Baby Boomers, I recommend "Virtue and Values Are Not The Same" and my scathing but rather analytical "Generations Study." Both can be found readily online if you're looking for them (and people seem to enjoy looking for my writings, so there's a plug).
Will this young mayor start a trend of young politicians putting the adults to shame? It can't hurt. Those of us who are young cannot screw up the world any worse than our elders are doing right now. I suppose we can all take solace in that.
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2 comments:
Hillsdale, MI is the home of Hillsdale College -- the one Paul Harvey has praised a lot over the years for teaching moral Christian values.
Could it be that this teenager embodies them more than some adults?
That's quite possible.
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