Forget About Getting The Politicians To Move. Just Move.

We need a strong coalition of old and young people to turn the tide

That’s the most effective fighting back configuration I can think of.

I still care if I die and don’t want to. But I don’t care as much as I did when I was younger, because I know it’s coming for me sooner now anyway.

This was driven home for me at a recent Green Day concert. Where before the show, they played Blitzkrieg Bop in the arena, and all the young people on the floor were jumping around and I realized that they would never get to see the Ramones live. Whereas I had maybe 200 times. Well, maybe not 200, but at least 100. And when I ran into Joey or DeeDee on the street, they were approachable, probably because they didn’t have to worry you were going to badger them into a selfie. And then I thought, of the kids bopping around on the floor: most of them will outlive me. But I have no regrets.

Meantime, I worked full-time on the overnight shift at CNN during my senior year of college, and went to school full time during the day. How did I manage that? When I think back on it, I don’t know how. Except, maybe, just, I was 19!

And energy and passion are not in short supply at that age. That’s why Elon Musk recruited all these barely post-pubescent kids for his DOGE team. Passion is the number one thing you need in building a team. Especially a team that’s going to be tasked with breaking things. And working ridiculous hours. And confidently pretending you know how to so something when you don’t. And wide-eyed well-radicalized far right pipsqueaks are about as passionate as you’re going to get. Sadly, or perhaps not, some will live to deeply regret their actions, as they mature, but that doesn’t matter now.

So that’s the thinking that’s gotten to me to the point I’m at now: the only thing to get us out of “this” (and I’m using “this” as a placeholder for everything, because it’s so big and so much), and to resist effectively, is a never-before-seen coalition between old and young people. One more point of clarification: I…