An Open Letter to My Generation:

So, this is going out mainly to fellow Boomers. You Xers, Millennials and others, of various persuasions, are most welcome to listen in, but my message is meant primarily for my age peers; those of us who came of age in those enchanted, yet chaotic, days of the late 60s and 70s.

If you went to Woodstock, or wish you had, this is for you. Ditto if you marched for peace in Washington, or your hometown, or college campus; or if you got there a little too late, but still bathed in the afterglow of an era in which hope and outrage were both rampant (and sometimes seemed locked in a perpetual struggle with each other, right inside our heads).

We, as a cohort, shared in the hope-filled expectations for thoroughgoing change engendered by the gains of the civil rights movement; the rapid growth and radicalization of the campus peace movement; the emergence of second wave feminism, showing us all that the personal is political; the first Earth Day and the seeming explosion of environmental consciousness; Stonewall and the nascent gay liberation movement; and the seemingly profound shared insights that came from the exploration of consciousness many of us engaged in, all part of a psychedelic flowering, leading to growing awareness of the interconnection of all.

We also lived through the repeated horrors of assassinations; the ever-lurking threat of nuclear annihilation, brought home most vividly, to all old enough to understand, during those fateful days of October 1962, when the world almost ended, for real; the grinding on for more than a decade of the horrible death and destruction in Southeast Asia; the police infiltration and repression; and the ascendancy of the likes of Dick Nixon and Henry Kissinger.

And we ultimately had to deal with the profound difficulty of — or perhaps our inability to — create the sort of world we envisioned, while living in the one that we’d grown up in. As much as society had changed, the resilience of the system was continuously underestimated by those of us working to create communes, co-ops, alternative media, and grassroots organizations. The system — the one we’d been conditioned to function in — continuously demanded our participation, according to its values and ground-rules, most of which, on some level, we’d internalized.

We expected revolution, or rapid progressive evolution, and instead we got push-back. By the late 1970s the Right was coming into its own, and working to roll back the gains we’d made on our campuses and in our communities. The election of Reagan in 1980, ushered in a crew of ideologues who pushed forward an agenda of Free Market Fundamentalism, the destruction of unions, cutting taxes for the wealthy and the deregulation of just about everything.

Where We Stand Today:

For three and a half decades this nation has tilted rightward. The rich have gotten ever richer, under Republicans and Democrats, and their voices, and their money, have dominated politics more than at any time since the Gilded Age a century ago.

Along the way, many of us have given up, not just abandoning our youthful, utopian visions of the world we hoped to recreate virtually overnight. Many of us have gone farther, having lost faith that anything we do in the political sphere can have a positive impact. It’s not that we don’t want to see a peaceful, just and sustainable world, but rather that we’ve grown skeptical, or perhaps even cynical, about our prospects.

About 15 years ago, in the wake of the massive WTO protests in Seattle, the phrase “Another World is Possible,” became the watchword of a new generation of activists. But that notion seemed to have no voice in the electoral arena, except when articulated by Ralph Nader or the Greens, who lacked any viable strategy or reasonable prospect for success, given the nature of the electoral system. And pretty much the same goes for Occupy, a positive outpouring of a shared desire for a more participatory system, but with no action plan or even a platform to press forward.

Along the way, politicians offered mostly empty rhetoric, evoking emotional resonance with colorful “Hope” and “Change” type messages. These were basically political Rorschach Blots, in which citizens could see what they wished, but whose real meanings remained elusive. Certainly, the corporate-funded, super-PAC-dependent New Democrats and their Goldman Sachs economists were not about to usher in the “Other World” that the global justice movement has been calling for.

Certainly there’s been no agenda that challenges basic power relations for the citizenry to rally around. We haven’t seen an effort to create a New New Deal or any other ambitious program to really address our multiple, interconnected crises. There’s been no broad and hopeful vision to unite behind. Rather, we’ve seen endless war, a surveillance state, and the ascendency of mega-corporations, including the Military Industrial Complex, a casino-like financial sector, Big Pharma, agribusiness, a highly concentrated media-entertainment complex, the high tech industry and globalized capital, ever searching for lower wages and less regulation, seeking opportunities to plunder in this ongoing race to the bottom.

And, until now, almost everyone in politics has just tiptoed around that 800-pound gorilla. Doing nothing to upset the feast of the few, they clearly intend to have first dibs on the crumbs from the tables of wealth and power.

Enter Bernie:

When it first became apparent that Sen. Bernie Sanders was contemplating a run for the presidency, I have to admit that I was less than sanguine about his prospects. After all, he’s Jewish and a self-identified “socialist,” not to mention that he’s an independent, not even officially a Democrat. Was America really ready to elect someone of his ilk? I had serious doubts.

I’d followed Bernie for decades and always appreciated his message and his ability to convey it. My hopes, at first, were limited. Bernie in the race offered the prospect of seeing issues raised that otherwise would not. He might pull Hillary Clinton a bit to the left. This said, I held out little hope for electoral success.

Over the past six months however, something really amazing has been happening all across this country. Despite the mainstream media consistently dismissing his prospects, tens of thousands of people have repeatedly turned out for his rallies. Hundreds of thousands have become donors. Many tens of thousands have been volunteering their time for the campaign. And Bernie, while still the underdog, has climbed significantly in the polls.

Bernie has been talking sense and people have been listening. He speaks for the 99 percent, and stands in opposition to the billionaire class. He talks, very specifically, about economic inequality and tells us what he proposes to do about it. He is clear that climate change is the greatest threat to our security. He lays out specific plans to provide free college education at public universities; to protect and strengthen Social Security, to move forward the revitalizing of our infrastructure and, in the process, to put the unemployed back to work. He opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Bernie stands with the Black Lives Matter movement and with those working for immigration reform. He has come out for ending cannabis prohibition and supports paid family leave and paid vacations for all working people. He stands foursquare behind LGBT rights and reproductive rights, and has held these positions for decades. He voted against authorizing the Iraq War, and is now calling for cutting the military budget, while others, including Hillary, want to increase it.

Most importantly, Bernie encourages us to “Think Big” as no presidential candidate has in decades. He recognizes that “Another World is Possible,” and his campaign is all about making that possibility a reality. And along the way, millions are rallying to support his campaign and his vision. Despite the fact that he is 74, his strongest support is coming from young voters who are invigorated by the breadth of his vision and won over by the authenticity of Bernie Sanders the person.

Cut to the Chase:

Simply put, something unprecedented and very exciting is happening. And we Boomers really shouldn’t blow it by failing to get involved. Bernie’s candidacy presents an opportunity that has not come our way in decades, if ever. And our active participation and financial support are key ingredients needed for the success of this campaign. Let’s not miss the boat folks.

Bernie is moving forward ideas, and, perhaps more importantly, values that we have shared for decades. He’s getting them out there, right into the center of political discourse, saying things no one else has been saying and tying it altogether in a coherent framework, making clear what is possible, if we come together to make it reality. We really can’t afford to be cynical and sit this out.

What I’m asking is that you think for just a moment about what sort of world we want to leave our grandkids. Consider how Bernie Sanders embodies our shared concerns and values. If like me, you know that Bernie and his platform are unequivocally what are needed at this moment in history, the next step is thinking about what you can do to help him win the nomination.

We all have some time and some money. I’m asking you to give what you can of each. College students and young adults often don’t have much money at all to spare, especially given the crushing cost of education; same with young families. We, on the other hand, might be in better shape. Why not send Bernie what you can, be that $100, $500 or just $20 or $40. You can sign up to give monthly. Please give generously, as it all adds up.

And some of us are now retired, or semi-retired. Most of us don’t have young kids at home to care for. Why not start volunteering some time with the campaign? They need folks to canvass, to phonebank, to help organize fundraisers, etc. They need folks to go to Iowa or other early primary states where volunteers can make a huge difference.

I’d like to ask you to put yourself back in time a few decades. Try to recall how the world looked when you were 18, or 20 or perhaps 24. If your experience is anything like mine, I’m guessing you felt more hopeful for this country and the planet back then. We’ve suffered quite a few disappointments along the way and, being completely candid, I can’t guarantee that working for Bernie 2016 won’t also lead to disappointment.

But I can guarantee two things. First, that getting involved in and supporting the campaign will help move it forward, providing some much needed momentum. I can also guarantee that becoming active will provide you with a sense of connection, satisfaction and involvement that you’ll certainly miss out on if you stay disengaged.

Realistically, the Bernie Sanders 2016 campaign might be our generation’s last, best shot at putting together a drive to move this country out of the grip of the Right and corporate America. Working together, we could actually put Bernie in the White House. And, even if we don’t, we can, through this campaign, build a vital, progressive alternative to both the hard Right and the corporate-dominated Center. If you share my sense that this work is urgently needed, I hope you will rise to the occasion and do whatever you possibly can over the next several months to make the vision of a Bernie victory a reality.

Let’s keep the dream alive and build a shared legacy our generation can be proud of.

Please feel free to share this widely.