Rebellious Youth, Protests, and The Establishment: in 2010

"Pro-Life Youth & Enthusiasm Frighten the Opposition"
National Catholic Register (January 26, 2010)

"Of all the news stories I've read describing this year's March for Life in Washington D.C., none make me prouder or more hopeful for the future than this little piece by Robert McCartney in the Washington Post:

" 'I went to the March for Life rally Friday on the Mall expecting to write about its irrelevance. Isn't it quaint, I thought, that these abortion protesters show up each year on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, even though the decision still stands after 37 years. What's more, with a Democrat in the White House likely to appoint justices who support abortion rights, surely the Supreme Court isn't going to overturn Roe in the foreseeable future.

"How wrong I was. The antiabortion movement feels it's gaining strength, even if it’s not yet ready to predict ultimate triumph, and Roe supporters (including me) are justifiably nervous.'

"Did you catch that?

"McCartney admits that he went in with an agenda, planning to serve up some of the main-stream media usual: The pro-life movement is a dying cause kept alive by a few angry old men, young people are overwhelmingly pro-choice, women are underrepresented, ... etc.

"But what he saw would not allow him to report such things.

"Half of the crowd, he estimated, were younger than 30...."

I suspect that, as more youngsters catch on that they're the survivors of the 'right to choose,' we'll be hearing and reading about fear-mongering demagogues spreading divisiveness among the masses.

But I'm not discouraged. I don't expect to see Roe v Wade overturned in my lifetime: but I do think that America will, eventually, catch on that killing babies isn't nice and we shouldn't do it.

Good Morning, Information Age!

This isn't the sixties any more. I can see big changes happening.

• Energized young people in the pro-life movement
• The Web and online communities making it possible to share important, detailed information
  • even if
    • ABC, CBS and NBC news aren't interested
    • NPR won't touch it
    • The New York Times doesn't think it's 'news that's fit to print'
• The establishment branding people whose opinions it finds distasteful as dangerous radicals
  • Or "domestic terrorists and violent racketeers"
  • Remember the McCarthy era?
    • And what it did to what we now call 'social conservatism'?

Like I said, I don't expect to see a reversal of Roe v Wade in my lifetime: but I've been wrong before.

That comment I made about "the establishment" may require a little explanation. The phrase sounds so - sixties.

"The Establishment" - Woodstock to Political Correctness

Back in the days of love beads and Woodstock, "the establishment" was largely white, still thought of itself as 'Anglo' and was - in my opinion - blind to the threat posed by its moonbat-crazy supporters.

I've written before, about the McCarthy era, blacklists, and the dark side of 'happy days.' Some of it's in the "Related posts", below. By the sixties, many young people and a fair number of their elders had become dissatisfied - at best - with "the establishment."

That was then.

Today, many of the campus radicals - who are around my age - have moved on with their lives. Some opted for the corporate career track: hey, carrying protest signs and blowing up campus offices wears thin after a while. Others went into politics: and are still there.

From the looks of it, the elders of 'the establishment' may have forgotten what it was that turned them off, nearly a half-century ago.

I suppose it's harder to see how crazy statements make you look - when you really believe them.

Related posts:

• "Abortion, 'Health Care,' 'Life of the Mother,' and a Story About Two Guys"
  (November 20, 2009)
• "Shocker! American Bishops Seek Conscience Exemption from Killing Babies"
  (November 9, 2009)
• "Kennedys, Catholicism, and Abortion: So That's What Happened"
  (August 26, 2009)
• "Late Term Abortions Reality Check"
  (June 2, 2009)
• "Pro-Life People - 'Domestic Terrorists and Violent Racketeers:' Who Knew?"
  (June 1, 2009)
• "Fear of Right-Wing Extremism: Commie-Hunting in Reverse"
  (April 19, 2009)

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A tip of the hat to CatholicNewsSvc, on Twitter, for the heads-up on the National Catholic Register article.