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If you squint, much of this looks familiar.
Robert Kennedy is running for president. It’s nearing the end of a president’s first term, and he is under fire for the handling of a war. Unrest grows on college campuses and students occupy Columbia’s Hamilton Hall. Protesters are being arrested. There is no Federal protection for women’s reproductive rights and abortion is illegal in much of the country.
I remember all of these events, 56 years ago. They are again today’s headlines. But the similarities are superficial. These events, which are up front and center as they were in 1968, are not even the most significant events of today.
Still, I want the current war ended, and for students to return to their studies. I want this RFK to get secret service protection, and still be alive but NOT be on the ballot in November. I want all of women’s rights protected.
But I also want the incumbent president re-elected because his opponent is a crazy, cruel and demented narcissist. I want us to deal effectively with the challenges before us — especially the corporation-created degradation of the climate, which continues unabated and threatens the lives of everyone’s children — and increasingly, all of us right now.
I want a good year, unlike any other — when our species behaves like responsible human beings, caring…
