Oh, Those Wacky Schoolboys...
They boof, whatever that is.
They like beer.
They pal around in racist regalia.
But hey, it's all in good fun, right?
They're just schoolboys. Schoolboys do stupid things.
Should doing stupid things when you're a schoolboy come like a bat out of left field and whack you upside the head decades later to totally fuck up your whole life?
I mean, is that fair?
Um.... let's talk.
First, the "we all do stupid shit when we're young and stupid" thing.
A. No, honestly, some of us manage to avoid that level of stupid even when we're young. More on that later.
B. A lot of us manage to confine our youthful impetuosity and poor decision making skills to relatively benign situations.
C. Some of us do pretty stupid things, even criminal things (have a toke, pal!) but the nature of those stupid, even criminal things is NOT related to being encouraged to believe you're somehow better than people with dark skin, or a different religion, or a vagina, and are thus entitled to mock, exploit, or bully those people.
Yeah, well, maybe that's so... but yanno, if we rule out everyone who was once an entitled little prick and maybe even grew up and saw the light and was sorry about it and tried to do better from running for office, we'd disqualify an awful lot of otherwise electable Democrats, right?
Ummm, no.
No, we wouldn't. If by "electable" you mean, "candidates with 1) a melanin deficiency, 2) a penis, and 3) plenty of powerful establishment connections because of their educational and professional networks."
Because, see, those things might spell "electable" to other people who share one or more of those factors, but- and pay close attention, here: That's the exact problem with our system that we are trying to overcome, not perpetuate.
There are lots and lots of potential candidates with high melanin levels, with a vagina, who went to the kind of schools where they aren't "networked" into powerful connections, who have excellent qualifications to serve the public in elected office.
And here's the kicker (told you I'd get back to this) almost all of them knew damn' well they COULDN'T AFFORD to make stupid mistakes they could blame on youthful impetuosity and poor judgment, because they were already struggling against odds to achieve educational and personal goals like escaping poverty, helping their families, and getting the next level of education and/or a good job.
Now, I hear you saying, "so does this disqualify all white males with private school or Ivy League educations from running as Democrats"?
Hardly. There are plenty of good ones who never let their status as entitled schoolboys lure them into the kind of racist, misogynist, idiotic mistakes that tend to smack you upside the head decades later.
And for those who DID make those kinds of mistakes, and who HAVE seen the error of their ways and truly want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem, there are other options: Like making hard choices to sacrifice power and achievement to demonstrate that their change of heart is real and lasting.
Like owning up to a past of stupid mistakes BEFORE running for office, and making that part of their "why"- "I did this, and now I want to change things so other youngsters don't get that boys-will-be-boys enabling."
Like picking a form of public service that doesn't require being a candidate for election themselves: Helping others get elected, becoming an expert on something useful, getting appointed to serve in appointed positions, starting a business or nonprofit dedicated to serving the public good.
So yes, I've had enough of those wacky schoolboys.
I'm done with them.
I'm over them.
And I'm hoping other Democrats are, too.
wearily,
Bright
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