May 10, 2019
I recently had the opportunity to attend a casual, alumni brunch of Baby Boomers, all of whom were seventy years old plus or minus and had graduated from college in 1971. We attended Harvard, a university that can claim both Jared Kushner and Pete Buttigieg. We were mostly white men with a couple of white women in attendance. Diversity in the sixties was defined by whether you attended public school versus private school. We experienced dramatic demographic, social, and political changes during our four years, and those experiences resonate even today in our political orientations.
We were a politically diverse group if you consider opinions ranging from center-left to far left diversity. There was one self-described Libertarian. There were active participants from the ‘69 University Hall takeover and strike at Harvard. We all held or used to hold reasonably respectable positions in fields like medicine, music, education, the arts, and finance. Strangely, there were no lawyers. We were politically aware, informed, and opinionated.
Almost everyone was a Democrat, but then we diverged. There were a few of us, including myself, who were moderately progressive. However, our number one priority was not healthcare or the environment. It was win at all costs. We were for Biden. We were less concerned about the progressive agenda, and more concerned about the damage four more years of Trump would create. There was a minor consensus around a Biden-Harris ticket. A couple of alumni were for Bernie. Elizabeth Warren had more support than I expected. Mayor Pete showed up on a couple of ballots, but no one was pushing him really hard. Maybe he was appealing because of his Harvard connection (‘04,) but I have to admit, his performances on MSNBC and Meet the Press were impressive.
Socialism never came up, which also surprised me given the group. You would think a group of Harvard alumni from the 60’s would have. At least one pinko. I would like to think that it was because we all knew what Socialism actually was. Having grown up during the Cold War, we knew that Socialism was the governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods and services. Maybe it was because, despite being in the eye of the sixties upheavals, we now had our sixties in the rear view mirror. Either way, no one seemed impressed by right wing attempts to cast progressives as socialists. One alum did bring up the concept of a guaranteed minimum income, but this just sounded like a different flavor of the social safety net to me. The worst you could say about us is that we were probably Democratic Capitalists. We believed in a free market as long as the playing field was level, and it was the government’s job to make sure it was so.
Guaranteed income led us into what was for me an uncomfortable discussion about fetal rights, what is a person, and ownership of fertilized eggs. The only eggs I was interested in were in my Eggs Benedict. It’s a serious topic, but I wasn’t ready mix it up. I was only drinking Virgin Mary’s.
What I came away with is that, even among Harvard grads, there is no monolithic Democratic Party. It is more diverse than those of us who attended the brunch. The primary season should be a exciting, and no one is hoping for a “Thrilla in Vanilla.”
The Spin Doctor 