Youth and the American Left

Every night I see and here the "Voices on the Left". I see the violence in the streets, I see conservative speakers taunted and literally run from the podiums at some of our most prestigious universities. I see the marches in Oakland in support of a cop-killers. Most of these hateful demonstrators seem to be young. To me, its a sad commentary on the youth of this country. They claim to support change and openness, but simply cannot tolerate anyone with an opposing view. They condemn a capitalism system, that has provided them with one of the worlds highest standard of living. The United States economy is the envy of the world and people are literally tearing down fences in order to get here. Yet these misguided souls see only evil and corruption here. They listen to their I-pods and text on their blackberries about how bad things are. They look to socialism with the foolish belief that a system such as that will make their lives better, forgetting that it never has worked well in any country. Western Europe being the best example---higher unemployment, lower economic growth and millions trying to come to the U.S. for a better way of life. Youth is often a time spent in search of something new and different, a search for the exotic to show ones Independence, and a time to toss aside traditional values. Most will in time outgrow these adolescent tendencies, some however will be in that rut for their entire lives and that is sad. We can to some degree, excuse the ideologies embraced by some of the youth of this country, we cannot excuse or condone the rudeness and violence they display toward those who disagree. This cannot be allowed to continue---to do so,would in the end, mean the destruction of our democratic system. A free and open exchange of ideas is a necessary part of our system. As for those mature adults, that participate in these disruptions of our freedom of speech, I have little use for them. Theirs are the tactics of hate and a new form of fascism not seen since the days of Nazi Germany.