Mar 4, 2020 1 min read

‘Times that try men’s souls’

I feel as if I have entered a proverbial time warp in reading the op-ed, “Misgivings of youth,” in the {/em}March 2 Observer-Reporter{/em}. Could it be that we have returned to the bad-old days of the 2016 election instead of the downright awful days of the 2020 election? The op-ed would have one believe so. But there is no disclaimer saying that this is a worthy reprise so I am left wondering.

And, while I missed this op-ed when it first appeared, I find it rather curious that the writer asserts that America’s youth have somehow given up on democracy.

It seems to me that the opposite is rather more likely. They have come to realize that the vacuous and deceitful language and policies of our thoroughly undemocratic duopoly parties have given up on them.

And in that light, the fight of America’s youth is to recapture the very democratic principals and ideals which they were led to believe were embedded in the fabric of the nation. Recalling the legendary words of Thomas Paine, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”

John Hemington

McMurray