A diarist over on the Kos is following the story of the Baptist minister who expelled those who voted for Kerry with a little citizen journalism, specifically an interview with Deacon Lewis R. Inman. Inman and his wife left the church on Monday night along with seven other longtime members because of an attempt by Rev. Chan Chandler and 40 others to have eleven members kicked out of the church. It seems the Rev. Chandler brought in his youth brigade to get the necessary votes to push the politically incorrect believers out of the congregation:

"Monday night was a lynching," said Lewis Inman. "He [Chandler] had forty people with him, twelve adults and the rest teenagers, and said they were going to vote us eleven out. In other words, if you had voted for John Kerry for President, you were going to be voted out of the church. And he only needed a two-thirds majority to do it. I guess he thought that 40 against 11 would do it.

...
Lewis Inman made it clear that the teens and adults were new members brought in (recruited) over the last year or so by Chandler. The teens, according to Inman, were fired up and ready to expel the older eleven members. And when the nine got up and left, the teens jumped up and clapped and shouted in triumph.

At this point, the macro-trends for youth political attitudes seem to be headed in the right direction, which I like to think I've had something to do with. However, the population wave that is the follow-up to Generation-X it it's birth peak in 1990, meaning the crest of the generation's wave are teenagers now. Politically speaking, they are very much up for grabs.

Both right-wing fundimentalists and the GOP machine are cognizant of this and have poured serious resources and energy into indocrinating and organizing young Americans. The left has for many years relied on the general progressivism of popular culture to continue bringing in young people, but this is a loosing strategy, if you could even call it that.

The weakening role of mass media over popular culture has weakened MTV and Hollywood's political mojo apace. No serious, established organizations exist which seek to open up civic culture to young Americans. There are no credible "youth opinion leaders," and prominant Democratic politicians have a maddening tendency to showcase just how out of touch they are with contemporary culture(s).

I can go on like this, but hopefully you understand that the progressive tilt of my generation is fragile. It is under organized and well-funded attack from the right as well as being slowly killed from within by the creeping cynicism and nihilism that inevitably accompany an awareness of problems for which no solutions are being posed. I firmly believe in the potential of my generation to revitalize this country and set the tone for genuine progress in the 21st century, but for that to happen these twin threats must be met with a sustained campaign over the next ten years (at least).

This is another topic I will be writing more seriously about in the coming month.