I was reading this post on internal black political struggles over at Jack & Jill ( http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2008/06/black-bloggers-dont-want-scraps.html ) when I realized that the argument the author is making neednt be race or issue or subculture specific ... THIS is the mood of the country right now ... the same deep-set struggle is taking place within all our political parties and movements.... its the classic passing of the torch, but those who should be passing are giving the youngin's a kind of "from my cold dead fingers" attitude. The author really gets a lot of what I've been feeling right, only take what he says about the civil rights movement and apply it to feminism and progressivism, too (emphasis mine):
 

We demand a seat at the table. If you're going to discuss us, why don't you invite us to the discussion first?

And it isn't a fight we asked for. Most of us just wanted to be heard. But when we learned how to use this tool, the INTERNET, as a means of not just communication, but for political activism, organizing protests and marches - making demands of the MSM that our issues get media coverage fairly and objectively, it was only a matter of time before we get called into full-scale battle.

I just never thought the first ambush would come from the Vanguard of the Civil Rights Movement. I thought being in the blogsphere would better assist the old guard in the fight, and ensure them they could trust us to keep fighting the good fight against racism, sexism, all-isms, as well as bring attention to issues within our communities that matter to US, BLACK PEOPLE.

So, when I read that Jesse Jackson states that we bloggers are "good at serving the meal, but don't know how to farm and till the soil", I wanted to scream "If you take your hand off the plow and let us drive the mule, maybe we learn how to do that, too!"   And they wonder why we who are under 50 are challenging them. ....All we're trying to do is advance the damned movement, and once again, we're being shown, through the outdated strategies of the Old Guard why we're still stuck like Chuck in the things that matter......   Now, as a result of our successes, and others on the way, the Old Guard is whining that we're not respecting them. That we're saying they're irrelevant. I don't think I've read where we said we didn't need them anymore; I think we are urging them to rest on their laurels and show us how to carry the mantle of Civil Rights, political activism and demands for seats at the table of political and social civil discourse on a grander scale. We've never asked them to go away.

Ever see two people driving a car; I mean with both of their hands on the steering wheel? It cannot be done - that's why cars are built with ONE steering wheel and a passenger seat. Someone has to drive and others have to ride. I believe we've asked for permission to learn how to drive the car now, and just like old deacons, deaconess, old Pastors in church, they want to hang on until they physically die and kill the movement right along with them. They won't allow us to learn how to drive the car, and then they get upset when we take the keys and teach our damned selves how to put the car in gear and speed off.   The Old Guard is still waging the fight for scraps from the table when the reality is, we want a seat at that table. Forget scraps.

And yet, when we see them, or the Congressional Black Caucus in the current state, they continue to engage in fights for SCRAPS.

Getting Don Imus fired was SCRAPS. Getting Fox Network's FCC license yanked to stop them from spewing racist vitriol is MEAT ON THE BONE.

Getting a job on Wall Street, now, is SCRAPS. Being someone like Dick Parsons or Stan O'Neal, running thangs, is MEAT.   We've had scraps - we want a seat AT THE TABLE. We want the same things we thought the Old Guard wanted. Maybe we should challenge them as to what they really want versus what WE really want. Maybe because we're going about it differently, they may be scared we're going to leave them out. We're not; we will happily take them with us if they stop picking fights and battles with us and trust us to get the job done.

I have to say, I've been surprised by the level of resentment I've seen popping up in boomer plus circles against younger activists and organizations of all stripes and in all our many factions as Democrats. Perhaps part of me still wants to believe in that ideal of the revolutionary boomer and its existence somewhere in the clouded, resigned hearts and minds that have led the old school institutions for most of my lifetime .... but I thought it would be easier than this. I thought y'all would appreciate the big, bold moves being made by the younger generation right now. Our fingerprints are all over this Democratic revolution you're seeing, from Dean's 50 state strategy (remember who supported him first?) to the Obama phenomenon to the revolutionary microtargeting of elections and issues going on in places like Kos and MoveOn and on a million other smart blogs every day.   How long have we been hearing about how detached and disillusioned and apathetic we are? Yet when you see young people finally getting it and stepping up to the plate - dedicating their hard-earned money and time to making this country a fairer, more progressive place - y'all put them down. If only I had a dollar for every time I've been told that I don't respect the original womens movement - and thus am a traitor to my gender - because I volunteer for Barack Obama! His supporters - and the participants in the growing political grassroots on which his campaign feeds - are berated as naive koolaid drinkers and celebrity worshipers and hopeless idealists who wont stick with it for the long haul. And this from the LEFT!  But we HAVE stuck with it. We've been doing this for a few years now, and we have ONLY managed to unseat the reigning order in a major political party.... first time thats happened in, what, decades? We helped orchestrate the take back of the Congress in 2006 ... and we are the ones on the ground building a true 50 state campaign for the Democratic party this year..... giving us better than even odds of sweeping into the White House with a breathtaking mandate in the form of a fat majority that can pass truly progressive legislation for a change. See, we want meat, too - not "triangulation," not the watered down nonsense the Clintons gave us.    I thought y'all wanted health care reform. I thought you wanted a more progressive tax structure. I thought you wanted to advance the causes of racial equality and gender equality and equality for people of all sexual orientations. We want the same things you always did. We want to build on the foundation you laid for us. All we ask is that you clear us a space and allow us to do just what were doing. Why is that proving so difficult?   /rant off