DAVID MARCUS: Gen X knows the only force that can defeat violent leftist protest culture |
Retired Navy SEAL Chris Wyllie joins 'Saturday in America' to discuss the anticipation for America's 250th anniversary, including a special ball drop at Times Square ahead of July 4th, 2026.
At 250 years old, there isn’t much that the United States of America hasn’t gone through, and this includes periods of intense political protest and violence, the last of which ended roughly in the late 1970s. The ‘80s and ’90s were not completely protest-free, but they were not protest-driven.
Most of Generation X, the young would-be protesters of the time, saw little purpose to it because, by and large, we liked America. We thought it was doing good in the world, and it also just seemed like a lot of effort.
By 1999, a chair would fly through a window in Seattle during the World Trade Organization protests. In 2011, Wall Street would be "occupied," and in 2020, many American cities were ablaze, ostensibly over the death of George Floyd.
Protest culture was back, with a vengeance.
WALKING ACROSS AMERICA SHOWED ME WHY FAITH AND FREE THOUGHT CAN STILL WIN
Today, as the battle of Minneapolis rages, not just rhetorically but in physical confrontation, we mourn the death of Renee Good, while we still reel from the assassination of Charlie Kirk. It feels like our nation is back in the deadly maelstrom of 1960s and '70s violent protest.
Demonstrators hold various signs including "The Power of the People" and "No Kings No Royalty" at a pro-democracy rally in Hancock Adams Common on April 19, 2025. (Erin Clark/The Boston Globe........