This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Back in the 1960s, our elders, the "best and the brightest," betrayed us. They lied about Vietnam, about Watergate. They put Martin Luther King, Jr. — and hundreds of activists — in jail.
We concluded, "You can't trust anyone over 30."
Turns out we were right. In story after story about today's elected leaders, I find depressing evidence that suggests we were onto something, back then.
Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. Rob Bishop begin this recent parade of untrustworthiness by protesting the use of the Antiquities Act to protect public lands. They cynically and disingenuously bristle about Utahns being more than capable "of managing our own lands," and they rail against "unelected bureaucrats" who do so in our stead.
Do they really think that the state of Utah will do a better job managing 33 million acres of federal lands when we can't keep our 95,000 acres (and a million acres of surface water) in Utah state parks solvent?
Hatch, a United States senator for the past 34 years, and Bishop, chairman of the House Resources subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, know perfectly well that public lands do not belong to Utahns alone. And they disrespect the decent "unelected bureaucrats" who work for the federal land management agencies, devoting their lives to our natural heritage.
Hatch and Bishop are simply manipulating anger rooted in economic woes to fire up their political base. They sacrifice common sense, truth, and conservation to cater to the greed of corporate America.
The aging Hatch and Bishop do their best to perpetuate the late 20th century American plutocracy. But this concentration of wealth in the hands of a few is a detour. The 21st century is barreling at us, from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street. Young people generate the energy for these tides of change.
Apoplectic old guys still stand up for the fossil-fuel economy. Gov. Gary Herbert lobbies President Obama to reject Environmental Protection Agency regulations that would reduce mercury and other hazards emitted by coal-fired power plants. Along with 10 Republican governors (all over 30 years old, mind you) Herbert wants to block rules that limit toxic pollution. Air pollution is the biggest environmental and health issue in urban Utah. What in the world is the governor thinking?
Well, he is thinking about money, not people. Not about the intertwined power of energy corporations and wealth and politicians in America. That same 20th century power structure leads all but one Republican presidential candidate (the exception is Utah's stubbornly reasonable Jon Huntsman) to run from the global crisis of climate change. It is the most mendacious play to the streak of anti-science, anti-intellectual know-nothingness that runs deep in America.
In contrast, the Occupy Wall Street protesters sound inspiring. These 20-somethings in the parks have taken a stand against the corrosive power of banks and corporations. I hope they succeed in shifting our slow-to-turn behemoth of a country.
One new book gives me hope. Jeremy Rifkin describes a compelling vision in The Third Industrial Revolution. He sees a 21st century economy growing from the intersection of green energy and the "lateral power" of the Internet. Rifkin calls on young people to insist on change, to throw out the geezers and reclaim democracy.
Rifkin is well over 30. He's actually even older than me. But he is onto something. And I hope all of us, older and younger than 30, listen up.
Stephen Trimble, a Salt Lake City writer and teacher, has a birthday this month. He is over 30, but striving to be nimble in his response to the 21st century.