"Thinking in generations also means enabling our young to have a decent standard of living"
About this Quote
“Thinking in generations” is the politician’s way of laundering urgency through patience. Paul Tsongas frames long-term responsibility as a moral stance, but he immediately yokes it to something concrete: a “decent standard of living” for the young. That pairing matters. It’s not the gauzy futurism of planting trees you’ll never sit under; it’s a demand that the future be livable in the only currency voters reliably understand - rent, wages, healthcare, dignity.
The intent is strategic as much as ethical. Tsongas, a late-20th-century Democrat associated with fiscal discipline and a pro-growth, pro-innovation politics, is signaling that “generational thinking” isn’t an excuse for austerity. It’s a rebuke to policy that balances today’s books by quietly mortgaging tomorrow’s prospects: underfunded schools, crumbling infrastructure, polluted environments, ballooning debt, a labor market that asks for credentials and offers precarity.
The subtext is also an indictment of nostalgia. Older generations often defend the status quo as common sense, even as it becomes unaffordable for their children. By using “enabling,” Tsongas implies the young aren’t failing; they’re being failed by systems designed without them in mind. “Decent” does subtle rhetorical work too: it’s modest enough to sound reasonable, but pointed enough to expose how radical basic stability has become.
In a political culture addicted to election cycles, Tsongas is arguing that the true legacy of governance isn’t a speech or a surplus - it’s whether the next cohort can actually start a life.
The intent is strategic as much as ethical. Tsongas, a late-20th-century Democrat associated with fiscal discipline and a pro-growth, pro-innovation politics, is signaling that “generational thinking” isn’t an excuse for austerity. It’s a rebuke to policy that balances today’s books by quietly mortgaging tomorrow’s prospects: underfunded schools, crumbling infrastructure, polluted environments, ballooning debt, a labor market that asks for credentials and offers precarity.
The subtext is also an indictment of nostalgia. Older generations often defend the status quo as common sense, even as it becomes unaffordable for their children. By using “enabling,” Tsongas implies the young aren’t failing; they’re being failed by systems designed without them in mind. “Decent” does subtle rhetorical work too: it’s modest enough to sound reasonable, but pointed enough to expose how radical basic stability has become.
In a political culture addicted to election cycles, Tsongas is arguing that the true legacy of governance isn’t a speech or a surplus - it’s whether the next cohort can actually start a life.
Quote Details
| Topic | Youth |
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