So, I was lying awake idly wondering how old our newest neighbors are. One’s in the community college down the street, one works doing IT stuff. Good, considerate neighbors. Twenty-something.

Then I realized that persons who graduated from high school this spring, as tradition dictates, will be mostly eighteen years of age sometime in 2002.

I graduated high school the year they were born, 1984. In what appears to be some sort of coincidence but which is in fact a mathematical property which applies to anyone that thinks about this, they are, this year anyway, half my age.

What can the world look like? No Watergate. No Vietnam. Hell, they were born the year the Mac was introduced to the market! Four years of Ronnie, but I’d be surprised if he generated memories. Four of GWB the 1st. Maybe some vague impressions. Eight of Clinton; coincident with adolescence, even.

Eight years of a bad economy, eight of a good one, and two character builders so far.

(Note to kids: what political party controlled the white house when the economy was your friend? Note to DNC: do you guys even exist? For god’s sake, DO YOUR JOB! Oh, never mind.)

And then this matter of 9-11. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be an eighteen year old today, I think.

Every political stimuli I was exposed to by the time I was eighteen clearly demonstrated (Vietnam! Watergate! Central America! Iran-Contra! October Surprise!) that American politicians are nemesis, liars, with no respect for democracy, human lives, the rights of man, or the constitution.

So far, seems unlikely that kids have seen the mask stripped, and less likely as time goes by and more FOIA requests are remanded by GWB the 2nd.