Baby boomers – that includes me – screwed the pooch.

We talked a good game when we were young. We were going to change the world. We were going to make it fairer. Make love, not war. War is not healthy for children, etc. The arc of the universe is long and bends toward justice, right?

All that stuff.

But for all the education we received at a much better price than other generations, for all the protests and clever music and revolutionary art and tech savvy, we bombed on two of the most important things we could have done.

One is immigration.

Maybe I’m naive, but this is not a hard problem to solve. And, in fact, reasonable politicians of both parties tried several times.

America needs immigrants. As “Hamilton” infers, they get tough jobs done. Sometimes without the credit they deserve. But they do.

But we also need to be careful. That’s the hangover from 9/11. People coming into this country intending to kill us. We need to prevent that.

Still, it is doesn’t seem intractable. Figure out a system that makes citizenship attainable over time and let people come in. Keep tabs on them. If they’re lost, you’ve got a problem – but most of the people who’ve crossed our borders want to live peaceably in the United States.

The other thing we messed up is the Middle East. In particular, Israel.

For its entire 77+ year history, Israel and its Jewish population have faced hostility surrounding it. I couldn’t imagine what it’s like to live in a country without a moment’s peace ever – although I fear we’re learning now.

The Middle East doesn’t seem that difficult. Israel gets a homeland for a Jewish state. Palestinians get someplace that they run themselves. Anybody breaks the peace, everybody in the world comes down on them.

OK, that’s a little simplistic. But it’s ridiculous that a part of the world special to more than a billion people – Jews, Christians and Muslims – should be a tinder box instead of a pilgrimage destination.

Reasonable people see that.

The problem here is that despite all the efforts made to sort this out – Camp David and Oslo among the more successful – there’s no rest for the hostility weary.

And the reason is this: For all the billions of the world who want peace in the region, there’s a de facto coalition that doesn’t.

At the center of the coalition are two forces that can’t stand each other: Hamas and its radical allies in the region, and Benjamin Netanyahu and the Gulf States on the region.

Yeah, these two sides – and the partners who back them – are eager to fight to the death – preferably the death of guys they’re fighting. These partners include – on one side or the other – Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the Trump administration.

So when those of us who think that two states – Israel and some formation of a Palestinian government – are the only possible peaceful solution, these two sides that hate each other coalesce to stop that idea cold.

Benjamin Netanyahu saw Hamas’ horrific attack on Israeli civilians in October 2023 as an opportunity to divert attention from the criminal investigations he faced and rally forces against any kind of peace deal with Palestinians. 

And by being heavy-handed in dealing with the Palestinians living in Gaza, he gave a rallying point to Hamas. 

So whenever some idiot throws a brick with the words “Free Palestine” through a synagogue window, know that Netanyahu would rather you do that than shout the words “two states.”

Because these people are an all-or-nothing coalition. They want you cleared out of the way so that they can get on with the ultimate battle for control of the holiest piece of land in the world.

There’s a solution, but it’s not going to happen. Not now, anyway.

Last weekend, millions of Americans came together to tell Donald Trump he’s a jerk. To battle his desire to be some kind of king or dictator. 

What if large numbers of people around the world joined together with most of the world’s Jews and Muslims and said they won’t support anything but a two-state solution to this problem?

You see, Joe Biden’s failure here was worrying that he wouldn’t have the support to challenge Netanyahu’s wag-the-dog campaign. And worrying that if he didn’t give full-throated support to Netanyahu, he’d be accused of abetting Hamas – the terrorists who kidnapped children and elderly people, and held them for nearly two years or killed them.

The problem is that Americans are so distracted by what Trump has done in the past five months that they’re just overwhelmed by BS. And as awful as things can get in the Middle East – Trump is itching to drop bombs on Tehran to prove he still has a cock – Americans are besieged. By these idiotic tariffs, the potential gutting of their healthcare, the possibility that no one will come help them when hurricanes batter our shore, and the grabbing of neighbors off the street by secret police.

Maybe it seems as though I got away from my original point – that we, as baby boomers, failed.

I didn’t. We should have solved this problem. We had chances all the way into the Obama administration. We couldn’t muster the will or imagination to beat these people back, just as we couldn’t muster the will or imagination to overcome the forces that profit from trying to deport undocumented immigrants.

We didn’t do it. And now, the all-or-nothing coalition holds the reins, ready for the dogfights they’ve wanted for years.

Shame on them. Shame on us.

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