Since arriving in Lewis County, I’ve enjoyed taking part in several rallies and sign-waving events to defend democracy in our country.
Part of the fun is reading the coverage of the events later in The Chronicle, especially the comments threads.
One favorite theme among our critics is to point out protesters’ advanced age. The local “nursing home” must be looking for its “escapees,” goes a typical amusing take.
It’s actually true that today’s anti-MAGA protesters skew older. The New York Times, in an opinion piece by Brendan Nyhan in November 2025, has suggested that one reason why more young people don’t join protests is their disillusionment with the corruption and complicity of both major political parties.
Another fact is that in Lewis County, as across the nation, younger people have to struggle especially hard. Compared to earlier generations, young people today are much less likely to afford to buy a home and more often have to work multiple jobs to make a living. For a person trying to get by in a gig economy, it can be a tall order to ask them to find the time and energy to go out and protest.
Which makes it all the more encouraging that they do come out. Anyone observing the latest No Kings rally in Centralia, as well as the earlier ones, would have seen hundreds of people of all ages in attendance.
But in the end, even if it is a bunch of oldsters, who cares? What is outmoded nowadays is not so much protesting as the idea that old people are useless.
The fact that people are willing to stand on a sidewalk for two hours despite aching joints is cause for admiration. Older people, who have retired from their jobs and are no longer raising families, have the wherewithal to resist the decline of peace and prosperity and justice in our country. If they protest for those who can’t, they’re fit to be thanked, not mocked.
From the Raging Grannies to a woman in her 80s arrested three times for protesting fossil fuels; from Senator Bernie Sanders to the 100-year-old World War II veterans who fought fascism in the 1940s and are doing so again on the home front now, older people have been among the most principled in fighting the authoritarian threat America now faces.
Let’s not mock them for their bravery. Instead, let’s respect and thank them for their leadership.
Cara Diaconoff
Vader
