With all the silliness surrounding the ongoing presidential election, I can't help but dream of a time when people had the gall to reject order.

There are many contradictory aspects of the revolution that was the late sixties, but it can be summed up in one characteristic: difference.

The nation's predicament in the global arena was ghastly, not unlike the one today. Our young men were being massacred by the thousands; by the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 over 58,000 Americans were dead, not to mention the unthinkable crimes inflicted upon the civilians of Vietnam and Cambodia.

The U.S. citizens left to grieve in their hometowns could have accepted these atrocities as a part of the political process, as numbers they saw on the news and lamented but did not think of too deeply.

Instead, so many young people and some old, too, assembled in outrage. They made shoddy signs, chanted aggressive thoughts, and refused to be silenced by the presiding bodies that killed their peers.

They met the barrel of a gun with a flower and a plea for peace.

I think that young people and their belief in difference are the key to any real sort of revolution. I also think, based on interactions I have had with those around me, that quite a lot of us are truly unhappy with the way things are.

There are countless parallels that could be drawn between the tumult of the sixties and the uncertainty of now.

As I write, we are still writhing in the toxic throes of a thirteen-year-old war. We are on the brink of electing a man with absolutely no experience in political leadership, or a woman who has led with a trail of millions of dollars and deceit.

Regardless of the outcome, we will have elected an individual who believes in our stupidity, and more significantly in our lack of action.

I have tried unsuccessfully for a long time not to think about the way our political system is shaping up. I think too many of us have.

This can't be the best we can do as a country, I know it can't. At the same time, I know that we are in far too deep to prevent the inevitable momentum of mistakes and injustice in the near future.

This knowledge does not stop me from dreaming of peace and union. I don't know if it's the way to bandage our bleeding nation, but it feels like a start.