Interesting phrase, that - the "Flame of Rebellion." Another one I've always liked, via Kundera in Life is Elsewhere - "When we are young, letters from home are messages from a shore we are foresaking." I probably butchered the quote, which gives you an excuse to read the book. It's about the perils of being young and rebellious. The phrase interests me because "flame" implies fiery, immediate change. It is never gradual, it is never without consequence, it is never equally amenable to all parties. Revolutions are flame. they do, indeed, belong to the young. And although I do not know your friend, I"m not sure it's fair to say that someone who has "lost his flame" has "fully bought into the system." After all, the quieter, more efficient version of revolution is subversion and that is definitely the game of those with patience. Have you seen Charlie Wilson's War? Me neither. I've read it, though. It's worth your time. It's a tale of how a handful of men gathered $400m to defeat the Soviet Union in Afghanistan (and bring about global jihad but we won't get into that right now). None of it was voted on by the public. Hell, none of it was known to the public. Did you know that one 30-year-old noncomissioned officer basically dictated strategy for the largest American military campaign between Vietnam and Gulf War I? He went back to school, got an MBA and is now the man in charge of secret warfare. Did that guy "lose his flame?" 'cuz I'll bet you've never heard of him, and he had more to do with the makeup of the modern world than Barack Obama. Youth is all about tearing down the system. Maturity is all about working within the system. You break fewer things, and you're more likely to get out alive. Do you have to "buy into the system?" Well, at the very least, you need to be able to show a receipt. Otherwise they won't hear your complaints. I will say this. Never conflate a lack of outrage with a lack of ambition. I leave you with a song so obscure it only exists on Myspace.
When I say 'Flame of Rebellion' I'm talking less in the literal 'Rioting in the streets' meaning and more in the abstract 'Our world can be better than it is, and should be better than it is' sense. Flame is an apt metaphor to me because it describes a source of energy that must be fed, stoked and tended or else it goes out. I agree wholeheartedly that subversion is infinitely more powerful social innovation. And I'm not saying that someone who is successful can't have a 'Rebel' mindset, it just seems like its easy to lose a desire for change once things are 'paying off.' With the Charlie Wilson example, I'll definitely add the book to my reading list, until I've read it I don't feel comfortable making any judgement or opinion regarding it. Maturity is working within the system, but just to use a current very controversial example, If I spend my entire professional career to try and get to a high ranking position in the NSA, I still won't be able to limit it's power, or make it obey the constitution. The current 'system' doesn't let those types of things happen. And I certainly don't want to spend my entire adult life position-scrabbling in a government agency with the dream of one day taking it down. When the procedures of democracy are not the ones being used and obeyed, how is a democratic effort supposed to effect change?
Hans Mark bent the NRO to his will. He shoved the Space Shuttle down its throat as its director, where previous directors had run away screaming, because he felt it was too useful to the civilian space effort. It remains a controversial decision; the space shuttle was a piece of shit that set space exploration (and space-based reconaissance) back 20 years. The real example holds for your hypothetical NSA. Congress has clearly shown it has no power over the NSA. Only the NSA does. Edward Snowden clearly doesn't - all he can do is expose them. Which would have been more impessive if we hadn't known about it all eight years ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_warrantless_surveillance_(2...) The other switch as one grows more experienced with a "system" is the switch from the theoretical to the practical, from the strategic to the tactical. Mark Klein had 22 years with AT&T when he took Room 641 to the press - was that "youthful rebellion?" or was that "mature subversion?" As far as "position scrabbling" you're responding to a statement in which I explained how a 30-year-old kid ended up running the secret war in Afghanistan. A friend of mine got his undergrad, then became the CIA bureau chief for Macedonia within a year. Who knows what he'd be doing if he'd stayed in. When you say 'Flame of Rebellion' you're talking about the passion to stand up for the democratic principles our founding fathers yadda yadda. So really, you're asking "how do you keep idealism alive?" By not paying attention. "There are days when I honestly wish I'd been born dumber." Perhaps your problem is you are not well-read enough to understand how very, very little impact "Democracy" has had on the world around you. Let me know if you'd like a reading list.If I spend my entire professional career to try and get to a high ranking position in the NSA, I still won't be able to limit it's power, or make it obey the constitution.