July, 2026

by Eduardo del Buey

July 2026

I recently turned 74.

Like the Roman god Janus, who faced in two directions, one part of me is looking back in time, and the other is looking forward.

Looking back, I am a baby boomer, born in 1952 at the height of the Korean War; the first war that pitted the communist world against the capitalist one.

The Cold War underpinned much of my early life and established the foundations of my political and social values.

I have always believed in liberalism – the rights of the individual coupled with the obligations of government to provide education, health, and security for all.

Indeed, when I was growing up, we enjoyed excellent public schooling and health care, were able to graduate from university debt-free, and I was able to purchase my first home at age 26 on an entry-level civil servant’s salary.

All of this in a turbulent world under the constant threat of nuclear annihilation.

Throughout the years, I witnessed the outcome of the end of fascism in Europe and Japan and the rise of communism as a global political force.

While we avoided a nuclear holocaust, wars and violence plagued many regions of the globe.

Terrorism became a growing phenomenon as the Soviet Union and others sought to exploit the frustrations of many in the developing world living with poverty and oppression. This ushered in the “client state”, states that depended on a superpower for their survival.

Along these lines, the United States countered by installing repressive military dictatorships in much of Latin America, while the African continent fell under the sway of their own Soviet supported dictators who ruled harshly in the name of anti-colonialism.

In the West, we lived through the expansion of liberal philosophy, the social revolutions of the 1960’s, the impact of the war in Vietnam, and the development of the welfare states that aimed to bring social and racial equality at the cost of increased taxation and the increased role of government in the lives of citizens.

The fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Empire in 1990 brought a wave of hope that global enmities might be coming to an end and that an era of democracy, peace, and economic growth was the new horizon -- a “New World Order.”

This didn’t last.

By 2000, Russia went from a nascent albeit chaotic democracy back to a totalitarian fascist state under Vladimir Putin, and the world once again divided into several camps.

Globalization and free trade set the stage to lift hundreds of million Chinese out of poverty as China became a global economic and military force, looking for its own sphere of influence and becoming the economic and industrial engine of the global economy.

A global watershed moment came in 2016 when Donald Trump was elected U.S. President. During both of his mandates, he has sought to destroy the international order of governance that arose out of the ashes of the Second World War, weaken the NATO alliance, and become an ally of sorts of Putin’s Russia.

I have seen the United Nations rendered a completely ineffective political organization incapable of addressing today’s major security challenges.

Internally, he has weakened democratic institutions in the United States and serves as an example to the many extreme right-wing parties that have grown in the West.

Indeed, mostly due to the economic and political ineptitude of left and center-left parties, some extremist right-wing parties may well be elected to office soon as their popularity grows in France, Germany, Holland, and several Latin American states.

Corruption is rife everywhere, and legal systems are fraught with political interference that allows a Trump or Putin to steal billions. Indeed, even in Spain where we live, corruption and scandals involving both major political parties seem to arise weekly.

A major source of concern for me has been Trump’s stance on the environment, opposing science-based insights and calling global warming and climate change a hoax.

In the next fifty years, it is projected that many small island states could be underwater, as well as coastal areas of all continents.

Today, global warming is a major contributing factor to the widespread drought in many regions of the world, massive forest fires in Europe and North America, and flash flooding due to soil erosion in many countries. Drought and flooding destroy valuable arable land, driving the cost of food and potable water upwards and leaving many around the world wanting.

Most politicians seem more concerned with their own short-term political survival and personal gains than with creating sensible, long-term comprehensive policies to address this global challenge.

As my Janus head turns to the future, I ask myself what kind of a world I am leaving to my grandchildren and their grandchildren.

Today’s young parents face economic challenges that many in my generation didn’t. The job market is changing radically, education and health care costs are skyrocketing, and violence is becoming the norm in many urban centers.

They are asking many questions that leaders are unable to answer.

Will they have access to clean air and water, to affordable housing and education, and to leaders who govern for all rather than just a few?

Will they choose leaders wisely and demand accountability rather than retreat into bubbles of comfort, ignoring the realities before them?

My generation and those that came before have brought us to this moment in time.

My generation’s time is almost up, and there is little that we can do to make the significant changes required.

What we can do is teach our children and grandchildren to learn how to think critically and select leaders whose focus is on providing long-term solutions rather than short-term panaceas.

Whose words and actions galvanize audiences everywhere into positive states of mind, and create the kind of inclusive policies that create the foundations for positive and permanent change.

My hope on my 74^th birthday is that others may share and act upon these issues to create a better future for those who follow.