I can dig it.

In that line of thinking, where does kindergarten fit?  I've been thinking about that reference lately. 

Im not sure what you mean by the 'kindergarten reference'....

Also, to confirm what Ive said above about Truman, Hawk, et. al. excluding the younger generations:  it was not only Chad they excluded because of his criminal tendencies, they also excluded Jesse,  the exemplary cop who was Chad's contemporary who was continually excelling(showed up to back up Bobby right away at the RR shooting) and trying to impress his elders.  When Truman and Hawk were looking over Hawk's map, Jesse showed up in an attempt to engage Truman by showing him his new car; and Hawk responded by rolling his eyes and Truman quickly dismissed him as he did to Wally Brando.  This chance encounter would have been a perfect time to 'let Jesse in' on the map, the log lady, etc., just as they let in Cooper, and in this way keep their methods and insight alive in the new generation, for them to have their turn on it, even if Truman et al are old and the log lady was dying. Laura's death, the discovery that Leland killed her, and Cooper going mad: all these incidents seems to have caused them to 'close off', and they seemed to never have dealt with the trauma and crisis of belief these ugly truths about Twin Peaks caused.  Were they always this way given how they had formed the bookhouse boys and hated the outside world, and was Albert right to criticize them, even if he was being a bit cynical and excessive?

     Imagine if Truman, Hawk, et al had treated Andy the same way they treated Jesse and Chad. Andy would not have been there for 'The Return', would never have impressed and married Lucy, no Wally Brando, etc.;  seeing as how Andy was originally quite annoying, incompetent, and even almost shot his fellow officers when accidentally dropping his gun.

by kindergarten I meant the whole 'Farm' scene, and why compare that to kindergarten?  From a cultural commentary perspective.  I still don't have a great answer for that. 

Ok, so in my interpretation of what you're saying, it might be one logical leap away to question whether the same 'old timers' that pine for the 'good ol' days' may themselves be ensuring that those days/values will certainly die with them because they refuse to invite the next generation in to share those values; it is more appealing to criticize and feel contempt for the younger groups because they don't 'get it', but simultaneously refusing to teach them.  For the elders, feeling superior and more accomplished and heroically representing a disappearing culture is more important to them than preserving that culture into the future.  Like maybe the real goal is to try to still feel relevant, even legendary, as death approaches ever near.  

So, I always like to see if a pattern works backwards as well as forward.  Was this all true for say, the Milfords?  Were they reluctant to bring young Harry Truman and young Doc Hayward into their 'club'?  According to TSHOTP, maybe so.  What about Andrew Packard?  

Or does the story of Twin Peaks really begin with that decay, or firewall of values/culture that you're describing?  Is that the great negative force in Twin Peaks?  Are the elders so unwilling to let go that they desperately cling to what's 'theirs' and fear sharing it, fear that they need to be special, even if it rots the town they loved to withhold  Fear they might find themselves lost to time and forgotten as ordinary?   

Your arguments are interesting. 

(and I'm aware that my interpretations/continuations likely aren't exactly what you were saying; it's just where my thinking led me to after reading your post)    

The 'kindergarten' scene at the farm is the proof of Mr. C/Cooper's authenticity, his maintaining of antagonism in the search for truth/Judy: Mr. C refused to join the farm, calling it 'kindergarten' because he knew of its meaningless stupidity and weakness(and knew exactly how to act as well), furthermore a weakness coming from the farm's thorough integration and immersion with the world and its authorities(just as the criminality and excesses of the truck drivers and the roadhouse were a key institution in Twin Peaks, look at how James and Audrey treat the roadhouse as the ultimate place of connection to the meaning of their lives).  This is why Dougie/Cooper revered and joined a criminal mafia in Las Vegas, just as he did with the idyll and bookhouse boys in Twin Peaks, ultimately a fatal limitation which led to his downfall and madness, and that of Twin Peaks as well, its ongoing decay and corruption that proceeds unabated regardless of what it did to Laura, blessed by the priest and the town elders even.  Mr. C on the other hand knows 'shes gone', Laura's gone, the 'one'/woman/world/idyll is gone, thus he is searching for Judy, what is lacking/missing, the negative source of strength he lost as he was forced to realize that Twin Peaks and what is special about it is gone, no better than Philadelphia.  Mr. C's negativity and desire allows him to run right over the farm with ease, the farm(and twin peaks cops/bookhouse boys) thorough integration in the world makes them weak and controllable.

  Like Mr. C, Richard himself is authentic(and thankfully Cooper recognizes that he is Richard), he broke out of Twin Peaks after rejecting and farm-type, the big criminal Red, then rejected the farm when he saw Mr. C, he knew what was worthy/true, etc., and was unwilling to be contented with petty criminality, corruption, pleasures, like James, Bobby, Red, Shelly, the farm, et. al.  Interestingly here, Mr. C shows the same limitations as sheriff truman, et. al., when he fails to allow Richard his rightful spot as his son, gets him killed and says 'oh well'(just as truman does with chad and jesse). Mr. C's fateful limitations led to his own downfall when he returns to the sheriffs station: we see Mr. C walking up to Andy as determined, which soon gives way to familiarity and he almost seems friendly to Andy and Truman, as if he is 'in', saying 'in the flesh', your man is back, etc., he is off guard and gets killed for it ; Mr. C needed to be with Richard and Chad, not Truman, et. al who are still trying to hide from that fact that 'shes gone', Laura's gone, the town/world disappeared(that Laura vanished and its just 'her' now, Judy).  Hawk and Truman know about this negativity through the ominous Judy on Hawk's map, but they, like Mr. C are 'hoarding the gold' for themselves and blocking it out from the further generations, who after Laura's/Twin Peaks death, are not worthy, and they are not worthy because of the covering up that happened at Laura's funeral, rather than facing up to it and symbolizing, and dealing with the trauma as Bobby did back then, the tradition then carried on by Mr. C, Richard, Chad.

What is really interesting here is the gap, and this connects with the gap between generations, between Judy as ultimate negativity(shes gone, missing, there is a lack in the world, the world does not exist etc.) and institutionalization, something is lost with each generation, and the next deals with this seriously and tries to re-institutionalize it.  It seems like this was stopped forcefully by the authorities in (not only) Twin Peaks, in order for an elite to hoard the power and prestige for themselves, just as Ben Horne and the elites class hoard the money and women, etc.  In other words, there is a major problem/negativity that is unsolvable, dealing with it jeopardizes certain privileged positions, and those in those postions are forcefully refusing the new generations in order to keep their dead dreams alive, so that there is a growing chaos and evil that is easily institutionalizing itself(Jean Michel and Renaults easily institutionalizing for generations, while Shelly loves Red and refuses Steven, ultimately culminating in his suicide, where he reveals that he was a 'high school graduate', really loved Becky and was trying to get a job, but predictably fell into corruption and failure, given the failing economic times in rural areas revealed by the money man investing in Norma's diner and the widespread use of drugs and corruption in the town). 

   So Gordon Cole has problems with Denise, the flattery and corruption at the top of the FBI as well, and is also looking for Judy, pure tragicomic horror, dealing with it, cannot get rid of it, then how to institutionalize it.....only Mr. C, Richard, Chad, maybe even Steven, were on the right path here...when original Cooper/Dougie gets back to Twin Peaks, he is forced to admit 'he is Richard', and the world dissolves again.....

What would be different in the current generation would be the discovery of Judy/negativity at the core of the world/Twin Peaks, so that the gap between this generation and its kids can no longer simply pass down myths about 'evil in the woods' etc in the same way and maintain a lie about an innocent idyll or a beloved elite or mafia that protects the people like its children(for example, how Chad makes fun of the log lady, how deaths of the kids become a regular occurrence which is normalized, like the death of Denny Craig, etc.).  Laura's death shattered that old world, her suicide a desperate attempt to highlight her situation that was recognized by no one, since it would shatter the taboos, extra legal pleasures, and luxuries which kept the town going in its excessive affirmations.   Trying to deny what happened in no way stopped the impact of Laura's death, it is only holding up the process of dealing with it properly and attempting to re-institutionalize after meeting with 'Judy', in the decaying hope that long dead dreams and idyllic innocence will somehow return, which is resulting in a wholesale destruction of the town and murder of its kids, and the waste of those with authentic potential like Richard. 

So how can one institutionalize with 'Judy' at the center?  If Laura is the 'One', the excessive center and focus which Mr. C(and Cole) are after; and if Bobby speaks the truth of Laura at her funeral, which is now symbolized by the names Mr. C, Richard, Chad.......all disruptive of the community and Twin Peaks, almost as if calling out negativity, that something is missing that no one wants to recognize.  In this case, Judy itself is discovered, the very project of Gordon Cole, billionaires, even Hawk and Truman to an extent....then institutions and authorities are looking to deal with it. 

 It almost seems at the cusp of a new historical epoch potentially opening, the old is gone and will never come back, buried with Laura and her tragicomic situation,  as horrible situation which is now spreading throughout the society as a whole.  There is a gaping wound and no going back to the old myths of local innocence and external evil, even James, the innocent 'golden boy' of twin peaks, is now sadistic, a hedonist obsessed with youth, and a would be adulterer (he always was, even in the original).   

   So then how to 'harness' Judy, make her 'the one', in all its tragicomic horror, at the center of an institution....some hints here would be Bobby's tirade at Laura's funeral(getting rid of the old elites, detailing their full corruption and criminal behavior, and unlike Bobby and Truman, making this consequent to their institutional framework, the economy of profit and enjoyment, and not just blaming some 'bad guys', then moving on as normal), and the scenes with the fireman and the ones at the white lodge.  Andy, Lucy, and the 'barring'/caging of Mr. C scene in the theater are important here, this 'barring' is, I think, why Mr. C failed to eliminate Truman, et. al., and it is only Lucy and Andy that were saving those corrupted by cowardice.....since only Andy can meet with the fireman after the obscene and shameful scandal of Chads arrest and blaming him for everything, heaping hatred onto him(here Chad is one hundred percent correct...they are making a huge mistake).  Andy is the only one who meets with the fireman(eats only cheese, no meat and no excessive hatred of Chad), Truman, Hawk, Bobby are not permitted, just as Freddy met the fireman, but evil James was not allowed to meet the fireman.  Andy represents a sort of 'generational link', or a link across a gap, he was stupid, incompetent, not accepted by the top experts at Twin Peaks Sherrifs station, but was trained and linked in.....mostly thanks to the contingent interventions of Agent Cooper(in the spirit of Albert's critical attitude of course, although done in a nicer way).   No fireman to put out the fire at the core of Twin Peaks without an institutionalized Richard or Chad, who do not betray 'Judy' and stick to being authentic, not trying to hide from truth Bobby exposed at Laura's funeral(the full on corruption of the town); and only then could meet with the fireman(Freddie also met with the fireman when he admitted the corruption of his friends and wanted something better), but never Bobby or James...Mr. C, of course, already met Judy...Laura and Cooper together for 25 years, unrecognized, hidden, with hatred heaped on them and those in the future who 'have the stuff'(as Cole puts it), Richard, Chad, etc., in order to protect the villainous lie of communal innocence...

Chad was the 'Albert', the critical 'gaze', that Twin Peaks Sheriff's Department always needed to save their town, but which they rejected and excluded in favor of avoiding the harsh truth about their town....the disorientation and shock that Chad caused to the Twin Peaks authorities could have been a blessing in disguise, he saw what they could not see in their traumatic blind spot and was continually trying to draw their attention to it(ex. about how drunk one guy was to elaborate the state of the town.   Also, Chad pointed out how the vigilantes and trouble makers James and Freddy were not excluded and arrested while he was(even though all of them were engaged in extra legal activity); and this also ties in to Bobby and Shelly 'cracking down' on Steven and not Becky or Red, twisting the law to fit their dreams, thus they are part of the corruption of the town which protects injustice and crime inside the town as long as it is 'theirs'(including nothing less than Laura's abuse and murder and the shameful spectacle of no self criticism and blaming Laura entirely for her own death), and Chad was trying to sober Twin Peaks Sheriffs Department up to it the entire time, pointing out the contradictions and failures and disgusted by their incompetence, much like Albert did to Cooper and Cole. 

Chad's downfall resulted from him putting too much weight on the responses he got back from the authorities, as if this was the 'final word' structuring the world, thus he felt immense pressure which culminated in his violent outburst and criminality, when he easily could have put his efforts into something much more productive after making a final break and dissociation from the corrupted Twin Peaks Sheriffs Department.  Mr. C also had this weakness, which is why he abandoned Richard to death in order to (ultimately)try and make friends with Truman et al, paying for his betrayal and getting himself killed(or turning into Dougie immersed in a world, loving cherry pie, etc.).  Richard, following Mr. C, also abused Chad and dismissed him, and was all too compliant when Mr. C disarmed and hit him.....while this triad together, following the truth they know(that twin peaks lacks what it needs(ex. 'She's Gone') and something needs to be properly done about this and fully recognized) all put too much weight on the approval of the authorities, and ended up getting pressured into betraying their path and their fellows in favor of attempted acceptance by those not interested in what they were looking for(Judy, destabilizing truth, etc.), and unwilling to recognize it, to the point of ruining all those that would threaten their long dead nostalgia and criminal corruption of the law, all in order to avoid self-criticism and blame, and maybe even keep the roadhouse and drugs going

To confirm this corruption of Twin Peaks elders: remember how the adulterer and unsatisfied(from Nadine and not having Norma) Big Ed responded to the prostitutes offer at one eyed jack in the original series while part of an illegal bookhouse boys mission? Much to Agent Cooper's astonishment(who was all too 'dreamy' about Twin Peaks and its people, paying for it by going mad himself in the end, and was also on the same mission astonished by Jacques talking about Laura), Big Ed seemed well versed in dealing with such a situation and responded vulgarly, showing that almost definitely had some experience with the Renaults and the roadhouse, who also pimped Laura; and this 'darkside' was part of the nostalgia and idyll that Truman and Twin Peaks were always protecting, and swept under the rug and refused to recognize themselves as part of, rather blaming always an 'outside evil'(or looking the 'other way' for what was necessary for the economy, the 'truck driver's needs' satisfied at the roadhouse as they are necessary for logging, Ben Horne's intrigue passing unnoticed as he seduced the town, Josie sleeping with the Sheriff, etc.)...Chad was always calling attention to their 'convenient ignorance' so had to be destroyed to protect their beautiful lie, a lie responsible for the wholesale murder of their youth and the corruption of the town....

Its also worth pointing out the similarity of roles/places between Chad and the log lady:  the log lady and Chad are both excluded and generally unwelcomed by the townsfolk who find them disruptive(log lady has to live isolated in the woods after the death of her husband and can only communicated with the humans in the town through her log, also the source of her insight that the town cannot see), and both log lady and Chad are possible sources of disruptive insight.  At the same time that Chad is making fun of the log lady, Andy explains to Chad that the log lady is excluded from the police station because of the type of gum she chews; and Chad responds to Andy by saying 'I'll chew on that!', after which he is immediately excluded from the meeting and the station himself; and I think this coincidence of two things happening at once should be taken literally, both log lady and Chad chewing the same gum and both excluded from the station.  The meeting goes on to culminates in Bobby being confronted with the repressed trauma of Laura, which was, in the words of Truman 'before Chad's time', indicating that Chad was interested in 'old twin peaks', but not allowed 'in'; this all 'brings back some memories' that Truman et al are hiding from Chad and themselves.  The 'style of gum' that both Chad and the log lady 'chew' are both not welcome in the Twin Peaks Sheriffs Station because of their disruptive effects. 

Furthermore, when the log lady puts her pitch gum on the diner and gets threatened by Norma with exclusion, she is observing James, Donna, and Maddie and looks extremely displeased with them, then acts out by vandalizing the diner.  Here the log lady is not satisfied with the town and their accepted children, who are on the wrong path which solved nothing and led to extra legal vigilante activity culminating in the death of Harold Smith, not to mention the scandal of James simultaneously seducing Donna and Maddie which ended with Donna crushed and James leaving town on an adventure of self indulgence after giving up on dealing with the Laura tragedy(I guess this is why Donna ended up leaving and never coming back), which resulted in more deaths as James intervened with a rich married woman...and James continues up through season three..... much like the town continues sleepwalking and hiding the decay of their town.  Needless to say, the truths that Chad and the log lady call attention to are not welcomed in Twin Peaks, since they disrupt their complacency and self satisfaction, threaten their dreams with a serious confrontation with the harsh truth of the situation, which would stop the illicit enjoyment and extra legal activity that James, Truman, bookhouse boys et al are involved with and show their complicity with the criminal side of the town, turning a blind eye to drugs, prostitution, corruption and money hoarding by the elites....forcing harsh measures and realizations which would upset the town greatly and lead to confrontations.  What the log lady sees is the 'fire' hidden beneath the dreams, the violence that has to function in order for the 'blessed' to pretend their dreams are 100% intact, while those 'innocents' give themselves the exclusive right to indulge in extra legal activity.

  When Chad yells at Andy from his cell he says 'you're no kind of cop, you're no kind of cop at all', indicating that some of the source of Chad's discontent was the failure of Twin Peaks Sheriffs Department to properly perform their duties because of their sleepwalking, that they are 'no kind of cops'.  What caused them to be 'no kind of cops'?  The log lady's husband was killed in a fire and she often mentions fire(tells laura a fire is starting that will never be able to be put out, and in season three says 'there is fire where you are going'). The log lady, after the death of her husband, is now in the position of seeing what is threatening the breakdown of the dreams(in her case the death of her husband), the 'fire that is coming' and has to be dealt with, and this also ties in with the idea of a 'fireman' who has to put out the fire.   Is this fire caused by their excessive dreams which blind them to the harsh real impact of failure and dealing with it?  When the log lady says 'there is fire where you are going', we see the breakdown of Bobby's(and Steven's) reality as he is cuckolded by Red after unleashing his wrath and stating his intention to oppress Steven while letting 'his own' off the hook, keeping his dreams intact....and the shattering impact of Red re-materializes in a shooting that shatters the idyll and Bobby is forced to confront the negative madness underlying his situation(the husband abused by the wife, much like Shelly mistreating him, and the resulting 'fire' of the gaze of the evil child who shoots through the diner; and then the zombie girl/Becky and the nervous mother/Shelly), the 'fire' burning underneath his idyllic dream that he is hiding from.  The log lady can see the fire and Chad can see the fire, which he is always pointing out to the Twin Peaks elders, and thus Chad was an invaluable and necessary part of professional law enforcement which they destroyed, someone who could have tempered their excessive dreams, showed the fire underneath them so that if they cared at all about their town, they would have to get down to the hard work and confront the failures.  So again Chad can say rightly, 'they are no kind of cops, no kind of cops at all'....