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To: DustyMoment
Just for the record, my birth year (1956) was within the Baby Boomer range. My analysis is not solely based on the "theories" of Howe & Strauss, but their writings do confirm some of my observations over the years.

We boomers aren't/weren't selfish, you have to look at the whole period leading up to the baby boom through today. We tried to make things better in a world where we had no roadmap as a guide.

The nihilistic Boomers tried their best to destroy all the best "roadmaps" we had, such as the U.S. Constitution. "Trying to make things better" with repeated "disasterous results" is one of the main points of my article.

The social programs groomed by the Boomer radicals over the past decades have resulted in the destruction of urban American families and communities and cost the nation trillions dollars. When the Boomer Democrats made their record debut in Congress in 1974, they immediately started attacking the domestic oil industry and American manufacturing industries to the detriment of millions of families. The environmental movement has resulted in the destruction by fire of many millions of acres of western forest, some of which will never recover.

we also pushed the envelope with successes in science, exploration, the environment, education, engineering, health, etc., etc.

The technology for the computer revolution and all the "modern" household technology sprang from the space race of the 1960s and the Cold War of the 1970s and 1980s, both of which were led by the aging WW-II GI generation, and both of which were protested by the Boomer hippies and yuppies.

Thanks for the bump, anyway.

15 posted on 01/25/2004 1:58:20 PM PST by meadsjn
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To: meadsjn
Please, don't paint us all with the same warped brush. Ya wanna attack the hippies and flower children, have at it. But, bear in mind, while a lot of them were doing drugs, enjoying free love and protesting the war, others of us were fighting in a futile "police action" our pre-baby boomer government got us into.

You also don't know what it's like growing up with the prospect of atomic or nuclear war at any time. In all likelihood, you never had an atomic bomb drill in school or ever saw a Civil Defense Shelter sign. You may recall air raid drills that communities used to have, but even those are gone.

With respect to the Constitution, not all boomers took part in undermining it. Yes, the liberal fringe had their way with it and I agree that they did considerable damage to the nuclear family; but that doesn't mean that all or most boomers supported it or participated in it.

Rather than blame boomers in general (which you sort of have and sort of haven't - in all fairness, you have focused on the liberal boomers), why not attack the liberals in general without regard to the generational era?

Liberals, overall, have done a lot of damage to this country and if the Gen X-ers and Gen Y-ers are more conservative for it, hallelujah!! If it's true, there may be hope for this country yet, but I'm not willing to bet the farm on it. A lot of those more conservative Gen X- and Y-ers are also Dean supporters. that doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling about their more conservative stance that you have claimed.

As for education, how do you think we all got educated in classrooms that averaged 33 - 35 kids each? Today, the teachers are complaining that they can't handle classrooms with 28 kids and the parents are complaining that Johnny can't learn because the classrooms are overcrowded. Boomers didn't start the downturn in educational standards, those were started by the pre-boomer generation which came up with "new math" and "new English". It only got worse from there.

Finally, take another look at the pictures of the guys who engineered and pushed through the space race. When I clean the crap off of MY bifocals, they look a lot younger than the pre-baby boomer crowd you handed the credit to. Their managers MAY have been pre-boomers, certainly JFK who set the challaenge was a pre-boomer, but the guys who built the rockets and blasted off in fragile tin cans were baby boomers.

Yes, there are problems today; welcome to the real world. If you want paradise, strap a bomb to your chest and blow up a supermarket. In the real world, things aren't perfect, just as they are now. And, also in the real world, people have different ideas. When we can't discuss those ideas and, instead, spend our time accusing one another of causing the problems, what do you expect to happen? There was a time when we were the world's melting pot. We were comprised of different nationalities and different races, but we all came together to be part of the American dream. Then, one day, a pre-boomer came up with the politically correct idea of hyphenating Americans.

I might suggest that you take another listen to that song by Mike and the Mechanix about generations. it applies here.
22 posted on 01/25/2004 7:00:17 PM PST by DustyMoment (Repeal CFR NOW!!)
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