The Greediest Generation
Posted By Ben Shapiro On April 14, 2011 @ 12:06 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 4 Comments
Liberals of the Baby Boomer generation are fond of calling conservatives hypocrites. If a conservative sets a moral line with regard to sexual behavior, then falls short, Baby Boomer liberals point and shout and laugh with glee. If a conservative stands up against government spending, then has a home loan backed by Fannie Mae, Baby Boomer liberals suggest that the nefarious conservative doesn’t mean what he says. If a conservative says that marriage should be reserved for a man and a woman, then gets divorced, Baby Boomer liberals shout that the conservative no longer has the right to argue for traditional matrimony.
When it comes to hypocrisy, however, it is Baby Boomer liberals who take the cake.
When they were young, Baby Boomers vocally advocated rebellion against their elders. “There was a reason why there was an antiauthoritarian bent to our generation,” explained television writer and actor Rob Reiner in The Boomer Century. “We always heard that expression, ‘Never trust anyone over thirty.’ The reason for that is the people over thirty were running the show, and they were lying to us.” Dr. Ken Dychtwald, another Boomer, expressed the viewpoint more succinctly: “Raised to think for ourselves, to question everything, we began to challenge all rules and conventions.”
The Boomers blamed the Vietnam War for their rebellion against authority, but the truth is that it had nothing to do with Vietnam. The Boomers rebelled against authority because their elders allowed them to. Every generation rebels against its parents; the Greatest Generation was widely derided by its parents as the least moral, most sexually loose, most frivolous generation in history. Throughout human history, there has been a tendency for each generation to see its children as unworthy. The difference between the Boomers and the Greatest Generation is that the Greatest Generation’s parents told them to sit down and shut up, while the Greatest Generation allowed the Boomers to do whatever they wanted.
Brought up on the self-esteem mantras preached by Dr. Benjamin Spock, an avowed socialist, the Baby Boomers took full advantage of the laxity of their parents. They slept around, in the process promulgating both STDs and single motherhood; they derided capitalism and promoted redistributionism; they undermined the American military and celebrated America’s defeat in Vietnam; they pushed for abortion, homosexual marriage, and racial radicalization. And they did all of this while living off Mommy and Daddy.
As they grew older, the Baby Boomers refused to age. They got married later and had less children. They got divorced more often. They pursued riskier activities and riskier financial strategies. They bought plastic surgeries they could not afford and made Botox a household word. They refused to plan for the future.
Ironically enough, the Baby Boomers’ focus on their endless youth cut short the youths of their own children. In order for children to truly experience childhood, there must be a parent in the room to ensure safety, security, and happiness. When parents are absent, children must grow up fast – and the Baby Boomers were too busy playing “friends” with their children to be adults.
By the same token, the Baby Boomers’ ideologically liberal fixation on their own youth led them to the odd conclusion that adolescents were capable of making life-changing decisions on their own. According to the Baby Boomers, young people were the way and the truth; their opinions had to be taken seriously and their choices respected. Without the backbone to guide their children, they forced their children to become adults.
Worst of all, they continued to ditch their elders. The growth of the assisted living industry is largely due to the Baby Boomers’ desire to “do something” with Mom and Pop – after all, having an elderly person around can sure crimp the Club Med lifestyle.
The Baby Boomers still have not matured. Dychtwald recently lamented the failure of his generation to assume its proper role as the wise elders in a column for the Baby Boomer-dominated Huffington Post:
Those of us who came of age believing that you shouldn’t trust anyone over 30 need to seriously–and swiftly–reevaluate our stance toward the positive dimensions of the aging process and rethink our place in society. That “won’t grow up” attitude is getting old now, too. Our kids, and their kids, need us to step into our roles as society’s adults, and assume our gravitas to help the world get through this fix.
Of course, the chances of that happening are slim and none. The Baby Boomers are cradle-to-grave hypocrites: they expected their parents to cut them checks even as they mocked their elders, and now they expect their children to cut them checks, even though they are the elders. The same people who suggested that anybody over 30 was not to be trusted believe not only that those under 50 should trust them, but that they have the obligation to care for them. While religious people have been perfectly consistent for millennia about respect for their elders – see Leviticus 19:32, which suggests rising for the gray-haired – the secular Baby Boomers kicked the canes of the gray-haired, but now expect us to buy them their Hair Club for Men products.
It is the Baby Boomers who have bankrupted the country. Voting consistently for higher spending, they now complain when the country goes bankrupt and we must discuss the inevitability of cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. If the Baby Boomers’ parents lied to them about Vietnam, the Baby Boomers lied to us about Big Government – and just like their parents, they expect us to foot the bill.
Some commentators have stated that Boomers suffer from the “Peter Pan phenomenon” – refusal to grow up. That is certainly true. But we should remember the warning of the original Peter Pan: when perennial children encounter those who choose to become adults, they gnash their teeth in rage. Hence the Boomers’ anger at the Tea Party; hence their rage at deficit-cutters. Unfortunately, there comes a time when we have to grow up as a country, regardless of whether one generation hopes to continue living in Neverland.
Ben Shapiro is a writer and attorney and a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center.
If I were to state that I was going to try to get in shape by running a mile every day; merely failing to run that mile on one single day would be considered "hypocrisy" by a Leftist.
Worse, from the Leftist point of view, would be if I suggested that they (or everyone) should also run a mile every day. If I then failed to run that mile on any given day, I would become the epitome of "hypocrisy" to a leftist.
How can one explain reason, logic, or morality to someone who neither speaks nor understands the language you use?
Here we go again, as tiresome as ever bump.....
Assuming the role of wise elders kind of requires wisdom.
I’ve always said the best thing to happen to America will be when my baby boomer generation passes away.
Shapiro is so full of crap it’s impossible to see a starting point. Let me start with some of the more blatant lies.
“The Boomers blamed the Vietnam War for their rebellion against authority, but the truth is that it had nothing to do with Vietnam.”
Actually, the draft, plus the silly way the war was fought, were major contributors to the “rebellion”. 50,000 Americans DIED for no discernable purpose. We fought to lose. While there’s no doubt that was taken over by leftists, the crowd was not leftist, but more libertarian.
“Brought up on the self-esteem mantras preached by Dr. Benjamin Spock, an avowed socialist, the Baby Boomers took full advantage of the laxity of their parents.”
Shapiro obviously knows very few parents of Baby Boomers. I can’t remember any who were “lax” in disciplining their kids. Probably there were some, but they were a tiny minority.
“...they pushed for abortion, homosexual marriage, and racial radicalization. And they did all of this while living off Mommy and Daddy.”
Homosexual “marriage” wasn’t even discussed in the sixties and early seventies by anybody I knew. Homosexual relationships were the subject of ridicule, not societal recognition. “Racial radicalization” ? Was treating others by the content of their character “radical” ? Apparently so to Shapiro. “Living off Mommy and Daddy” ? All the boomers I knew worked - consistently. All established their own homes and lives, not subsidized, but earned.
“It is the Baby Boomers who have bankrupted the country. Voting consistently for higher spending, they now complain when the country goes bankrupt and we must discuss the inevitability of cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.”
A steaming pile of bullshit. Elected officials from “The Greatest Generation” were the ones who passed the ridiculous laws and programs we are faced with today. FDR wasn’t a boomer. Neither was LBJ.
“Hence the Boomers’ anger at the Tea Party; hence their rage at deficit-cutters.”
The Tea Party is largely composed of “boomer” aged people who want to cut our ridiculous deficits. I guess they’re angry at themselves, and hate themselves. I sure see that at Tea Party rallies.
In short, this drivel is nothing more than a piece of generational hate mail. Shapiro, why don’t you pop your head out and look at what YOUR generation has done. “Baby mamas” aren’t boomers. Rap “music” isn’t boomers. Instead of stupidly classifying people by age, try looking at individuals and their contributions. I know it’d be tough to fit in your tiny little mind, but there is good and evil in every generation. Like the one that voted for FDR and LBJ.
The Greatest Generation consistently voted in Liberal pols for election after election. The Republican Party was not even competitive during their time. Conservatism was a cry in the wilderness during the hey day of the Greatest Generation. When the Boomers reached their 30’s, Ronald Reagan was elected. This would of been impossible during the 1950’s, a time of liberal total dominance. Granted on social issues the prior generations were more conservative, but on fiscal issues, the Greatest Generation was as far left as you could get.