Posted on 11/30/2013 9:05:46 PM PST by gorush
We are the generation that changed everything. Of all the eras and epochs of Americans, ours is the one that made the biggest impression—on ourselves. That's an important accomplishment, because we're the generation that created the self, made the firmament of the self, divided the light of the self from the darkness of the self, and said, "Let there be self." If you were born between 1946 and 1964, you may have noticed this yourself.
That's not to say we're a selfish generation. Selfish means "too concerned with the self," and we're not. Self isn't something we're just, you know, concerned with. We are self.
Before us, self was without form and void, like our parents in their dumpy clothes and vague ideas. Then we came along. Now the personal is the political. The personal is the socioeconomic. The personal is the religious and the secular, science and the arts. The personal is everything that creepeth upon the earth after his (and, let us hasten to add, her) kind. If the baby boom has done one thing, it's to beget a personal universe. (Our apologies for anyone who personally happens to be a jerk.)
Self is like fish, proverbially speaking. Give a man a fish and you've fed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and, if he turns into a dry-fly catch-and-release angling fanatic up to his liver in icy water wearing ridiculous waders and an absurd hat, pestering trout with 3-pound test line on a $1,000 graphite rod, and going on endlessly about Royal Coachman lures that he tied himself using muskrat fur and partridge feathers…well, at least his life partner is glad to have him out of the house.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Nail meet hammer.
Islam is playing to win. We are not.
P.J. Is a hoot. He writes with real elegance. He writes like Pat Conroy would write if Pat Conroy had a sense of humor.
“One may wonder if there is, perhaps, a sociobiological component among perceived “generations”, then.”
I have read excerpts of the book, and just asked my wife to order me one for Christmas, so I don’t know. Although I am guessing that a certain generation as a general trait, and the next generation goes against it as rebellion of sorts. And I imagine the normal business cycles (good times and bad times) play a part too.
Oh sure — this is the untold story. I know they “put in” to the system, but it’s a flash in the pan compared to what they’re taking out. It’s no wonder a lot of them vote democrat ...they want to protect their benefits.
They talk about the Greatest Generation, but I sometimes wonder if they aren’t the most all consuming generation, leaving the scraps to the rest of us while they require specialty care at every turn.
They say the average amount used in the last 10 days of life is 200K worth of care, usually in the ICU’s . ...then they die.
I mean, every life is worth it, and every life is precious ....but I personally would not wish to use up this much expense that I surely would not be responsible for and leave to society as I pass. But they do.
A lot of it is family members also who REFUSE to let go, REFUSE to allow anything but the highly quality care for their loved ones. I understand it, but it’s really expensive.
We don’t let anyone just go naturally anymore. They live until they’re 88, 89, 90 or older ...just on and on ...OR, they’re crazy sick at 64 years old, and in the ICU for 2 months worth of care.
I don’t know the answer. Technology has allowed us to have all of this ....but the costs are just astronomical for it all . ..and no one wants to pay.
I have no problem with the elderly getting good health care. But, as with my family members, they take advantage of the health care system. They have enough money to make an appointment with a doctor but they prefer to use ambulances as limos and the ER as their personal fiefdom. To complain about a $70 dollar bill after all this excellent care (when nothing was found to be wrong!) is astonishing to me.
That was my take as well. For those of us who asked WWGD? (What would Grandma/Grandpa do?) and used that as our moral compass, at least in concert with a Christian upbringing, he makes little sense.
That said, they posit that we run through four generations; some weak, some strong.
TFT was written in 1997. The timeframe for the the fourth turning Crisis Era would be approximately 2005-2025, which would be a severe economic crisis coupled with a severe geo-political crisis, similar to the first Great Depression and WW-II.
The millenials would be coming of age during that same general timeframe, 2005-2025.
Many liberals have glommed onto TFT as the Last Great Hope for instituting totalitarian control over the masses, i.e. the ultimate conquest of evil over worthless humanity.
Conservatives can read it, and see it as an opportunity for restoration of national sanity, individual freedom, and a rebuilding of the previously great America.
The authors left that much interpretation up to the readers, and they took great pains to not inject any personal political bias they might have held.
That said, 9-11 was too early to have been the main catalyst for the Fourth Turning (but it could have a minor catalyst), and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not the sort that would define a fourth turning Great War (i.e. sufficient to undeniably change the course of history, forever).
However, what this administration is deliberately doing to our economy and culture could absolutely lead to the sort of economic disaster that would fit that part of the fourth turning scenario (much, much worse than FDR did).
The geo-political disaster likely to come as a result of this ongoing economic disaster definitely would fit the TFT description of a Total War.
I highly recommend the book. I read it toward the end of 2003, when the real estate bubble and the predicted derivatives gambling disaster were being discussed here on FR (and only a very few other places), and those didn't fully explode until 2008.
The Fourth Turning does not provide a magic key to power and control, as the liberals wish it to be. It does provide a well-documented guide to observing generational trends in relation to political developments, and this combination could serve as a guide for those who wish to prepare themselves to be of maximum service to God and country as this Fourth Turning cluster-bungle progresses.
Forget there are two different baby boomers, those who produced the radical left and those who produced center-right folks. I am in the later.
There are really two groups of boomers, the ones who are center-right includess those towards the tail-end.
We are also devoid of personal responsibility, patience, respect for anyone other than ourselves, a positive work ethic, discernment...
“However, what this administration is deliberately doing to our economy and culture could absolutely lead to the sort of economic disaster that would fit that part of the fourth turning scenario (much, much worse than FDR did).”
Thanks for a great review of the book! I’m glad I asked my wife for it for Christmas. Your above sentence reminded me of a line from the TV show The Walking Dead last night. A guy in a tank is pointed at where the good guys are living, as one of the good guys is trying to negotiate with the bad guys. The guy in the tank says:
“What you have, is what we want. Period.”
Sounded very similar to the “The insurance you have you can keep. Period.”
I’m wondering if the writer was aware of that. But that idea is what Obama and the Liberals really think.
For an interesting read on FDR written by a conservative in 1938 see the link in my tagline. It outlines what FDR did, and what is happening all over again. One can even hear Obama’s phrasing in some of FDR’s old speeches.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.