Posted on 03/12/2004 6:50:55 AM PST by qam1
We were born at the end of World War II to a generation that had just won a war against pure evil. We were their hope for a brighter future. The forbearers of a new era. An era of peace and prosperity. An era of fun. We had hula-hoops, silly putty, slinkies and slip 'n slides. We ate Spaghetti-o's, Alphabits, TV dinners and Spam. We watched Ed Sullivan, I Love Lucy, The Flintstones and American Bandstand. We witnessed the first manned space flight and prayed for Apollo 13. We saw a man step onto the moon and suffered through the tragedy of the space shuttle Challenger. We danced the jitterbug, the mashed potato and the twist and listened to Murray the K, Porky Chedwick, and Wolfman Jack. We brought you the Beatles, Motown, Bob Dylan, Sonny & Cher, Rock and Roll, R&B and Woodstock. We inspired movies like Grease, The Graduate, Animal House, and American Graffiti and TV shows like Happy Days, Laugh-In, The Wonder Years and Saturday Night Live. We were there when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and we saw the first black students walk into their federally desegregated college. We heard Martin Luther King say "I have a dream" and then we watched as he was gunned down. We witnessed the murders of JFK, Lee Harvey Oswald, Bobby Kennedy and John Lennon and the premature deaths of Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Elvis.
But, through all of this, what stood out most of all, what came into our living rooms night after night right along with Bonanza and The Wonderful World of Disney, was war. A war that was happening half way across the world complete with visions of napalmed children, self-immolating monks and huge helicopters flying over palm trees. We asked our parents what was going on but they didn't have very good answers. We asked our teachers the same question but never got very satisfactory replies. Then as we got older and started demanding to know what you were doing over there, you said, "None of your business. Shut up and register for the draft." It didn't take long before it was us you were sending over there and we were forced to take to the streets shouting, "Hell no, we won't go," and singing, "All we are saying is give peace a chance." We dropped out, grew our hair, dressed, danced, sang, played music, made love, got high and changed all the rules with only one thing in mind… to get your attention and show you that it's possible to end war and live in peace. And when we were done, it was over. We had won. Do you know who we are? We're Greasers, Hoods, Beatniks, Long Hairs, Freaks, Hippies and Yuppies.
Now there's a new war. Well, it's not really new. It's the same old song and dance, really. The same old lies and fabrications. Just history repeating itself thanks to those who, if they ever did learn it, seem to have forgotten. So once again, millions of us all over the world tried to tell you, "Hell no, we won't go," and "Please, please give peace a chance." But you didn't listen. You invaded a country. You destroyed homes, cities, schools, power plants, palaces, museums and hospitals. You killed thousands and thousands of innocent people and hundreds of good kids who were willing to give their lives for their country. And this time, when we asked you why, you told us it was to give them something you call "freedom". But, you see, we don't think the kind of freedom you're talking about is actually real freedom at all. In fact, we don't think the people in that country are feeling anything that even remotely resembles freedom right now. We think they're feeling devastated. We think they're feeling fear and horror. We think they're wondering where their children are and where they're going to sleep tonight and how they're going to get food and water and shelter from the sweltering desert sun. And we're almost positive that if they did this to us, you wouldn't call it freedom. You'd call it terrorism. Oh, and one other thing. A long time ago there were these smart men who, unlike you, cared about our country and its future. And they predicted that people like you would come along and try to use something called a "military-industrial complex" to acquire even more money than you already had. We don't know exactly what that is but it sounds a lot like what you're doing when you give huge, expensive contracts to your friends to re-build things that you actually destroyed.
So here's the thing. We're tired of being lied to over and over, day after day, while the rest of the world looks on in pity and disgust and we'd just like you to know a few things. We think your war stinks. It stinks of lies and greed and murder and stupidity. There's no honor, no truth, no accountability, no remorse. In college we learned that people like you are called sociopaths but we think you're just plain evil. So we just wanted to give you a heads up and let you know…we're baaaaack. That's right. Remember us? The Hippies and the Freaks? Well, we're the Baby Boomers now. And, guess what? We're all grown up and we have money…and not only that, one of us is going to be the next president. So fasten your seat belts kids. It's gonna be a bumpy ride. And any day now you're going to figure out that things aren't as hunky-dory as you thought they were because, as much as you tried to pull the wool over everybody's eyes and get rich quick off your dirty little war, it just ain't gonna happen. Why? Because, plain and simple, you're messing with the wrong generation.
Ms. Burgwin’s writing has appeared in Newsweek, Time, New York Magazine, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Tribune Review as well as several online Op Ed sites. She is also involved in gay rights, women’s issues and the environment. She lives in Pittsburgh with her family
"Meanwhile, George Pataki is running strong. Speaking without notes he delivered thunderous approval of his record, stressing such music for the ear of his audience as
Obviously this is a very old article,
hugely reduced welfare rolls, reduction in crime,
Well that is just like the Clintons who claimed the same thing, Taking credit for something he had nothing to do with.
95% of al crime in the state is in NYC so crime reduction was all Rudy.
Welfare rolls dropped throughout the country in the 1990's and New York was only 41st in % of welfare recipients dropped. Pataki has never personally cut welfare rolls in fact he has just added more and more programs or shifted them to other programs (Like these) and claimed a reduction in rolls.
and a forthcoming billion-dollar tax reduction."
Forth coming!!! Yeah right, Besides the marshmellows Pataki has raised taxes on everything!!
So I guess you're position would be that Buckley is lying and that Hillary would do those same things!
No he is reporting on what Pataki said not what he has done,
I would like to see a link to this article you quote, You seem to have a way of taking things out of context.
Buckely is NO fan of Pataki.
Quote
".....At least that summarizes the first minute or so of Buckley's remarks. After that, Buckley dropped the historiography in favor of an extended needling of the party's likely nominee for governor--incumbent George Pataki--next to whom he'd been seated for most of the evening. On and on Buckley droned, reaching back to Pataki's refusal, while an undergrad at Yale, to endorse a Buckley-sponsored resolution against civil rights at the university's political union, fast-forwarding to the governor's promiscuous spending habits, and culminating with National Review's recent observation that "the only abortion law George Pataki would ever oppose was one that threatened the rights of gays and lesbians."
The vast majority of when the Baby boomers ended and the Xers begin I've seen is 1965 (Lot of variation on when Xers end and Ys begin from 1975 to 1982). I am guessing 1965 was chosen because it would have been the first year the first (adult)baby boomers would have had children.
How can both my mother (born 1944) and myself (born 1961) be part of the same generation, hmmmm?
The Baby Boom started in 1946 so your mother is actually part of the Silent Generation
Those late Boomers you are refering to as Gen-Xers are often refered to as Generation Jones
They try to save the world but they just smoke pot and smell bad.
Yep. Can't save the world throwing up the white flag of surrender while protesting wars and smokin' dope. Today's hippies are yesterday's hippies. Much of what goes on in the world is beyond the concept of the average long haired, maggot infested, tie-dyed, dope smokin' hippie.
Interesting read, Obviously being a super Liberal site they are skewing the Ys toward them but many college kids are naturally Liberal so I think they making too much of it. Actually from what I've seen the college kids today are less Liberal than those in the past
For example
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/974782/posts
I can't find the link but I also remember seeing somewhere that College kids support Bush in higher % than the rest of the population.
You might find the analysis interesting, Though remember it is from a very liberal site
It is a generation that has thus far shown itself to be disdainful of politics, cynical about political parties and more likely than any other age group to support third-party candidates. At the same time, these young people are engaged in the life of the community and expect to improve it. To write them off politically is to risk someone else mobilizing a sleeping giant.
I've written before that our best hope for the future lies in the younger generations asserting their political power, ASAP.
The Boomers (my generation, shamefully), and the older Silents, of both parties cannot remove themselves from their self-centeredness and class/group identities enough to save our republic.
The Left and the Right definitely have prospects for the Gen-Y folks, but it is just a little premature for either to count their chickens. If they appear somewhat liberal in high-school and college, the same could have been said just about every generation at those ages. I'm hoping, as Greenberg fears, that the Gen-Y and Gen-X voters turn the country away from both of the boomer-elite parties, and start their own.
The oldest Gen-Y (b. 1984) just started work/college/voting in 2002. It will take most of them a few more years to notice that 1/3 of their paycheck never reaches them, and maybe longer until they realize that over half their income goes to pay taxes of some sort when all the hidden taxes, licenses, fees, etc. are taken into account.
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