Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social aspects that directly effects Gen-Reagan/Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
Fascinating. It's obvious from people I know that not all Boomers are Boomers. I'm sure a lot of Freepers belong to the Boomer generation but don't identify with Woodstock. I'd be interested to see further analysis of this thesis.
Interesting. Usually 1946 to 1964 are all lumped together. This seems to make more sense, to the extent we're going to examine by age.
One thing the GOP needs to keep in mind: these voters are not neccesarily "cultural conservatives". 1980s popular culture was anything but. Indeed, one of the secrets to Reagan's success with young voters is the fact that he basically left the culture alone.
-Eric
They also may be less divisive and less harsh in their rhetoric, having not had to deal with the major conflicts of the Civil Rights and Vietnam eras.
I am less divisive BECAUSE I remember the Vietnam era, and all those stupid hippy freaks...
For the uninitiated, Generation Jones is the large, heretofore lost, generation between the baby boomers and Generation X. Born in the years 1954 to 1965, Jonesers are not a small cusp generation that slipped through the cracks but rather the largest generation in American history, constituting 26 percent of all U.S. adults today. Mistakenly, they were originally lumped in with boomers for one reason only: their parents and boomers' parents happened to have a lot of kids.But generational personalities come from shared formative experiences, not head counts. This original flawed definition of the baby-boom generation has become widely discredited among experts, which is partly what's given rise to the emergence of Generation Jones, a cohort with significantly different attitudes and values than those held by its surrounding generations.
Sorry but they are boomers. We (Gen-Reagan) are the Baby Bust generation (lower birth numbers).
Associate with whoever y'all wish and distance yourself from some of the "baby boom" but it is all a part of the same block that forever changed society's mores and social institutions.
A generation is typically ~20-25 years so 1946-1964 IS a generation. Deal with it.
Well wudda ya know! I'm not a late boomer after all. I'm a Joneser!!
Never heard that term before, but I get the sense of it. I was born in late 53, and was really on the trailing edge of the boomers. (I was only 13 in the 67 "Summer of Love") My perspective of my so-called "generation" was not typical of most boomers. I was too young to join the Grateful Dead, but ended up too old for the Dead Kenedy's.
Very interesting article. My wife and I are both Bush voters and what the authors call, "Jonesers."
Mistakenly, they were originally lumped in with boomers for one reason only: their parents and boomers' parents happened to have a lot of kids.
While that may be true, I have to admit I'm somewhat more of a boomer than is my wife, for the simple reason that both of my parents grew up during the Great Depression and turned 20 near the end of WWII. Obviously, those two periods shaped not only the people who lived through them, but also their children (e.g. me). My wife's parents being 14 years younger than mine, they have no recollection of the Depression and were too young to 'appreciate' WWII.
At any rate, the authors might be onto something with this "jonesin" thing.
Finally! My friends and I have known for YEARS that we are not Boomers. We have different music, movies, new events and values.
We are more traditional, less gullible (in terms of talking heads and "experts"), more stable, less trendy, more optimistic, less fearful and we're a lot more okay being outside the crowd.
We could have a better name, though.
bumping for later. I guess I'm one of these people, but hubby's still a boomer.
I always had my doubts about being a true boomer, primarily because I don't remember "howdy doody"!
I think it is ridiculous to associate boomers with their cultural values.
Boomers are simply people born between 46 and 64 when birth rates went to unprecedented levels. Period.
If you look at the birth rates they distinctively explode in 46 and continue on through 64.
To assign personality traits or voting habits means nothing. A boomer is a boomer if born between 46 and 64.
Never heard the term(except keeping up with) applied to my two kids ('62 and '65). Soon Kerry and Zogby will use this excuse.
Born in late '53, I guess I qualify. People in our age group reached college well after the 60's "revolution" and the grad assistants and younger professors castigated us for being so "apathetic". We probably are more conservative than the "cadre" who are now in their late fifties to early sixties and are therefore one of history's antidotes to people like Al Gore and John Kerry.
The first president I voted for was Ronald Reagan. John F. Kennedy was dead before I was born.
Vietnam was not a war I protested, but a war my father fought in.
I have no strong memories of Watergate, but came of age in the Carter malaise.
Woodstock is either Snoopy's friend or a movie.
In sum, all the boomer touchstones mean little to me.
herewegoagain
Interesting. It always annoyed me, getting lumped in the the Boomers, but never felt I was an Xer, either. Apparently I'm not the only one, and people "get" that, now.