Posted on 02/01/2013 5:18:02 AM PST by xzins
The US Census Bureau, in "The Older Population" indicates that Baby Boomers are defined as follows:
6 The Baby Boom includes people born from mid-1946 to 1964. The Baby Boom is distinguished by a dramatic increase in birth rates following World War II, and is one of the largest generations in U.S. history. For more information, see: Hogan, Perez, and Bell, 2008, Who (Really) Are the First Baby Boomers? In Joint Statistical Meetings Proceedings, Social Statistics Section, Alexandria, VA: American Statistical Association, pp. 10091016.
You are now from about 50 to 67 years old, and you are the glad result of WWII and Korean Era parents celebrating an advancing America. You saw the origin of television, the advent of the space program, the determination of the cold war, the fear of nuclear holocaust, the change from slide rules to calculators, the dawn of the computer age, and the wonder of worldwide, at-your-fingertips communication.
You've also seen the nation spiral from a moral beacon of personal and political freedom to the chaos of dependency, distraction, and self-indulgence that defines our entitlement society.
What is your prescription for this America?
What will this nation look like in the year 2030?
Why are you a member/user of Free Republic? How does your being here advance your concerns for your nation?
Be a living example of freedom. Teach the young people the truth. Be patient. There will come a time when the ridiculous pretensions of liberal statism will seem as passe as the pieties of the Prohibition Era and just as destructive. Speak the truth and don't be afraid, and don't be disappointed or frustrated if no one seems to listen.
What will this nation look like in the year 2030?
Unknown. The current American ruling class is incapable of introspection and is going to suck the host dry and then blame the host. That lack of introspection and inability to admit mistakes means that their current collectivist, statist direction will not cease short of something catastrophic. That process takes a great deal of time in a system as immense as the economy and political culture of the United States.
I do see worldwide inflation on the horizon as a result of the money the current administration has injected into the system, and those countries least married to the U.S. dollar are likely to survive the best. We're going to have some serious issues in this country as they fall away. It may be that that sort of regionalism will take place in the United States as well; if it does, the federal government will either fall or be severely crippled. But by 2030? Unknown.
Why are you a member/user of Free Republic? How does your being here advance your concerns for your nation?
I am a member of Free Republic for the reasons outlined in item (1) above - as an American citizen I am not able to make people listen but I am obligated to speak the truth as I see it. That is not a luxury, it is a civic duty. Part of our current ideological difficulties are the result of the advent of mass communications empowering anyone with a microphone to promulgate uninformed opinion - we are taking political advice from actors and rock stars? Free Republic was and remains the cutting edge of the empowerment of those of us who do not enjoy access to mass communication on a professional basis. It is our own microphone. That is why it is so hated.
A single citizen is simply not in a position to turn this gigantic cultural monster in a more positive direction, however endlessly the idiotic mantra of "making a difference" is repeated. We cannot allow that to discourage us from speaking the truth and setting an example. That, an individual citizen can and must do.
Depending on how precise that middle of 1946 is defined I am either one of the first boomers or one of the last war babies.
Boomer bfl.
Born in ‘47. Guardedly optimistic. If America gets fixed, it will be from the ground up because those who broke it can’t be relied upon to fix it. It may take the watering of that certain tree to make it happen.
I have begun to understand that the “United States” and “America” are two different entities.
The “United States” is a political construct. It has become a pervasive, invasive and occupying force in the lives of “Americans.” The “United States” may well collapse. If so, that collapse will have been brought about by its own suffocating government policies.
“America” will always live on. It is a place of the heart and the mind. It is a land of liberty, sometimes geographical, always with a spiritual component. By other names, it exists in little pockets all around the world. Like dollops of mercury, it finds others like itself, and they meld together. It is currently constricting on the North American continent, but there will be a resurgence; what results may be known by a different name.
To the best of my knowledge, every branch of the “United States” government has an armed element. That is not because that government sees an external enemy. It is because it is alarmed by what it recognizes within its own citizenry. The constant drive to liberty and the burgeoning insistence on control will eventually collide.
Hello Xzins
There is only one of your questions I can answer: Why are you a member of FR?
FR saved what was left of my sanity from destruction.
The story is to personal and painful to share here, but rest assured without Jims project I think the internal conflict of belief in the true reality of the world and the left wing bombardment we are subjected too would have caused an eventual implosion of the cortex.
Twenty years of thinking that you must need psychiatric help is not good for the soul.
Three cheers for JR and FR!!
I'll 2nd your 3 Cheers!
Born in 62, big hair chic from the 80’s.....great job,music,Great President,life was “fun”.....Slept very well back then...It’ll never be like that again...ever.
We have gone from a time when we could do almost anything to a time when we can do almost nothing.
As a child I was responsible for my own safety and behavior. We spent our day outside playing, exercising, growing and learning from experience. We would spend all day at the park or school yard playing tag and tackle football or "work ups" baseball where we learned to compete or accept the fact that we couldn't. Life was good and life was cruel - there was no affirmative action. Disputes were settled the old fashioned way and it didn't take long to learn your place and earn your own acceptance or respect.
What is your prescription for this America?
My prescription for America would be to go back and learn from a system that was productive, fair and capable of producing great leaders and citizens. Send our children to church, hold them accountable for their behavior, reward achievement, not intentions and BRING BACK THE DRAFT! Unfortunately, I don't believe we will ever see times like that again.
What will this nation look like in the year 2030?Our This country is past the point of return now that more people vote for a living than work for a living. It is changing everyday and it's changing fast. If we were put into suspended animation today and brought back in 2030 I don't believe we would recognize the nation that will replace the America we once knew and loved. A look at network television or previews at the theater will tell you that our moral values have eroded to the point that respect for life, compassion for others and concern for the future are throw away lines at best.
As violence increases and unemployment lines grow longer, people will be easy targets for government manipulation and I fear that in larger numbers they will willingly give up their freedom for tokens of security such as welfare benefits, food stamps, subsidized housing and even free birth control pills to aid their slide into moral depravity.
Why are you a member/user of Free Republic? How does your being here advance your concerns for your nation?
I am a member here because it is where I scan the news every day and where I can reaffirm that there are others I feel comfortable with as neighbors and friends, even though it is only on line. My concerns for the demise of America are advanced here in part because the people using this site tend to be realists. We disagree on different issues, but we have the same mutual goal - one that I am afraid we will never realize.
:-) Love it!
Excellent post!
“And, if nothing else, there is no longer the constant fear of nuclear war and the gigantic menace of the Soviet Union.”
By 2030 it may be said in China that “if nothing else, there is no longer the constant fear of nuclear war and the gigantic menace of The United States .”
“Were not talking about an Amish-like withdrawal leaving the field to the secularists, but were instead talking about a fully engaged Christianity that is nonetheless autonomous, distinctive, and faithful.
Would the birth of such a culture lead to an actual war from opponents who would attack it?”
Only if such a culture actually intends to live free and unmolested from “the opponents.
Otherwise, no.
Xer Ping
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations 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.
Concur.
I thought they were dead.
Just an excuse to do nothing. If our founding fathers had thought this way, there would have been no constitution or declaration of independence.
God gives us skills and abilities to improve the world.
One of those abilities is being able to get rid of politicians.
God gives you the skill to get on your local republican committe and change things.
Remember the preacher story of a flood?
A preacher is standing on his porch with water coming up to the floor.
Some guys come by in a boat and offer to transport him to safety.
He says he is putting his faith in God to save him, to go help others.
A while later he is standing in a second floor window with water to the same level.
Another boat approaches and he is told to get in so he can be paddled to safety.
Again, he refuses and says to go on, God will protect him.
Later, he's sitting on his chimney, surrounded by water.
A helicopter swoops down and a sling is lowered to him.
He pushes it away, and maintains that God will protect him.
In a while, he's drenched, at the pearly gates.
The bedraggled preacher is complaining about being drowned after putting his full faith in God.
A voice booms from above...."I sent two boats and a helicopter, what more did you want?".
>>Lafroste, some people call your generation the lost generation that fell between the baby boomer hippies and the generation X yuppies.
Weren’t most yuppies liberal Boomers? I am an early Gen Xer and we were in middle or high school when the yuppies rose to prominence in the 80s. Most of my generation were kids of early Boomers or late Silents (like my parents).
Some people call late boomers “Generation Jones”. Lost generation is a term coined by Hemingway, often referring to people who came of age during WWI, born roughly 1880-1900.
>>um... actually the greatest generation refers to the generation before the baby boomers, the WW2 generation.
Um, actually it doesn’t. These are the general terms for generations and approximate years (they are slightly different depending on who you read).
Lost: 1880-1900
GG: 1900-1924
Silents: 1925-1945
Boomers:1946-1964
Gen X: 1965-1984
Gen Y/Millennials: 1985-2004
Um, actually it does refer to the generation that grew up in the Great Depresssion and fought in WWII, at least according to Tom Brockaw who coined the phrase.
Yes absolutely, but they were not the generation right before the Boomers. You can do some research on it, the Silents are the generation that was born during the Great Depression and WWII and fought in Korea and Vietnam (early). They immediately precede the Boomers.
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