Posted on 09/02/2003 6:17:04 AM PDT by tcostell
They had their childhood in the 50's and remembered it as a time of unambiguous innocence.
They had their adolescence in the 60's when they decided that their parents view of hard work and respect for family were "antiquated" ideas that no longer should apply in this age of social awareness. They preached free love while they spouted hate and burned the symbol of their country and called those who were risking their lives for them "baby killers". "Private property" became dirty words to them. Crime soared, many fathers were replaced by the government.
In the 70's they left college and got jobs, but the adolescence continued. They now had more money to buy stronger drugs, and indulge in more exotic means of gratification. Those that did marry gave up on the idea, and divorce rates climbed. They called it a journey to "find themselves" but they were already utterly devoted to their own egos. They even went so far as to name themselves the "me" generation. They replaced the minister with the psychologist, and the community with cultural awareness groups.
In the 80's the myth of socialism finally died, and with it also, their already threadbare pretense of caring about anyone but themselves. The ideas of family and community had been trampled under the feet of the proletariat. In the 80's it became about obtaining wealth, and the rules be damned. Excess was still the preferred flavor, but with age beginning to take it's toll it became external excesses rather than the sex and drugs of the last 2 decades. Conspicuous consumption was the new trend and exercise became the fashion in an attempt to hold back the tide of time.
In the 90's they elected their king, and filled the corridors of power with their number, but it turned out that the emperor's new robe was a stained blue dress. They told each other lies about the "new business cycle" and picked each others pockets. They put off till tomorrow everything they could so they could have one last moment of ego gratification. The band played as the new millennium rolled in. But then there came a day when everyone knew that the party was over. The markets stopped pretending everything would go on forever, and the World Trade Center came crashing down.
I'm a part of the generation that has followed along behind the baby boomers paying the bill. No one asked me if I wanted to, (in fact they still never ask me) they simply present the bill and await payment. I was bussed to public school as a child, turned down from ivy league colleges while my friends with worse performance were accepted in deference to affirmative action. I was taught to fear aids and other diseases when I was laid off in the 80's, and watched my savings and stock options turn to so much wallpaper in the 90's. Worst of all, I lost lifelong friends in the World Trade Center, and my wife still has nightmares about how close I came to being there myself. I've grown accustomed to the idea that although I've paid vast sums into social security, it won't be there for me. It was never "for me" anyway. And now that age is upon them they would like me to pay for their medical care as well. Even if it costs me everything I have. Even if it's long gone but still being paid for by my 3 year old daughter.
I know it will probably happen. The baby boomers are arguable the most short sighted and self interested generation that America has ever seen but they are in the majority so there is no-one to stop them. I'm even certain they will come up with some grand rationalization about why I should be thrilled to pay the bill for them one more time. But it won't really be for me... it never is.
In the meantime I'll care for my family with whatever is left. The schools have failed so my wife and I will teach our daughter ourselves in our own home if we have to. We'll make room for both my parents and my in-laws when they can't afford the property taxes needed to live alone anymore. We'll make our family the center of our universe because the family works better than all the government run pipe dreams that the die hards keep trying to sell. They can take everything I have but my self reliance.
We were landless peasants once, and may well be again before the "most spoiled generation" is through, but we'll survive it. And when they finally leave, we'll build the country again. Not as a collective "workers utopia", but as a place where no man is saddled with the burden of another, that he does not willingly take upon himself. Family is the best reason to shoulder a burden. Even community can be a good reason sometimes ...if the links are close enough. But it should be asked for not ordered. And the government can only order.
I don't ever need to be on the receiving end of government largess. I would just like to see the generation that precedes me to pay their own way for once. I'll carry my own water... and I think they should do the same.
I have always said my generation was the worse, but I don't mean that the entire generation is bad....its just that the few limosine liberal baby boomers control virtually everything from media to schools to the goverment and it just SEEMS like the entire generation is bad....
there is a huge dicotomy in my generation....
even while the Viet Nam war was going on, most people my age did not protest, did not burn flags or cars or bras or anything....most people like me were in school or working, just getting by....
people like myself and my friends had nothing to do with the leftist criminal element...we were too busy and too involved and evidently too poor to be out there protesting....
perhaps we are an antique in today's society, but we have been married for a long time, go to church, paid our taxes, and saved our money...
we are paying a heavy burden of taxation for the elderly and yet we still are spending the money for college, and even help a little with our grown son, so we get it from both ends...
MY parents were/are the best....but there are many selfish people from that generation when you think about it....
many never paid any social security taxes yet all of them are recieving much more than they ever put in, and now they want me to pay for all there drugs....geesh....
Oh, you're not? You mean I might be over-generalizing? Hmm...
When our parents settled down after WW2, everybody was the same economically and socially...
all our parents wanted for we kids was for us to have it easier than them...
thus, we all grew up seeking education and the "good" life, rather than leading a "good" life...
its like our parents dreams for us turning into nightmares.....
how my generation went from watching black and white reruns of "I Love Lucy" into what passes today for entertainment, I will never know....
I was born in 1963 so I'm actually a little old for GenX and a little young for boomer. My rant wasn't based upon my experience with my parents but on 40 years of watching American culture change around me. I'm not saying that my parents were exceptions either. Like most people, in some ways they are part of the solution, and in others they are part of the problem. But it wasn't really about them, it was about the intelligencia. It's about anyone who believes that Bill Clinton is the best of their generation. It's about the people who can't wait to spend my money on something they want. If those people were offended maybe they should look at themselves.
That doesn't describe any Freepers I know, but out of courtesy I apologized anyway because I know sometimes people can take things the wrong way.
Of course, sometimes they take them the right way too, so I'll leave it to you all to decide whether this applies to you or not.
Thanks for your patience.
No generation is exempt from an element of its population who pass negative things to its successors. Many of the bills that are becoming unwieldy due to demographic change did not originate in the Great Society nor even in the New Deal, but much earlier when it wasn't that bad a deal to pass a dollar's worth of benefit to a single individual on to two individuals who would have to pay a half a buck apiece to remunerate it. Now it's a buck to repay a half a buck's benefits - there are no longer a growing number of repayers. Clearly those longstanding policies are overdue for review. But they are not unique to any generation.
It should be remembered that much that is positive, including the tools to address that problem, is, in part, a product of the generations who are blamed for causing it: the Internet, for example, and advances in medical science that make retirement a more distant option for many even as it allows them to live longer to enjoy it. It is these factors that will determine how the system is to be fixed. Blame is irrelevant and counterproductive. All IMHO and subject to debate, of course.
I think things would probably be better for all of us if they were.
When you say suckling at the teat, you're a little unclear. Many of us Gen-X er's have really gotten kicked in the teeth because of the greed and selfishness of the baby boomers.
Because of the boomers (not all of you of course), we have severe unemployment (greed at the hands of the 45-65 yr old CEO's and their questionable accounting), more broken households than we can shake a stick at(because marriage to them was nothing more than a convenient business contract,and sacrifice and commitment to children is not even part of their vocabulary) a pathetic disgrace of a public school system ( because parents don't get involved and leave it to subpar "educators" to do their job, and waste millions of dollars on a Federally centralized,pork-filled, liberal-agenda driven social experiment), and an erosion of the traditional family (because both parents have to work in order to keep up the mortgage payments on the Mc Mansion.)
Trust me , I could go on and on. The only reason that some Gen Xer's are choosing to stay at home, is simply because there aren't any opportunities in the job market. If I had a home to go to, (I can't because my parents are divorced) I would in order to save cash and pay off debt. In conclusion, I think Gen Xer's are a lot more conservative than the baby boomers give us credit for.
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