Posted on 06/07/2004 1:31:59 PM PDT by Cinnamon Girl
We’re Not Gen-X, We’re Gen-Reagan
This is for everyone who was raised to believe that our young lives would soon end in a nuclear war, of mutually assured destruction, quivering under our school desks with President Reagan to thank for making the pink and gray tile on our classroom floors the last thing we would ever see.
This is for those of us raised in the post-graduate, post-doctorate suburbs where Volkswagens and Volvos taught us that we “can’t hug our children with nuclear arms” and that “war is not healthy for children and other living things.”
This is for the generation that grew up watching “Welcome Back, Kotter,” “Laverne & Shirley,” “Cosby Show” and hundreds of bad impressions of President Reagan as a shellac haired cowboy buffoon who didn’t have a thought in his head, followed by impressions of Dan Quayle as a simple minded bad speller who attacked the beloved “Murphy Brown” for having a baby and no husband, followed (in our adulthood) by monkey-like caricatures of the ignorant and stupid cowboy-war-monger President Bush.
We know who we are. We accept the moniker “Generation X” and we don’t even know what the heck that means. It might have something to do with being jaded and feeling crappy about dolphins in canned tuna, and about the tragic death of Kurt Cobane. It probably refers to a specific group of people who saw every John Hughes “teen” movie and point to “The Breakfast Club” as a virtual documentary. It has never signified the Generation that grew up feeling good about America because of President Ronald Reagan.
Our generation went from an early childhood of Jimmy Carter, a droopy peanut farmer with big teeth and a hostage crisis, to a happy, energetic, powerful and confident Republican president who suddenly made politics interesting.
I remember watching a Carter/Reagan debate by myself one night when my mom was out. There was no doubt in my mind that Ronald Reagan would be president. He was irresistible, and he made America sound like an exciting, attractive place.
I remember collapsing on the couch in the family room, feeling as if I’d been punched in the stomach, the day President Reagan was shot. It was in middle school. There was no discussion of the event by teachers or even the principal. My happiness that he would survive was a quiet and personal event.
While family friends and neighbors continued to wring their hands, and angrily mock what they called “Reagan’s Star Wars fantasy,” I remember him saying “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” He just seemed really gutsy. And my neighbors, who said “Visualize World Peace,” and meant it, seemed passé. Action, not words. That was hot.
In high school, I remember a school assembly before Reagan’s re-election. Nobody in our debate team wanted to be on the pro-Mondale side. Reagan’s second big win was a done deal and everyone knew it. Even before we could convincingly articulate our reasons for supporting President Reagan, and long before we could vote for him, we knew he was great, and that he was helping us.
In college, I waited in a long line of other students at USC to vote for President Reagan’s then Vice President, G.H.W. Bush. When I finally got to a voting booth, inside the small house of a Mexican-American family, I noticed on their mantle, a big framed photograph of President Reagan. That’s right. That is right.
When his second term was over, President Reagan came to speak at USC. Somehow, I managed to get a seat in the fully packed auditorium to see President Reagan in person. The standing ovation, when he took the stage, was 11 minutes long. And he was dazzling, of course. We were all riding the high for a long while afterward.
The first time I went to the Reagan Library, I was most impressed by the big chunk of graffitied Berlin Wall sitting outside, above the valley. I knew what that was about. That was a part of my growing up memories.
Tonight, I plan to go again to the Reagan Library, to pay my respects to the man who had a greater influence on my generation than any other person the media or the pundits bring to mind.
Thank you, President Reagan. G-d Bless you. And G-d Bless America.
Great post!
I was in the third grade during 1980 and I remember walking to school with three of my friends. We were talking about who we would all vote for and all of us said Reagan. I am really not sure who my parents liked. I just remember that I CHOSE Reagan.
Generation Reagan has a good ring to it!
As far as the vandalism, put the sticker on your car. If your car gets vandalized, call Hannity. He'll pay for it.
Well?
I loved Laverne & Shirley. Even IF their writers stole from I Love Lucy ;)
And of course, Welcome Back Kotter.
And, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. And Led Zeppelin.
And the Sex Pistols.
BTTT
Its a little hat-tip picked up from Jewish writers, who believe that it is DISRESPECTFUL to write the name of God in full. It is meant as a sign of respect
>>I'm seriously thinking about putting my Bush/Cheney '04 bumper sticker on my car. Who's in?<<
Mine's been on for a month!
This is a great essay, my FRiend! We from the "On the Beach" generation (who will not admit to being a late baby-boomer {I swear I heard Gen-Xers start with JFK in 1961} because we are not like "THEM") fully understand what you are talking about.
I was blessed to have parents who were 1st generation American, a dad who knew that hard work got you the American Dream and a mother who was in love with RR as a young girl. He was much loved in our home.
If I do that, I'll get my windows broken on my car.
Get some flexible magnetic rubber sheeting: 
Some people worry about damaging their paint. I worried about having pro-gun bumper stickers on a car when I had parked it somewhere with a gun in it.
The stuff makes it easy enough to take the bumper stickers off when you park someplace where you might be at risk of vandalism.
I remember that so well too. It happened on my 20th birthday. What an awful, awful day that was. I remember hearing on the news that there was cheering going on in the halls at Cal State Northridge.
That was great piece you wrote. Good work.
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social aspects that directly effects 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.
I've thought of that.
Sadly, I drive a Saturn and it's made of plastic ( mostly)
thanks anyway!
Hi Lady!
You need a bumper sticker from PatriotWarriors. They are pretty deep and the libs won't understand it.
I was coming back into MI in Toledo and while I waited at the toll booth a van pulled up next to me with a "No Blood for Oil" sticker. The driver and all the people inside were glum. As we inched forward, I know he saw my "W04" sticker. As he pulled next to us again, the girls and I flashed him a giant smile.
Conservatives are the happy ones.
President Bush is the right President for the right time.
"Gen-Reagan" is a good title...I hope you listened to "Rush" today. If not, then great minds think alike.
EAGLES UP FOR REAGAN!
I was 12 when Reagan left office, he'll forever be my mind's model of what a President SHOULD be, something no successor will ever quite live up to, and that some will likely fall quite short of.
After Reagan, there was no shame in being a right-winger for young people.
So many early and profound memories are because of him.
The Challenger speech. Watching Germans tear part the Berlin. The dissolution of the Soviet Union.
That was our guy who did that!
And he left a LOT of us with the realization that politics is important and we can't leave it to others, WE have to be the ones who step up for what is right and advance the cause of freedom, as Republicans and Americans.
I'm seriously thinking about putting my Bush/Cheney '04 bumper sticker on my car. Who's in?
Alas, still, no. ;-)
Hey!
We closed on the new place today!
I've seen that site.... they're way cool.
I'll give the thing some thought.
I am way to young to remember the carter debates - (I was 2) and I am actually still to young to remember or care about the Mondale ones, however i do remember Reagan being a cultural icon more so than any other president in my lifetime.
You're a Tweener.
How soon do you move?
Thanks for the link. I just ordered a "I am the VWRC" t-shirt and 2 "This vet supports Bush" stickers, one for me and one for my friend.
I was born in California when Reagan was Governor and I was in Jr. High when he was elected President.
I don't live in California anymore, but I sure do miss it. To take part of a quote that Reagan once used... "I didn't leave California. It left me."
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