I hope this new generation is different than us Boomers

[edhopper]

Last edited Sun Nov 10, 2019, 11:12 AM - Edit history (1)

Many of us "Dirty Hippies" wanted to change the world. We believed in peace and giving rights to everyone. We wanted to protect the environment and help the poor. But for every one of us Flower Children there was a young member of the "Silent Majority" that grew up to be just as greedy, callous and bigoted as their parents. We got some things done, but not enough. Without our generation, Reagan or Bush or Trump would not have been elected.

I see the young people today motivated by the shitty world we are giving them, I hope more of them work for change than we did.

Go in peace Millennials and Gen Z. And for the love of God, VOTE!!

Some here say I am wrong in saying it is the Boomers who elected Trump. I am adding this chart to show that the majority of Boomers voted for Trump, and they made his election possible by the numbers they voted in. Nowhere am I condemning all Boomers, but it still vexes me that so many have gone this way.

[Hoyt]

1. The young morons I just saw praising trump before the football game, concern me.

[edhopper]

2. As it should

all of us.

[Mr.Bill]

15. Sheltered rich kids

from republican families, most likely.

[YOHABLO]

36. Well it is the LSU /Alabamy football game.

[Mariana]

77. The young morons were taught by the old morons

of which there is no shortage in Alabama.

[Act_of_Reparation]

84. Ok boomer.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. Please, climb down from that cross

We can use the wood.

[edhopper]

4. What part do you

disagree with?

I don't understand why you think I am putting myself on a cross?

[Cirque du So-What]

5. You cannot atone for the sins of others

I'm part of that generation, but none of that Reagan/Bush shit applies either to me or to millions of others from my generation who didn't vote for either of those fuckers. One cannot pigeonhole a group of 76 M people so easily.

If you wanna know the truth, I believe you post far too much shit-stirring stuff designed to create discord along generational lines.

[edhopper]

8. Sorry you feel that way

I wasn't trying to place blame on all of us. Just acknowledging that we didn't change the world the way we wanted. That many of our generation were just as bad as the people we protested.

I think those of us here did our part, but there just wasn't enough of us to make a big difference. And now, the Boomers are largely in that older Fox News crowd. It is a shame.

I was more stating my hope that more of the younger generation fall on the side of progress.

[Cirque du So-What]

11. I believe history will show

that some in the current generation break left and some break right. We can hope for the best, but it's not gonna turn out as a monolithic bloc either way.

[edhopper]

20. No it won't

we can already see that at Trump rallies.

But let's hope for 60/40.

[brush]

44. Bingo. That happens with all generations. All have different factions.

[SammyWinstonJack]

58. Boomer bashing post, always a good time here on the DU.

Boomer here who has never vote repug.

[treestar]

80. Talking about the generation as a group

of course it is acknowledged that DUers are not the majority of that generation, as it has turned out.

In the 60s and 70s, the press gave us the idea that the whole generation was protesting. But it only lasted for a majority as long as they could be affected by the draft. When that was all over, most went back to conformity. At least, that's the idea. No one is saying we have to take it personally, especially on DU.

[KPN]

6. The thought has often crossed my mind: how did we, the Vietnam War era generation, elect the

frigging moron currently occupying the WH? How did the Vietnam War era generation let income inequality reach the current obnoxious levels? Some real irony there.

[edhopper]

9. Yes

this vexes me as well.

[TNNurse]

16. Well, I am of that generation,

and you should not generalize and say "we". I have NEVER voted for a Republican for President and I never will.

[KPN]

22. Fifty years ago, I never would have imagined that so many

of us did and have. Is that better?

[Mr.Bill]

17. Because like every generation,

some of us ere idiots.

[KPN]

23. Apparently so.

[Skittles]

21. Reagan made ignorance and greed fashionable

he paved the way

[KPN]

26. And Goldwater and Nixon paved his way.

[treestar]

79. Yes. In the 80s, the term "yuppies" came along.

the Deadhead sticker on the Cadillac. Which may not be literally true, as the ex-hippies may not have turned into the yuppie careerists, but the latter were more common after all, even in the boomer generation.

[loyalsister]

87. Ann Coulter is a huge Grateful Dead fan

And, I'm sure she's not the only one. So, Don Henley's observation was indeed based in reality.

[hvn_nbr_2]

32. I have a theory. I wonder what anyone thinks?

I've suspected for a long time that many of the people of my generation (boomers) who would have been the best political leaders chose to eschew politics, at least as a career, because the clear evidence at the time (Kennedy, King, Kennedy, Malcolm X, ...) was that anybody who might make a real difference for the better in this country would just be murdered. That's why the best of our generation who chose politics were Clinton and Bush the Lesser. I know that this was a consideration for me when I chose not to pursue a political career.

[LuvNewcastle]

76. I think you're right.

Those assassinations in the sixties had a psychological effect on the Boomer generation. Those assassinations sent the message that you're never going to really change things in this country and if you try to do it, we'll kill you.

[Codeine]

38. Because your numbers are vast.

There’s just millions upon millions of you guys, so even a sizable minority of Boomers breaking left represents a huge bloc of votes. Add that to the real old folks and the random yahoos across the generational spectrum and there you go.

[Skidmore]

7. Oh, please.

Last edited Sat Nov 9, 2019, 05:44 PM - Edit history (1)

I categorically refuse to lay down and be walked over after living a thrifty and decent life in pursuit of values with others in mind. I may not have been a hippy but I wasn't part of the Moral Majority either.

We "boomers" did change the world as much as it changed us. Not everyone is a filthy wealthy capitalist. We fought for civil rights, women's rights, and gay rights. We fought for the planet. Earth Day got us cleaner air and water, smaller and safer cars, consciousness for a movement of people concerned about the environment that continues today. We fought for peace and stopped the draft and wars. We developed products that today's economy relies upon. Not all were bad. We settled down to raise families and we worked. Lordy, how we worked to find a better life without the bogeyman of poverty and hunger forever present in tales of the Depression our parents told us.

The racists of the Klan and Nazis are present today and their beliefs have nothing to do with the economy or any values beyond hate. They traffic in violence and death too.

Wars have blown up again and are still fought over territory, ideology, and resources. We did not invent war.

We hoped to make the world a better place than our parents left it. For all the angst about parents, you had to acknowledge theY contributed mightily by ridding the world of fascism. We need to own becoming lazy citizens and not fighting to educate our children and grandchildren in the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

The world and time goes on. You put your shoulder to the wheel where you stand.

[edhopper]

10. I agree

Many of us did. But it bothers me that not enough did. That too many voted for these monsters and idiots in the White House. And that is on them. I am just hoping that the percentages among the younger generations a more in the progressive corner.

[ancianita]

25. A LOT did. Still do. Everyone knows an idiot can tear down, burn down what millions build.

[KPN]

31. From my conversations with them, it's apparent the youngest generations do blame us for, well,

fucking things up.

[LakeArenal]

39. Too bad so sad. Maybe I think today's youth is lazy and entitled.

Hippies ended the war. Kent state was an example of what sacrifices were made to make the world a better place.

The 68 democratic convention demonstrations changed politics for the better.

We started the environment movement. Earth day was us boomers.

No way I will accept ruining the world.
Lady Bird Johnson woke us up to our trash problem. People used to check you if you littered. Now trash is everywhere. Anybody remember the Indian with the tears?

When I was a kid, the huge lake was so polluted we couldn’t swim or eat fish. We changed it and it is a huge tourist and fishing attraction.

Just because technology is better now doesn’t mean we Neanderthal boomers weren’t doing anything.

Boomers weren’t Republicans back then.
We weren’t Democrats back then. Technology makes it much easier for like minded people to find each other today.

How many boomers died in Vietnam? Kids today aren’t drafted like they were then.
How many fled to Canada to protest that war?

Wealthy autocrats ruined the world. Such a few of us ever got that wealthy to be blaming us for this mess.

[wnylib]

41. Well said.

[edhopper]

42. Wealthy autocrats are in powerbecause to many Boomers

voted GOP.

[LakeArenal]

43. You don't know that. Besides our parents were Republicans

That generation is dying out so Boomers are becoming that huge voting. But up to a few years ago they were the largest voting block and they are overwhelmingly
Republicans. Not boomers. We voted for Walter Mondales and Jimmy Carters. Not Nixons or Barry Goldwaters.

Trump’s wealth is inherited not earned. Koch Brothers were never hippies.

[Act_of_Reparation]

86. Ok boomer.

[emmaverybo]

13. +1

[sheshe2]

14. + 1000

Thank you Skidmore.

[KPN]

29. Well said. The OP also resonates with me. Both are true

in my view.

[emmaverybo]

12. Um baby boomers were the generation that spread the environmental movement, feminist movement,

Gay rights movement, anti-war movement, civil rights movement. Activism of all kinds was the hallmark of that generation, many of whom lost their lives in the Vietnam war. Many went into
helping professions and teaching where they contributed to their fellows and raised awareness. The popularity of selfish greed came later.

The seeds of today’s activists and volunteerism were planted during the 60’s. Yes, there have always been counter-forces to social and political change, certainly then, demonstrated in bloody street battles, assassinations, mass jailing. But never have so many taken such an active role in democracy. Never have college campuses been so alive with resistance and protests starting with the freedom of speech movement in Berkeley with Mario Savio in a sports jacket and nicely pressed pants.

I applaud the young people today who are also leading in the gun control and climate change movement. They have had the benefit of pioneers who went before them, just as those pioneers had models in England’s suffragettes and India’s independence fighters.

[bucolic_frolic]

19. As long as clergy are distorting reality for their own financial ends

nothing will change. They've got all the cash flow they need, tax free, one brainwashed generation after another.

[ancianita]

24. I respectfully disagree. Boomers have done waay more than they've been given credit for.

As an old hippie, I just gotta say this to any self-loathing boomers, or to any boomer-loathing revisionists who choose to diminish those who have created more than they inherited:


Here's a brief list -- and it is BRIEF -- of what so-called boomers did for future generations


--The Apple II
-- The World Wide Web
-- Voyager I
-- Democratizing the computer through personal computing -- Gates and Jobs
-- The Universal Serial Bus port

-- The cell phone
-- Ethernet
-- The CMOS active pixel image sensor -- that “camera on a chip” that enables digital cameras, cell phones and other devices to take pictures
-- The automated external defibrillator (AED)
-- Synthetic skin

-- The scanning tunneling microscope
-- DNA fingerprinting
-- The Jarvik 7 implantable artificial heart
-- The portable dialysis machine
-- Optical character recognition and text-to-speech technology

-- The Kurzweil 250 musical synthesizer
-- Controlled drug release technology
-- The nanoscale motor
-- The suspended-load backpack -- generates electricity from the wearer to power cell phones, computers and other devices for soldiers, rescue workers
-- Activist politics

-- No more polio
-- Genocidal communism is out
-- Global rock and roll in all its forms
-- Hip hop, rap and electronica

That's just mostly science and tech.

-- Boomers actually accomplished digital technology platform building that has been used by later generations to network and, best of all, globally communicate and unite.


2. This list can't possibly include their advancements in rock, pop culture, film, literature and arts; social consciousness about feminism, environmentalism, gay rights and racism.

I and all the Boomers I know, in fact, cannot wait for X'ers and Millennials to run with what they've been given, including, arguably, the biggest block of inherited wealth in American history.

What you say "we" have given them should not exclude the above.

[edhopper]

28. You are right

and I did not mean to say we have nothing. It is more that it is hard to fathom, seeing the same things we did, how so many of us could stay so mired in the worst of America.

[ancianita]

34. Whatever "many" you refer to, I don't know. But many MORE of us are college educated, productive

contributors to the best that future generations enjoy.

Don't lose perspective.

NO group in America should be judged by the worst of their group. No race, generation, gender or class.

[wnylib]

46. When you say "so many of US are could stay so

mired in the worst of America" I think you make a faulty assumption about today's voters. Reagan and Bush were a backlash against the changes that activists of our generation worked for. We did not single-handedly elect them. There have always been political divisions in this country. The conservatives of our parents' generation voted with the conservatives of our generation.

The children and grandchildren of our generation were taught reaganomics in school. They also did what people of each generation do. They rebelled against many values of their parents while accepting some of them. They grew up with a ramped up right wing media pumping disinformation to them, too.

So the people whose voting habits and views you are attributing to boomers actually come from a cross section of more than one generation.

Finally, it was the refusal to promote stereotyping of people into groups for negative portrayals that drove the movements against racism, sexism, ageism (don't forget the gray panthers). Please don't promote stereotyping of boomers and create divisions where we need unity in common cause.

[edhopper]

52. We have to come to grips that

the majority of Boomers voted for Trump. And without that majority, he would not have been elected. So yes, "many of us" are on the wrong side.

[Fiendish Thingy]

57. Take note of the 18-29 age group - 14% didn't vote for either Trump or Clinton

That 13% per cent of the electorate figure must be for those 18-29 who DID vote, not the whole age group, whose % of the population is about even with the Boomers, soon to overtake them in portion of eligible voters overall.

As many here have pointed out, the youth vote is "unreliable", they cannot be counted on to show up at the polls. What isn't clear is how much of this is due to apathy, and how much is a willful expression of their rejection of uninspiring candidates? I think young voters, more than other age groups, see willful abstention or third party voting as a viable option.

As I have said before, if we can inspire the young voters to turn out, WE WILL WIN.

Imagine the same 58/28 Dem/Rep split of young voters, but instead of being only 13% of the electorate, they are 25-30%, closer to their actual portion of the population...

[wnylib]

64. So more younger voters could make a difference

for sure. And I agree that we must inspire them if we want them to vote for our candidates.

The way to inspire them is to listen to their issues and feedback, to include their input in our discussions.

It gets harder to do that, and it diminishes our numbers if we sow seeds of discontent between generations with divisive posts that turn generations against each other.

[wnylib]

63. Interesting stats. And yet, Hillary got the

majority popular vote, and not by a small amount.

I see no value in emphasizing generational differences in discussions here among Dem supporters of all generations. Are any of the DU posters supposed to feel guilty or responsible for the way that other people voted? Are younger DU posters supposed to feel resentment of older ones?

Just what is your point in emphasizing generations here when it serves no purpose but to divide?

[edhopper]

68. My point was that Boomers did not change the world the way many of us had hoped

and that too many now support the GOP.
It is my hope that the younger generations do not follow that and that the percentage of progressive voters among them is higher than with us Boomers.

[backtoblue]

27. Obligatory video:

[edhopper]

30. Fucking A we were!

[Loki Liesmith]

33. All generations end up like that

This self flagellation is silly.

[IronLionZion]

35. There may be more conservative boomers because the poorer ones died sooner

Older people are disproportionately more conservative than younger people and there is data on this:

Seniors Are More Conservative Because the Poor Don’t Survive to Become Seniors
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/05/poor-people-often-dont-survive-to-become-seniors-who-vote.html

The high cost of health care is something that kills poorer people before the wealthy. Black and Latino minorities tend to die before whites because of various socioeconomic reasons. HIV patients would die sooner if poorer, and that disproportionately affects gay men.

[Karadeniz]

37. Thanks, all you smart and pensive posters!❤ Loved reading all the fabulous replies!

[YOHABLO]

40. Well books have been written on the subject. All I can say is:

Turning on, tuning in, and dropping out is more expensive than ever.

[LakeArenal]

45. But what else are ya gonna do! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Used to be three fingers for $15.

[YOHABLO]

55. Not as potent as two fingers today.

[LakeArenal]

56. Depends on where it was from.

But I liked it from day one to right this second. Can you join me?

Wwwwwwwww.... ahhhhhh. Nice.

[wnylib]

48. Negative stereotpying of groups is something

we opposed in our activism so why are you promoting it here where it could stir up divisions at a time when we need unity more than ever?

[Polybius]

49. Hey, you left out us Generation Xers!

Anything to say about us?

[edhopper]

50. Your music sucks

Just kidding.

[YOHABLO]

61. The music died. Bye, bye miss American pie.

[Kurt V.]

51. They're not going to have a choice.

[WhiteTara]

53. Where we failed is that after the war ended

we thought we had done it; but of course, evil never sleeps and we allowed them first to take local offices, then state and then of course; the swarming horde has overtaken the system.

I hope they have better forethought than us too.

[wnylib]

65. I can agree that many got lax about

issues after some gains were made.

[WhiteTara]

82. We were naive to think that

we had made a true difference and we got lax and here we are.

[ansible]

54. I wish more boomers were like you, willing to acknowledge their mistakes

It's depressing to see the same boomer defensiveness here on DU that I see from Facebook from boomers who also voted for Trump.

[tblue37]

59. unfortunately, some of the "dirty hippies" switched sides as they got older, too.

[YOHABLO]

62. Yeah, they sold out to materialism and conspicuous consumption.

[Duppers]

60. I'm a boomer and totally agree with you.

What the hell happened? How did we become so ignorant, so greedy, so myopic? Racist? We used to be better than that, no?

I cannot go to a h.s. reunion because I know who they are now. And I'm ashamed of too many of my generation.

Thanks for the thread, ed.

[NCLefty]

66. It's not just boomers--it's WHITE boomers, and especially non-college educated ones.

What is it about a degree that separates people so drastically? Is it just... getting out of your town for a bit and being around other people? It's not like your degree usually has anything to do with politics. Does going to college signal you probably also had a better K-12 education?

[Kaleva]

67. The Greatest Genration and the Silent Generation gave us Nixon and Reagan

[edhopper]

69. Boomers helped elect them both

and those two ge erations were what we were rebelling against.

[Kaleva]

73. Neither Nixon or Reagan would have won wi/o the support of the Greatest and Silent generation

Most baby boomers weren't old enough to vote in 1968 when the voting age was 21. Those in the Baby Boomer Generation born after 1954 weren't old enough to vote in 1972. I'm a member of the Baby Boomer Generation and the first election I was old enough to vote in was 1980 and I voted for Carter.

[edhopper]

74. And as I said

Last edited Mon Nov 11, 2019, 11:41 PM - Edit history (1)

those were the Generations that got into Viet Nam. Us Dirty Hippies were rebelling against that. I find it sad that too many Boomers have followed those Generations in their ideology. I am not going to defend the prejudice of many of those generations.

[Kaleva]

88. Millennials and Gen Z will do the same when they age.

[edhopper]

89. that is what i fear

but hope they don't

[Hortensis]

70. I'm not into bigotry and self hate, and I feel good that so far

my and my husband's grandchildren seem to share our morals and values. We know their parents are solid, decent liberals.

[retread]

71. Nothing new.

[edhopper]

75. Age 65+

voted majority Trump. 50-64, Trump. That covers all the Boomers.

[treestar]

78. I remember reading that

the boomer generation hippies were a minority, who got a lot of attention. But that the average person of that age just went to college and got a job and so on.

I look back on it and my aunts and uncles in that age group were not into peace, love and dropping out, but just went to college and got jobs and got married and had kids. One uncle grew long hair and a beard, but he went to college and law school, didn't seem to be involved in protests or anything, and listened to rock music, but didn't do drugs or anything wild. Another got drafted but was a really big guy and got to be military police and never had to go to Vietnam at all. My aunts just did their thing and never protested anything.

So that's anecdotal - anyone else have such stories? I am a boomer too, but young side and was a kid during the late 60s.

[Maeve]

81. I'm a mid-boomer (1955)

Most of the people I went to school with did NOT go to college, but straight into the job market. I think for many of them, voting for tRump was a chance to finally rebel against the establishment, shake up Washington. And they are the reason I would never move back to my hometown.

[JT45242]

83. Gen X let us down

As a member of Generation X -- we let down the country. Age 30-49, yes we voted for Clinton more than Trump.... but 9% voted for someone else. Every vote for a third party candidate was a vote for Trump indirectly.

Our turnout was low. Many of us were the willing rubes of russian bots trolling for Bernie or Bust or Stein is better than Clinton. We didn't show up or we left the President blank in protest (77,000 in Michigan alone did not vote for anyone for President, that's more than Trump won the 3 critical rust belt states in total). Every blank, every stay home, every Stein, was a vote for Trump.

It wasn't just the Boomers that did it. It was the "Me generation" -- now called Gen X who didn't get what they wanted ... A likable candidate, an inspiring, Bernie, or whatever,so instead of going with the better electable voted "I like Jill Stein" or "I liked Bernie" instead of saying -- Hillary has incorporated most of bernie's agenda into the Democratic platform. She is better than trump, so I will vote for her. They did what what the ME GENERATION has always done -- whatever they want regardless of the consequences.

I hate to say it, but my generation is at least as much to blame. Boomers voting for a "get off my lawn" candidate who panders to racial stereotypes and against society changing doesn't surprise me. But the selfishness of Gen X --that was the real loss.