Neil Howe with some generational wisdom and hope for the Class of 2012. If the Millenials don’t clean up the mess created by the older generations, this Fourth Turning might be our last. Scorning and ridiculing our youth will not help.
To the Class of 2012
I thought you all might enjoy this. It’s the full text of a commencement address I gave last Saturday at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It was a glorious spring day, and I got to sit on the dais next to UMW President Rick Hurley watching up close as student after student (roughly 1,100 of them) came forward with smiles and beaming faces to accept their diplomas. Sometimes just being next to happy young people is does wonders for your mood and morale. Anyway, here it is:
It’s a beautiful day here in Virginia, and I want to thank the University of Mary Washington for inviting me here.
At a commencement address, speakers often go on too long. This I won’t do. I may not succeed as well as Salvador Dali, who famously delivered the world’s shortest speech, only four seconds long. He announced at the podium: “I will be so brief I have already finished.” And then sat down.
Commencement speakers also like to intone about “today’s youth generation.” And this is fine. Except that they then go on to talk at length about their own experiences in their own youth—and tell you: Because this worked for me in my generation, it will work for you in yours. Which should alert you that these speakers have no idea what a generation is.
Let me clarify. A generation is a group of people who share a basic outlook on life shaped by their common age location in history, their common “generational setting.” The renowned sociologist Karl Mannheim called this “eine Generationslagerung,” which I promise you is both the longest word—and the only German word–that you will hear from me today.
“Youth,” on the other hand, is just an age bracket. It’s like an empty hotel room that different generations move into—with their own baggage—and then soon leave. Sometimes that room swells with sweet music, sometimes it throbs with death metal, sometimes it’s utterly silent. But it’s never the same.
Bottom line: All of you Boomer and Generation X parents are essentially unlike your children—and were not the same even when you were kids. And you Millennial Generation graduates are essentially unlike your parents—and will not become like them as you grow older.
So how, exactly, are you different? Well, start with the obvious—pop culture: Believe it or not, parents, your kids have never known that America, Chicago, and Kansas are the names of rock bands, not just places. Or what about technology? Ever notice the blank stares when you tell them roll up the window, or turn the channel, or dial a number. Or what about current events? For as long as Millennials can remember, NATO has been looking for a mission, China has been peacefully rising, Brazil has been building shopping malls, and Boomers Bill O’Reilly and David Letterman have been hating on each other in the plain view of millions.
Now these markers are interesting. But if there’s one big I idea I want you to take away from my remarks, it’s that generational differences go much deeper.
Consider.
You Millennials grew up in an era of rising parental protection—never having known a time without bicycle helmets, electric plug covers, Amber Alerts, and 15 different ways to be buckled into your minivan seat. We, the parents, grew up in an era of declining parental protection: Our moms and dads told us, we don’t care where you go so long as you’re home for dinner—and as for seatbelts, we were told if there’s an accident to just put up our hands like this. As kids, we never saw a “Baby on Board” sticker. “Baby Overboard” would have been more appropriate.
You Millennials were raised to be special—very special—and trust your counselors, support groups, and smart drugs to keep you feeling pretty good about the world, like a Sims character having just the right digital balance. We, the parents, knew we weren’t very special, didn’t trust anyone to advise us, and thought staying away from counselors was a sign of resilience. When you came to college, there were long orientations and immersions–and many of your parents clutched teddy bears and wept. When we came to college, we jumped out of the car and tried to grab our suitcases before our parents sped off.
You Millennials were raised to be teamplayers—which you are, with community service, group projects in the classroom, and clubs for everything. And, above all, with digital technology that connects you all to each other on Facebook, and smart phones that you go to bed with. We, the parents, were a lot more into competition, rebellion, and defying the mainstream. We did not “friend” each other. Our generation invented the “personal” computer. Personal, as in—mine and not yours, and certainly not part of the corporate mainframe our own parents bequeathed to us. Growing up, our biggest fear was that Big Brother might someday install cameras in our rooms. Our biggest joy was hearing Steve Jobs announce that “1984 won’t be like 1984.” And now our biggest surprise is to see our own kids connect with each other by installing their own cameras in their own rooms!
As a generation, you Millennials have a surprisingly conventional outlook on life. Surveys show that as you grow older you wish to become good citizens, good neighbors, well-rounded people who start families. Violent youth crime, teen pregnancy, and teen smoking have recently experienced dramatic declines. And for that we congratulate you.
Most startling of all, the values gap separating youth from their parents has virtually disappeared. You watch the same movies as your parents, buy the same brand-name clothing, talk over personal problems with them—and, yes, feel just fine about moving back in with them. When I travel around the country, I often ask people today in their 40s or 50s how many songs on their iPod overlap with what’s on their kids’ iPods. Typical answer: 30 or 40 percent. Let me tell you: Back in my days on campus (later known as “the days of rage”), we did not have iPods, but if we had, the overlap would have been absolutely zero. Everything about our youth culture was intentionally hostile and disrespectful of our parents. That was the whole idea.
Now people sometimes ask me: What does it mean that one generation is different from another—that Millennials, for example, are different from the Boomers or Gen-Xers who raised them? Does it mean that some generations are better than others?
And I say no: There is no such thing as a good or bad generation. Every generation is what it has to be—given the environment it encounters when it enters the world. And history shows that whatever collective personality that generation brings with it is usually what society needs at the time. As such, youth generations tend to correct for excesses of the midlife generation in power; and they tend to refill the social role being vacated by the elder generation who is disappearing.
To avoid speaking in code, let me rephrase this as follows: The Millennial Generation is correcting for the excesses of Boomers and Gen-Xers who today run America. I need not remind you what those excesses are: Leadership gridlock, refusal to compromise, rampant individualism, the tearing down of traditions, scorched-earth culture wars, and a pathological distrust of all institutions.
The Millennial Generation is also reprising many of the hallmarks of the original G.I. Generation, the “greatest generation,” who are now passing away. Like the Millennials, the G.I.s grew up as protected children and quickly turned into optimistic, consensus-minded team-players who saved our nation—in the dark days of the 1930s and ‘40s—from turning in the wrong direction at the wrong time.
Igor Stravinsky once wrote that every generation declares war on its parents and makes friends with its grandparents. Yet again that happens.
So all of you parents out there: Be proud of this new generation. They aren’t like you, but they are what America now needs. They don’t complain about the storm clouds looming over their fiscal, economic, and geopolitical future; they try to stay positive. They don’t want to bring the system down; they’re doing what they can to make it work again. They worry about you a lot. And they want to come together and build something big and lasting, something that will win your praise. Beneath their tolerant, optimistic, networking, and risk-averse exterior lie attitudes and habits that may prove vital for our country’s healing and for our country’s future.
No one knows what challenges this Millennial Generation may eventually be asked to bear. Hardly anyone expects them to become America’s next “greatest generation.” But someday you can say you heard it from me: That is their destiny, to rescue this country from the mess to which we, the older generations, have contributed… perhaps a bit more than we ever intended—and in so doing to become a great generation indeed.
Thank you.
As the father of five Millernials, I hope that they are a greatest generation, and I have confidence in mine doing the right thing. (Two of the three adult ones are RP supporters.) I do fear for the cost that they will pay for their ‘rendezvous with destiny.’
That’s a great speech…. One which Erica Goldson’s compliments.
They’re going to surprise a lot of people… Just wait until that “Destiny”‘s switch is flipped.
It won’t be pretty, but the new-prophets they raise won’t even notice.
I’ll stand by to give a good Patton-slap to the whiners.
What a bunch of happy talk. Kids are going to have to rebuild this country from scratch. The boomers are still working their voodoo, bad karma, obesity and health problems, spending habits, entitlements, and all the haagan daz pints they can eat in a day. They spent, no borrowed the entire future of the next 2-3 generations, and the kids are going to be paying (transferring) more and more to boomers every year (if they can find a job). Boomers destroyed their health, their wealth, and their lives, and, by God, somebody has to pay, just not them. They collect, and borrow some more, until Uncle Sam’s piggy bank is smashed by rogue bond traders, dollar dumpers, and anyone smart enough not to trade in worthless dollar anymore. The kids are fucked 20 ways to Sunday, and have no clue. No app for utter collapse and anarchy, so no comprende me amor.
I don’t think we will mirror the “Greatest Generation”, though it pains me to admit it. Far too many millenials have a sense of entitlement and lack a true work ethic.
I could go on, but you get the idea. If the Millenials are to be the guiding light then they are going to need some truly excellent leaders to step forward from our ranks, because the rank and file aren’t really anything special.
Every day I walk though a local park. I look at the little kids in the play area and I can’t help but pity them for world they will inherit. On the surface almost everything appears normal. I often wish I weren’t burdened with the knowledge of just how fucked we are.
Funny about that sense of entitlement, TPC, it’s only been building up since 1946.
Thanks for posting it, Jim. I found it powerful; with three Millies of your own, probably more so for you.
AWD
Your Spanish sucks as bad as your fat fotos. What does “no comprende me amor” mean?
@Novista – My wife often mentions how lucky we are that I grew up a poor farmboy, because without me she would be completely lost.
Part of elementary school should include throwing hay and slopping hogs, I think the nation as a whole would benefit.
Up the River of Denial. Todays graduates get to compete with slave labor from China and India.
I wish them luck,the timing is bad,reminds me of guys telling me they wished they were eighteen years old in 1969 so they could drive cool muscle cars.I tell them they couldnt because the day after they graduated they would get theyre draft notice.
How exactly did the “greatest generation” save our nation in the 30’s and 40’s? Wasn’t it Europe that they saved. What, if any, liberties in the US were threatened by war in Europe. If anything those liberties were threatened more and actually harmed more by the US politicians in the 30’s and 40’s who played the “greatest generation” for fools, dragging them into both depression and war. And why are they called the greatest generation anyway? Who coined that phrase? I may have the dates a little wrong, but aren’t they the generation that brought us both Social Security and Medicare? There’s a couple of winners for you. Maybe it’s because they kept their mouth shut and accepted price controls, outrageous meddeling in the free market, rationing, the draft, going off the gold standard, inflation, massive government debt. Oh and they probably thought up the phrase, “if you don’t love it, leave it”.
In addition to the above rant, I also don’t see any “rampant individualism” anywhere amongst any of the boomers and Gen-Xers. And what’s wrong with that anyway?
The above speech is one that would have made me vomit at my college graduation. It is so full of feel good bullshit. Why can’t a commencement speech consist in someone just saying “good job guys” to the graduates and letting them out early to go drink beer?
Lance
Ignorance is a choice. You’ve clearly made that choice.
Your dates may be a little wrong. Biggest fucking understatement of all time. Social Security was instituted in the 1930s when this generation was 20 years old.
I love assholes who don’t know shit from shinola that spout off and prove they are dumber than a fucking rock.
Lance the fuckwad slept through history class and missed the attack on Pearl Harbor and the fact that Germany declared war on us. Your ignorance appears to have no bounds.
Howe-I need not remind you what those excesses are: Leadership gridlock, refusal to compromise, rampant individualism, the tearing down of traditions, scorched-earth culture wars, and a pathological distrust of all institutions.
What a load of fascist horseshit. It’s collectivism and putting ones full faith and trust in very institutions set up by the easy led parasites of the so called greatest generation that has led to the current entitlement trap and economic collapse we all now live through.
It’s no surprise Howe works with major corporations on government policies. I’m sure he’s read everything Bernays’ has ever written.
I guess Howe will blow an ecstasy gasket when all the heroes are rounded up , chipped and drafted to go off to some god-forsaken land and kill millions of men, women and children they don’t know all because that’s what team players do.
OHH RA!
And, we’ll all bond once again as a nation, build some more monuments to the war dead,and mother and widows will continue to grieve….same as it always was.
For the record, if Neil Bernays Howe wanted to impart some real wisdom on the Millennial s, he woudl have told them that the nation neither needed saving in WWI or WWII since it was never in any peril .
War is a racket and only stupid easily led dupes blindly follow the Leviathan .http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm
And last eschew the state with all your heart , your soul and your mind for the state will only destroy what humanity creates.
smoke and mirrors…
Astrology for the Collectivist: 101
http://www.womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/Yes_We_Can_Feb09.pdf
Yes We Can
neil howe and reena nadler
Today’s youth want government to participate actively in
building communities and helping those who are in need.
People aged 18 to 29 agree nearly two to one that the role of
government should be to promote the principle of strong
community and expanded opportunity and prosperity for
all, as opposed to the principle of self-reliance and limited
government and spending—while older Gen Xers are split
almost evenly on this question.66 More than any other age
bracket, Millennial teens favor reducing the restrictions on
government surveillance of citizens to prevent terrorism
and are willing to let government protect the community
today are more likely than any other age group to favor government
action to reduce economic inequality.69
On the other hand, they are not drawn to appeals to pit one class
against another or to punish the wealthy. Millennials show
much less desire to tax or penalize the wealthy than young
Boomers did in the 1960s and ‘70s.70
During the 2008 Democratic primary, they were put off by John Edwards’
harsh and confrontational populism, but were drawn to
Barack Obama’s milder tone of communitarian inclusion
Like older liberals, they believe that an expert government
should regulate decisions that individuals have neither
the time nor the resources to make themselves. Like older
conservatives, they are attracted to the “new paternalism,”
wherein a benevolent government supervises, organizes,
and improves the lives of the dysfunctional or deviant.
even at the cost of civil liberties.67 A right to privacy does
not rank high in Millennial priorities.
Among workers and businesses as among their own
friends and peers, Millennials favor collaboration and
disapprove of cut-throat competition.
Millennials are very supportive of labor unions, giving them the second-highest
level of support68 of any age group in 40 years. They like
to buy from (and want to work for) businesses that help
serve the community. They favor tax plans and other policies
that create a strong middle class—18- to 22-year olds
Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
I admire the optimism, but I fear what their reality holds. The Millennials have been set up to be practicing Socialist controlled by Fascists…and they will accept it thinking the all-knowing government has their interest at heart.
What is different this time is, the government for the first time in all of history has the ability through technology to watch and monitor every aspect of the Millennials lives. Unless they wake up, they will truly be sheeple that will live their lives within the tight confines of what government/Fascists allow them all the while oblivious to being controlled.
They will never know freedom.
——————————————————————————————-
In all of history, no government became more honest, less corrupt, or granted its citizens more rights as it grew in size. E.L. 2011
Ever since Carter established the Department of Education the dumbing down of kids has gone into high gear and statistics bear this out. We have a complete generation who not only don’t have a clue of the evils of Marxist or Fascism, they embrace it as it was taught in public schools.
Jim, on another post you listed the things that would bring our country around. Number one on my list would be to eliminate the Federal Department of Education and turn it back to the states where it belongs. It has been a complete disaster, as is everything the Feds try to manage. A disaster for freedom, a boon to the loss of freedom. The USA has become everything we were taught to fear about the Soviet Union when we were young.
EF
efarmer
Have you witnessed the stupidity of State & Local government bureaucrats? The only way to improve education in this country would be to privatize it all and give people vouchers. Then the shitty schools would close down and the best schools would thrive. Government needs to be out of it at all levels.
Admin,
Better idea yet. I’m all for vouchers.
I just want the feds to be neutered.
EF
Economic prospects for the younger generation are challenging to say the least. Note- The Gross National Debt Clock- in the right hand column and future unfunded liabilities of 100 trillion and counting. This younger generation will pay for the sins of their father’s one way or another that is assured.
http://www.womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/Yes_We_Can_Feb09.pdf
Yes We Can
neil howe and reena nadler
Yet Millennials are not ideologically opposed to using
military force when force becomes necessary. Indeed,
this generation strongly supports the military, even more
than it supports other national institutions. Sixty-three
percent of today’s youth have a “good” or “very good”
opinion of the military, up from 55 percent in 1996.115
In 2002, shortly after the attacks of September 11, they
were more in favor than older Americans of taking military
action against Iraq.116 This is in part because today’s
youth feel a rising patriotic commitment. In a 2005 GQR
survey, Millennials ranked their own “patriotism” at 7.2
on a scale of 0 to 10, which was higher than any other
trait except their own “health.”117 Even the most liberal
Millennials are less averse than their elders to the use of
military force. Among Howard Dean activists in 2004, 31
percent of Millennials supported the concept of preemptive
war, compared to only 13 percent of Boomers.118
[img
[/img]
flash in a frenzy of cutting and pasting hate about a generation that hasn’t turned 20 years old yet.
Classic response of dickhead Boomers who think they know it all.
flash’s response will be 40 more cut and paste jobs that no one on TBP will read.
The Millennials are the least educated and malleable generation ever lined to to inherit the power of new Rome which by far makes it the most dangerous..
http://www.womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/Yes_We_Can_Feb09.pdf
Yes We Can
neil howe and reena nadler
In 1999, in a yearly survey of college seniors about their
top-ten ideal employers, Gen-Xers filled the entire list with
for-profit businesses (like Microsoft and Cisco). In 2007,
Millennials filled five of the top ten slots with public agencies
and nonprofits (these five were the State Department,
the FBI, the CIA, Teach for America, and Peace Corps).61
They overwhelmingly favor the creation of a national Public
[/img]
Service Academy (88 percent to 12 percent).62 When asked to
identify essential or very important life goals, college freshmen
in 1968 chose “developing a meaningful philosophy
of life” by 14 percentage points over “helping others in difficulty”;
in 2007, college freshmen chose “helping others”
over “meaningful philosophy” by 21 percentage points.63[img
Admin- You should read the paper I linked co-authored by Howe on the positive aspect of millennial group think.
I don’t hate twenty somethings , but I know they’re the same people, with the same want’s need and desires we had as kids coming up in the 70’s and 80’s and without firm and mature guidance they will make all the same mistakes we did.
Frankly I admire the boomers for standing up to the war machine when no other prior generation would. I don’t see any organized anti-war effort of that magnitude amongst today’s youth, but then they’re not being drafted.
The rate at which they volunteer for the military is scary though.
Admin-
Make that “teeny somethings-
BTW if you’re still traveling thru the 30 Blocks of Squalor sans some bask-up , you might want to re-think that.
Break downs happen.
http://www.wtsp.com/news/topstories/article/255240/250/VIDEO-US-Army-soldier-brutally-beaten-in-South-Tampa-
Flash : The Millennials are the least educated and malleable generation ever lined to to inherit the power of new Rome which by far makes it the most dangerous
My mother in law would agree with you. She just retired after 37 years of teaching High School math. She has verbalized many times the deterioration of the children over the years. She has no confidence in the younger generation being able to cope with the problems facing this nation. But who knows they may rise to meet the challenge.
Who educated them?
sensetti
I blame the deterioration of critical thinking on science e.g. non-stop electronic entertainment and industrial foodstuffs.
Sugar can make you dumb, US scientists warn
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/sugar-dumb-us-scientists-warn-190918006.html
Eating too much sugar can eat away at your brainpower, according to US scientists who published a study showing how a steady diet of high-fructose corn syrup sapped lab rats’ memories. (AFP Photo/Daniel Janin)
Eating too much sugar can eat away at your brainpower, according to US scientists …
Eating too much sugar can eat away at your brainpower, according to US scientists (AFP Photo/Chris Ratcliffe)
Eating too much sugar can eat away at your brainpower, according to US scientists …
Eating too much sugar can eat away at your brainpower, according to US scientists who published a study Tuesday showing how a steady diet of high-fructose corn syrup sapped lab rats’ memories.
Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) fed two groups of rats a solution containing high-fructose corn syrup — a common ingredient in processed foods — as drinking water for six weeks.
One group of rats was supplemented with brain-boosting omega-3 fatty acids in the form of flaxseed oil and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), while the other group was not.
Before the sugar drinks began, the rats were enrolled in a five-day training session in a complicated maze. After six weeks on the sweet solution, the rats were then placed back in the maze to see how they fared.
“The DHA-deprived animals were slower, and their brains showed a decline in synaptic activity,” said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
“Their brain cells had trouble signaling each other, disrupting the rats’ ability to think clearly and recall the route they’d learned six weeks earlier.”
She usually starts with the parents.
Sgt. Greybush and Sir Lanceless drop in with some Boomer shitbaggery.
Of course.
Why don’t you take your moronic, Howdy-Doody loving, wall-eyed, lalalala blah blah blah and stick it where the sun don’t shine?
AWD, though he was mercilessly thumbed down, had it right. You spoiled brat boomstainers are so full of shit it’s sickening.
Cry havoc and bring it down.
One thing that I note- or at least think I note- is that the ‘end’ of the saecular cycle is not necessarily a bad thing. It does not mean the end of the world, it simply means that society lives in a manner that recognizes and embraces the cycles. Thus the effects are not as stark and pronounced as they are when we live in a linear fashion, struggling against the rip-tide of history.
I think Strauss and Howe pointed this out towards the beginning of the book. This is why the cycle did not seem to be operating during the dark ages. Society was in survival mode which meant that roles were very well defined and if you wanted to keep your head, you didnt jack with the order of things (or in this case, the cycle of things).
Once survival became less of a daily question mark the people were more free to create trouble. The views of time became more linear and thus the effects of the cycle were more noticeable.
The trick is to bring society to a point where the cycle is vastly muted while still keeping our infrastructure somewhat intact. Not likely, but a nice dream.
Does any of this sound familiar or am I off in my own little corner of the gaping hole called reality?
If the grid goes down, it will be game-over for the millenials. I doubt they will enjoy the offline version of Modern Combat very much.
[img]http://books.google.com/books?id=lV4mADU4CAUC&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&l=220[/img]
The Millenials make up the vast majority of real soldiers dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. 1st Millenials born in 1982.
When I think of the Millennials, I try to picture what the world might look like on the other side of the
‘Great Debt Reckoning’. What would be the effects if the debt clocks and accounts were reset to $0.00? And what might happen from that point forward?
How much and how many will survive unscathed? How much accumulated human knowledge will be preserved and available? Hopefully, most of it, and most of them. If so, the Millennials will have a lot to work with, and reasonable prospects for a positive new beginning.
i can’t believe any boomer has the balls, or more likely lack of a brain, to even open their mouth on this subject. your stupid, immoral programs have finally ruined this country, period, there is no debate because it is already over. look at the numbers, the country is on a a crash course for a currency collapse, it is inevitable. if you don’t see what mess you created then you are dumber than you already sound.
by the time it is being cleaned up the youth will not be there to change your diapers.
fact.
Don Murphy
The dark ages never were and Generational Theory is more mumbo jumbo psycho-babble bullshit designed to deny the fact that man is a fallen creature and sans God , no, present or future generation here on earth can save you.
…might as well read your horoscope.
http://listverse.com/2008/06/09/top-10-reasons-the-dark-ages-were-not-dark/
SSS:
Your Spanish sucks as bad as your fat fotos. What does “no comprende me amor” mean?
“No understand my love”
Near as I can tell. I’m Norwegian, not Spanish. Sorry.
i’m not really a huge believer in Generational Theory, but i have to say, some of the comments by boomers here are just absolutely delusional.
when a mess is made, there is always a culprit. it is what it is, as they say.
it is not an indictment of all boomers of course. but the 1960s ruined this country, and that is a fact. it’s all coming home to roost now, finally, as the financialization sugar high blows up. there is no more rope.
we are currently consuming away two centuries worth of savings and capital and replacing it with debt so fat people can stay fat.
there is no debate here, if you thumbs down this then you’re part of the problem. and you will suffer down the road and i for one will have no empathy for you.
What was the average IQ of those who strangled nazees and sank the rising sun?
It’s going to take guts and teamwork to overcome this world of shambles…. and that’s that.
BBES
right on, Colma. hope you are well.
Very interesting Flash, I had heard some of that but never quite in one place with that perspective. I dont hold the generational theory to be a hard and fast rule the way gravity is, but it does serve to bring some order to what would otherwise be the vulgar brawl of history (to paraphrase the field artillery…). Thanks!
I reach for the popcorn when Admin gets in a snit and starts to unmercifully smack people around. Latest victims: Lance and flash, both of whom suffered some seriously funny sucking chest wounds.
AWD
Stick with Norwegian. “No comprende me amor” translates as “It doesn’t understand me love,” which doesn’t make any sense. “No understand my love” is “Yo no comprendo, mi amor.”
As a Millenial who has read up on the Civil War, collapse of the USSR and Yugoslavia, etc., I have to say that most of the socioeconomic trends in the USA would seem to be pointing towards an internal war or some sort of political “adjustment”. I think, (and this is something I wouldn’t have even dreamed to have thought about a mere few years ago) that we could see a second Civil War and/or a breakup of the USA into regional-based new countries within my generation’s lifetime. How’s that for optimistic?
Admin,
The greatest generation started in 1901, which would make the oldest of that generation 34 when Soc. Sec. was created in 1935, not twenty as you stated. They would also be in their 60’s when medicare was created. You have me on the attack on Pearl Harbor if you think that the attack wasn’t precipitated by a western blockade of Japanese oil supplies. If Japan was misbehaving then
they were following the west’s empirial example. A declaration of war on Germany’s part was not a restriction on American liberties in and of itself. Germany could never have taken the US and any declaration could be put down to more Hitler’s proclivities and Germany’s pact with Japan than a true goal of taking over the US. My point was that the politicians knew all of this and the greatest Generation swallowed it hook line and sinker not when they were 20, but when they were in their 30’s. and they continued to swallow it in their 40s 50s and later.
And you should really take some classes in debate or something. these personal insults used in your arguments are really “highschool”. Its like you trying to score points with the other kids on the playground.
Lance
The fucking average age of the GI Generation in 1935 was 20 years old. The youngest were 11 years old. They had not a fucking thing to do with instituting SS. It was the Missionary Generation of FDR that put in SS. You are really reaching still trying to blame SS on a generation that had nothing to do with it. The US was attacked by Japan and their ally Germany declared war on us the next day. You should try to get some perspective rather than believe storylines.
Don’t curl up in a corner because I obliterated your nonsensical drivel.
There are no hero generations and have never been. Instead History is replete with tales of well connected oligarchs plundering the wealth and resources of others at the expense of the lives of the very young.
The Vietnam adventure left US with 60 thousand young men dead and another 150 thousand maimed for life, yet one calls them heroes , instead they’re tagged with contemptible label of boomer.
Yes, those very same boomers despicable boomers who died by the tens of thousands in the jungles of south-east Asia at the behest of the greatest’s folly , who are now dubbed the destroyers of the Empire.
Apparently, the kids of the greatest not only let their fathers down in conquering Asia, but have let their kids down by being born on the edge of the sundown of US Imperialism as well.
If only they had been born in 63′ then they could pint the accusatory finger backwards and proudly declare themselves a nonparticipant in decline of central authorities command and control economy.
If only the young boomers led by the greatest generation had defeated the communists in south-east Asia, American corporations could be in total control of exploiting the Asian slave market instead of the Chi-Coms.
But hey, the greatest showed ’em in Korea didn’t they?
Now that was a wise war. Well worth destroying the lives of 130,000 America families.
Sad to say for the Millennials , the long slog to “greatest generation” status is a far cry from the 6 thousand dead spread out over a decade. They’ll have to die in greater numbers than a 4 digit dead count to achieve national hero status and get their very own televised memorial service slotted between Dancing with the Stars and American Idol.
The families of the greatest generation lost 1/2 millions in the span of a few short years.
The data is in.
A generation has to follow Moloch into the pits of hell and unquestionable sacrifice their lives for Moloch’s throne to achieve the reverent status of greatness.
For further reading on the greatest group of charlatans and con-men this world has ever known :
Churchill, Hitler, and “The Unnecessary War”: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World [Hardcover]
Patrick J. Buchanan
Great Wars and Great Leaders: A Libertarian Rebuttal
Ralph Raico (Author), Robert Higgs (Foreword)
And the cherry on top of the achievements of the greatest….the Bay of Pigs.Howe should make a list so the next hero generation doesn’t miss a step and include charts showing the lunar cycles and the influence of planetary alignments pin-pointing the days heroic acts are best attempted.
http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/15/cias-bay-of-pigs-files-still-under-wraps/
On May 10, a judge ruled that the CIA didn’t need to reveal an investigation of the botched Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. The decision was because the investigation is a draft and not a final document, effectively shielding the CIA document from public scrutiny.
The Bay of Pigs was a 1961, U.S.-backed invasion of Cuba that ultimately failed and was a major foreign policy embarrassment.