Baby Boom vs Generation X - Politics NOT As Usual

Sea-change.  I think this change is a good thing.  That is what we are seeing amongst the Democrats these days, and it's about freakin' time.  But, the Republicans aren't the only ones not 'getting it.'

This topic came up today in a conversation I had with a co-worker who is a male, unmarried Boomer.  It pissed me off, as a single parent who busts her butt ever day to keep out of poverty and who works just as hard as he does, probably harder.   He isn't going to retire for five more years, he says, because if he stays he can make an extra $350,000.   Geebus!  I'll be lucky if my pension is intact in 15 years when it's my turn to retire.  I'll be lucky if someone just like this guy doesn't gut it while I am still here so he can float down to the Bahamas in his golden freakin' parachute.   It made me want to cry and alternately pull my hair out!

A lot of these Boomers were also Republicans, who managed to 'pull themselves up by their bootstraps' only to make it impossible for anyone else do to it in their lifetime.   A Boomer is president now, and while not representative of all Boomers, he's certainly not atypical.  

Now, granted, as a Gen X'er, I am going to be coming from that perspective, and no, I'm not necessarily unbiased.   And to speak to Obama's words, I am bitter and I do cling to many things, but in my case guns and religion are not on the list.  Disdain for greedy jerks and a sense of purpose, though, are.  In fact, I'm quite biased, having been legally an adult for over 18 years now.   I've only ever been able to vote for a Clinton or a Bush up until now.  I voted for the Clintons, happily, and I did not support Bush.  This time, I have a choice that is neither and I'll elaborate on why - quite possibly - the youth in this country are sick of being held hostage by the whims, the politics and the policies of the Baby Boomers.  Not to mention their morals, too.

I will concede, a lot of Baby Boomers are catching on. http://en.wikipedia.org/...  Keith Olbermann was one of the first, though he is late in the Baby Boom  http://en.wikipedia.org/... , and actually seems to identify more politically with Gen X - http://en.wikipedia.org/...  The Millenials?  http://en.wikipedia.org/...  They're less apathetic, and feel less of a loss of control than Gen X'ers, but their disillusionment was born into them, whereas Gen X'ers learned to be disappointed after starting out with the ideals of their Boomer Parents.

There are still some other Boomers who are active politically, who didn't sell out financially, who didn't change the rules mid-game to keep most of the money and relegate their children and their children's children to a hell of nightmarish taxes and disastrous policies.  But, for the most part, the unmitigated worship of money by the Boomer elite have transformed this country into a shell of its former self - this is the same generation that proclaimed itself to be the Me Generation of the 70s - and they've certainly lived up to that name!

http://www.insurancejournal.com/...

http://www.bc.edu/...

http://www.pgdc.com/...

(The last one is my favorite, because in this 'Golden Age of Philanthrophy' that's coming, it may well be Boomer parents helping out their own children, since there won't be enough jobs, benefits, wages, and salaries to go around.  And that's what Boomers regularly decry, they just don't see if they took less there would be more to share!)

Baby Boomer wealth transfer hasn't ceased; if anything, it's increased exponentially, which means my generation and my daughter's generation will have to work much harder to end up.  We pay more for housing.  We pay more for college.  We pay more for gasoline.  We pay more for food.  We get less in wages and salaries.  We get less help in the form of scholarships, grants and decent, re-payable loans.  All because of greed, and the business model of handling education and healthcare.   Make no mistake about it, this wealth transfer isn't the result of just some political oligarchy.  It's the effect of one of the largest ever generations taking most of the pie, and having little shame about it.  The CEOs of the wealthiest companies, the ones with the $200M golden parachutes are Baby Boomers.

Our entire electorate, political leanings and topics revolve around what to do with the Boomers.  Healthcare?  Boomers.  Retirement?  Boomers.  Social Security?  Again, the Boomers.  And eventually, people like me are going to get sick of it, being left out.  Oh sure, our money's green enough to pay taxes and to put ourselves into massive debt for the things our parents took so easily, that were literally handed to them to make a better life.  And still we believed their canards; we went to college ourselve.  We bought homes that were three times the cost of our parents' homes. No one forced us to; true, but also no one proposed any other way to live out the 'American Dream.'  After all, what other way is there?  Manufacturing jobs are going overseas, we don't do trade schools anymore.  No, the up and coming jobs are more like nurses, CNAs and nursing home attendants.  In short, we will now, instead of get screwed by the Boomers be paid crap wages to wipe their asses and for that privilege will pay unprecendented taxes while realize few, if any, gains.

So, yeah, I'm bitter.  And Hilary Clinton is a representative of the Boomer mentality, the Boomer politics, the Boomer policies that have shredded any chances someone like myself will ever even equal my parents' achievements, financially or educationally.  I simply can't afford it.

And if I have to see anymore post-60's feminist whining about not having a woman president, then I will simply lose it!  This isn't about you, Boomers.  Not anymore.  You've had it all, ever since you were born.  For once, just once, let this be about someone other than yourself.    You're going to have all the pension, retirement money.  You're going to have a good home, that's paid off.  You're going to have a better wage and salary than me.  Hell, you're even probably going to have a better education than me.

So my question is - when does it ever stop being about you?

Obama is a Boomer, granted, but he is also - like Olbermann and John Stewart, a late Boomer, closer to a Gen Xer.  Enough to empathize and see that it hasn't always been like this and doesn't have to continue like this.  It's not just conservative politics that are at issue here; it's a fundamental shift in how we view ourselves, what values we uphold, that are at issue here.  

I know many Boomers will take issue with my opinion - my mother, a Boomer, certainly does.  She considers Gen Xers to be lazy, privileged and that they feel entitled.  I don't think the Gen Xers have felt entitled; I think they were told that they, if they worked hard, could have what their parents have and found this to not be true.  So, a lot of them figure 'what's the freakin' point'.  What good is it to bust your buns and end up with a third of what our parents did for more work, or even multiple jobs?

Eventually, the Boomers will need to concede this and help to mend the rift.  That will mean better, more high paying jobs.  That will mean higher taxes and looking at healthcare and education and retirement differently.  That will mean they will need to look beyond themselves to the next generations.

And don't even get me started on the environment in the hands of Boomers...