"The young don't buy into propaganda of war between generations" LA Times

[applegrove]

The young don't buy into propaganda of war between generations

By Michael Hiltzik

July 4, 2012
LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20120704,0,1556561.column

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For years now, efforts to set young against old have been linchpins in campaigns to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits and turn those programs over to the private sector. The basic tactic is to portray those programs as giveaways to undeserving seniors that rip off the young; the goal is to turn the ostensibly dispossessed young into an effective political counterweight to reform-resistant elderly.

"Generational conflict messaging is incredibly potent right now," observes Alex Lawson, 32, executive director of the Washington advocacy group Social Security Works. The time is ripe, he indicated, for young activists to push back against this narrative.

"Wall Street and everyone who crashed the world economy has a really strong incentive to get young folks who are struggling to blame older folks who are likewise struggling, and no one will notice that the people pointing their fingers are the real culprits," Lawson told me. "But once you get the truth out, young folks are well suited to figure out that the young and the old need to work together for the entire system."

The purest articulation of intergenerational warfare as a wedge to break up Social Security's political coalition is a 1983 paper published by the libertarian Cato Journal. It was titled "Achieving a 'Leninist' Strategy," an allusion to the Bolshevik leader's supposed ideas about dividing and weakening his political adversaries.


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[shraby]

1. Something they are missing in their attempt to divide and conquer, is the fact

that the young can see that if there is no Social Security and Medicare, they will be saddled with taking care of the old themselves.

[applegrove]

2. So true, so true.

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. It never works. People love their grandparents.

In 1983, Reagan and congress tried to do exactly that; shock and awe. The system was going broke and only a massive tax increase on young workers would save it. So, young workers consented to have their taxes raised - a bunch.

Given the choice of starving granny and paying more taxes, we decided to pay more taxes.

[HockeyMom]

7. As a young woman myself,

I related more to my Nana than my Mom. I came of age in the 60s and my Grandma did in the 20s. We actually had similar experiences and both had been on the "front lines" for civil rights. My Mom's "Greatest Generation" didn't understand this.

Yes, the younger generation does hold a special place in their hearts for Grandma and Grandpa. I don't think the young will buy into this divide and conquer by generation of the GOP.

[Dokkie]

9. I wish that was true

But the way I see it, young people are very selfish and greedy, its not so much that they love their grandparents but more to the fact that they are not paying attention. I promise you this, if you got all the young people(younger than 25) and showed them in a very entertaining way the fiscal situation of this country and all the social safety net programs, showing them that we probably have to raise taxes on them again (i bet they probably didnt realize Reagan raised taxes on them) instead of the super rich to keep em going, they will go out in a very big way and vote out anyone who is trying to save those programs for the present seniors.

Right now there's too much free porn, youtube, twilight, American idol and other showbiz stuff to keep their minds off political issues for this ME generation. This the same reason why everyone is ok with the huge debt this country is taking because everyone thinks the next generation will be the one saddled with it. Its selfishness and greed not goodwill and charity

[Faygo Kid]

4. Definitely a GOP divisive tactic.

That's where it's coming from.

We're all in this together, folks.

[pipoman]

5. Interesting..

I feel that the traditional "generation gap" has been much less defined in the last 4 generations or so than at any time in the last 100 years. The speed of technological advancement created a gap during the first 2/3 of the 20th century, younger people knew much their parents did not know. Also, music and the arts seem to have plateaued. My 21 year old kids listen to the much of the same music I listened to, and I like much of the new music and art which inspires them. The days of, 'them darn kids and their rock-n-roll!!1!', has subsided for the most part. This would make an interesting sociological study I think.

I also think that these common interests makes it much easier for young people to identify with older generations, thus more inclined to empathize with them.

[Odin2005]

6. Spiteful anti-Boomer ageism is a RW Gen-Xer thing, not a Millennial thing.

At least that's my experience. Conservative and Libertarian Gen-Xers seem to have this chip on their shoulders and blame the Baby Boomers for all their problems

[Sirveri]

8. The only boomers I despise are the reichwing tea bagging idiots.

But that has much less to do with their generation than that they seem hell bent on ripping down all the good things they enjoyed so that nobody else can have them. Which I guess is what they want the younger folks to do too?