American Betrayal

[Jcrowley]

American Betrayal
by David Michael Green

Some people are hopelessly foolish. Some can’t help it entirely (though a little less TV time would certainly go a long way), because they have been purposely trained to be so. They may be excused. But too many others know better. That makes them cowardly and self-serving, and there is no excuse for that. Not when people are dying by the tens of thousands there. Not when the republic is being savaged here.

History will record this as America’s most shameful – most inexcusable – moment, and probably the beginning of the end of any further such significant American moments whatsoever, as the empire begins its slow descent. Generations of responsible statesmen and women handed over a largely healthy, sometimes pacific, broadly admired republic to the present administration, which has taken quantum leaps toward unraveling those centuries of painstaking work.

It would be easy to cast the blame for our present predicament on a single ideological movement, or even a single generation, and it would not be wholly inaccurate to do so. The contemporary regressive right is without question a vicious cancer that has invaded the body politic to devastating consequences. Its predations were immensely facilitated by the self-reverential concerns of the Baby Boomers, who not for nothing were once called the Me Generation (that’s capital M, capital G, if you don’t mind). Rest assured, there are no statesmen today because to be one requires consciousness of others, sacrifice of self, moral sensitivity and historical sagacity, all qualities notably absent from this generation.

It is not only the Boomers to blame, however, but their parents as well. Ironically, the so-called “Greatest Generation” – which was indeed great in many ways – was also responsible for at least two crucial mistakes that deeply haunt us today. One was to raise a bunch of self-serving, self-interested children, well-trained for the pursuit of happiness, but woefully unprepared for comprehending or sacrificing what is necessary to sustain and advance the greater good of the commonweal.

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0217-02.htm

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. perhaps the problem with us Boomers was

that too few of us realized that we are interconnected, that the earth is sacred, that we need to live a simple life, and our needs will be fulfilled. But the world called us "New Age twits" or worse and laughed at us while they touted television watching and mindless consumerism.

[1620rock]

2. I beg your pardon Sir, but I take offense at your characterization...

...of our generation (boomers) as the "me" generation.

The "me" was the generation which followed ours. The "me" generation was steeped in the ideology and greed of the Nixon, Reagan, and Ford years.

We boomers were the generation that ended the Vietnam war.

We boomers were the generation that were the freedom riders, the voting rights advocates who spent our summers in Mississippi and Alabama registering black voters, and we marched on Washington by the millions advocating peace, equality, and freedom for all.

We boomers are the generation who advocated and fought for womans rights, equal pay for equal work, and the freedom to be different without discrimination.

So please do some research and get your facts straight before casting stones. :rant:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Absolutely

You said it a lot better than I did! Great rant!