WTF is with these baby boomers?

[txaslftist]

Kerry goes from a protester of an illegal war to a pseudo-hawkish position because he wants to get elected...

Hillary goes from a protester of an illegal war to a pseudo-hawkish position for the same reason...

McCain goes from being an ex POW horrified by the abuses he suffered at the hands of the Vietcong to at best a "do nothing" approach, at worst an enabler of torture in Iraq... Hugs the architect of the "Illegitimate black baby" campaign attack on his family...

It's truly bizarre. As I approach my fifties will my principles suddenly weaken into compromise? Will the fire in my belly turn into water? Will I be willing to sacrifice principle and honor to power?

Geeze, I hope not.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. Believe this boomer

There are more of us who are horrified by their stances than support them.

Trust your boomers.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

3. Right on! eom

[txaslftist]

10. Yeah, but you are a lawyer like me...

...trained to see beyond the obvious. How do Kerry, Clinton and McCain (is he a lawyer, too?) sleep at night?

Don't get me wrong, I like all three on a personal level, but sheesh.

You've got to stand for something, right?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

15. I don't know about Kerry

You know, I still have hope for him. I'm not sure why.

Clinton and McCain (no, he's not one of us) are, and always were, polar opposites. He's Navy, Vietnam POW, all that.

What Clinton's turned out to be is nothing but a political opportunist (remember - she didn't live in NY when she decided to run for the Senate?), and a whore of highest order where ambition is involved. I'm convinced that she, like her husband, will say and do whatever it takes to get them where they want to go, principles and morality and ethics be damned.

We stand for something, those of us who never abandoned what we grew to believe in the sixties. The world doesn't so readily embrace us now, and it's much harder to mount the battle, but that doesn't mean we're going to quit.

Right.

[txaslftist]

24. Yeah...I'm a sort of proto Gen-Xer, born in 66...

...my school teachers were all recent ex-hippies.

I listened to "Blowin' in the Wind" "One Tin Soldier" "He Ain't Heavy" "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and a bunch of other cool songs in elementary school, even though such songs were verboten in my military home.

I now sing them to my school age children every night at bed time, along with Danny Boy and The Night They Drove Ole Dixie Down...

I'm trying to indocrinate my kids with the flower power I grew up with, but when I encounter grey haired elders from the era of Woodstock, although occasionally I see a pony-tail, I don't often seem to run into the old radical firepower.

Where have all the flowers gone? Hell, where have all the flower children gone?

No offense, but sometimes it seems like you all fell asleep.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

35. You know what?

My name here is no joke. I'm old. My generation is old, and, you know what else?

Who did our fighting. We stopped a war, we got Roe v. Wade, and, honestly, we changed the world. We changed the music, hair, clothes, attitudes about sex, everything.

It's your generation's turn now. It's time to burn your firepower and make things happen. Quit singing the old songs, and write some songs of your own. Quit waiting for others to do something, and do what you believe needs to be done.

We've done our share. The torch has been passed, which is just how it should be.

It's your turn.

[BeTheChange]

57. I dont know how popular these thoughts are going to be, but here goes..

I don’t think it's as simple as what you just said. I am reminded of a saying by Confucius: "The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools." When you are young, you sharpen your tools and over time, you perfect your work, you steadily do it better and better and more efficiently...

It is a series of steps. Roe v Wade wasn’t the culmination, neither was Nixon's resignation. There is no unequal burden; there is no "share" to be done. As long as we are here on this earth, in this society, we must work to make it better.

Often later generations idealize the antiwar movement of the 70s. But what did that generation do as they aged? What did they do once their eyes were opened? I’m not trying to blame here. I’m just trying to have a real live conversation about the American Psyche. A REAL discussion of just why the hell we are where we are right now.

So many people on here question why the younger generations aren't out there "picking up the torch". Well, how many of them were taught how to pick up a torch, or a tab, a responsibility, or a sock? I go to antiwar protests and what strikes me is that so few folks younger than their late 20s attend, except when it’s one of the bigger protests. Even then, proportions are off. Those that do attend are never a major part of the actual festivities, unless they have just returned from a war in Iraq, then they can sit at the big people's table.

Express interest in helping at the big people's table and they give you some menial task to do while you watch old folk singers or new yet old folk singers entertain the tie dyed crowd. So you bebop along with your headphones tuned to some Immortal Technique, or Talib Kweli, maybe Michael Franti and you hand out flier on how it's a peacefully rally and to not incite the counter protesters. This is your momma’s protest.

I know a lot of people reading this post are just chomping to scream at me about how if I don’t like I we should make our own groups, our own organizations.. do our own protests.. yadda yadda. You are all correct. We should be doing those things. Unfortunately, we have been trained since elementary school not to rock the boat.. but more sinister then that, we have been trained not to exercise creative independent thought. ABCDEF, mark one. There is no grey area. Learn how to assimilate or you won’t get this diploma or this job, or that scholarship, or that girl... We have been medicated with Ritalin and Prozac and left to a system that does not care about our greater good while our parents have went to pursue the American greed.

Yes, I said it. The 80s changed the culture.. and it didn’t leave the counter culture untouched. They either found God, greed or disillusionment. Introducing the 60 hour work week. Introducing the designer clothing hysteria, introducing the coke and meth and speed subculture, screw the lsd, marijuana, psychedelic one.. that didn’t help you get more stuff done, live more, buy more.. be more. And it was all a great success.. most people were doing pretty well.

They swore they would never be those type of parents. You know, the ones that their parents were. They kept their hippie counterculture liberalism. They were going to encourage their children to just let it all hang out. Their kids would have more then they had... they would be free to be who they were, to express themselves.

And of course, kids expressed themselves by trying to be like other kids. And in the classrooms, unwatched because most households became double income and mom no longer had time to PTA and get outraged by the latest standardized testing scheme... or coca cola advertisement in the classroom.. or television program crafted by the history channel that taught their children to assimilate, children stopped experiencing the same awareness cycle that the generations before them had.

They live in a bizzaro world of adultness, with no education on the mental, spiritual, logical, physical leap from adult to child. Why don't you get touchy feely with that concept and get back to me?

The 90s just sealed the deal. It made greed homogenous and multicultural.

So, we are left with a generation of nonthinkers. The psychological games and warfare of advertisements, standardized testing, television, etc have subverted real emergence and development of culture, temporarily. This is an incredibly toxic culture. And the kids of today are tremendously worse off for it. And just a hint, they didnt make it that way.

Will we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and figure it out? I'd wager to say yes. Is the onus all on our parents? No! But, before you boomers pat yourselves on the back anymore, maybe you could realistically sit down and look at this mess that you've given us to somehow fix.. and then, maybe you could do more then metaphorically pass on the torch and run some boot camps to equip us for the reality you guys have been trying to shield us from for the last 30 years.

Your job wasn’t done when you turned 30 or 40 or even 50. My job wont be done till I die. As Antoine de Saint- Expuery said, "What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step."

Wanna walk together?

[librechik]

61. wise words

may I add that the "greaser generation" (Reagan et al) has ALWAYS been at war with the "hippies" (boomers) and I view the current exterminative war against the boomers as part of that drive. The greasers always hated intellect (although they admire shrewdness) and freedom of action, which they never enjoyed. (They Worked Hard and dropped out of school to support their families, unlike the Lucky Boomers who went to college and demonstrated.) Greasers think boomers are lazy, and conservative boomers are always trying to suck up to the greasers by showing off how strict and rich they are (not necessarily hard workers--the more sadistic ones tend to be bosses and just bully others for their daily bread)

They envy us our educations (which they paid for) but also have utter contempt for "book learning" go figure. So they celebrate simpletons and measure success with dollars and land instead of personal achievement. We always believed there is more to life than that. They think we hate them for who they are like they hate us. But we really love them, even though they are evil and lost. We are the true Christians, not those poor profligate hupocrites.

You are so right--Hippie Boomers are unique and irreplaceable--we have to keep things growing if we can by modeling behavior for those in the younger generation who are like us--activists and believers in social justice. There are never many of them in any generation, most stay out of the struggle. But let's cherish the few fellow travelers, whatever and wherever they may derive from. We need every one.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

64. Confucius was wise, yes,

and those are brilliant words.

But, personally, I favor the immortal path laid down by Hunter S. Thompson, who knew a little bit about getting stuff done:

"When the going gets tough, the weird turn pro."

While I appreciate your sentiments, and all the thought and care you took to put those words together, I must caution you against the hubris that tends to overtake your good intentions.

You have no idea, because you are young, and because you've not yet made it to where we are, of what life takes as you move through it. When you're responsible for the well-being of your children, your parents, perhaps other family members, when you are spending all your time making sure your children grow up to be good people, when you've got financial responsiblities that will span into future generations, you do not have either the time or the energy to do the things you would like us to do.

My job, as far as the things you need to get accomplished, is done.

Now, it's your turn, because your vision is different from what mine was when I was your age.

Now, it's your turn because you are going to have to take care of your own family as you grow up and older.

Now, it's your turn because that's the nature of the universe.

My job is done. Yours is just beginning. And my only sadness for you right now is that you're somehow locked into thinking you're supposed to do it a certain way, when, in fact, the greatest act of bravery is to break away from the traditional patterns and blaze your own trail. That's what we did in the sixties, and we changed the world.

It starts with one person. As I'm certain you've heard, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I've gone about eight hundred miles so far, so you might as well take your first step.

Your life is now. John Mellencamp said that. He was right.

[BeTheChange]

72. All of us live right now.

And unless you believe in reincarnation, this life is the only one we have. I find it interesting that you cite Hunter, who fought to the end.. and when he couldnt fight anymore he chose his exit. He didn't just exist in the mire.

I guess I'm lucky to have parents, inlaws, grandparents, aunts, uncles and a global community to privledge me by sharing their experiences in life. I won't apologize for my youth, although my youth is fleeting just as quickly as you allude that yours has, nor will I ask you to apologize for your age. I guess what gets to me is how nostalgic everyone waxes while talking about the metaphorical torch that has been passed on compared to the world that has been passed down. No generation is handed a picnic, but whoo wee boy, this is a doozy.. and as another poster said, we really need all hands on deck right now. Whoever dropped the ball did and it wont do any of us a lick of good to stand around pointing fingers at who is next to pick it up. We are all playing hot potato right now.

Indian tribes would meet and asses their actions and the impact on the next 7 generations, all the elders and leaders.. It was a good practice. They were able to help the younguns have a broader view and insure that their way of life was passed down. They participated in society like this their whole life. But Indians arent any stranger to a life full of hard work.

I think we are a selfish society all around, boomer, xer, whatever. But we cant afford to be too tired, young, old, ill prepared, etc. There is too much at stake right now. And to understand how to fix it, to understand how to come together, we have to realistically dissect what got us here. Once we understand the breakdowns, we can make them stronger, we can do it right.

What happened in the 60s was great. Thank you for being a part of that. But see, we all need a shift in our paradigm now. Maybe you can wake some of those folks up from your generation too.. Maybe you can remind them of that time, because you hold their vernacular.


You are the only generation that knows and remembers the feelings of the 60s and 70s.. the ones that came after have never experienced change or promise on any level nearly equivalent. I think alot of us believe it was myth, legend.. and I think there is a touch of that as well. Don't hide your light under bushel :)

[OldLeftieLawyer]

74. It's your time

The path you must make is your own. Demanding that others join you is the best way to make sure you never take your own step.

Get going, child. Your future will not be found putting words through a keyboard.

You seem not to understand the basic concept of being a child struggling towards adulthood:

You must first kill all the adults. Even Confucius knew that. Then, you must learn to listen, something you don't seem to have perfected. You must listen, and not be so taken with your own music, because the music out there is what will determine your path. No, I'm not talking about the music industry, either; I'm talking about the music of the universe, the song only you can hear.

It's time for you to make your own songs, make your own demands, make your own paths, make your own history, as we did.

Get going, and quit whining.

It's your show. We had ours. Let's see what you can make of it.

I wish you luck.

[BeTheChange]

79. Heh...

Wow, how condescending. Does someone have to be in their 50s to be an adult to you?

Whining? Id suggest you quit being lazy.. but we could go back and forth here for days and your attitude isnt uncommon, unfortunately.. and it hasnt been uncommon in the way it has shaped this society either.

Good luck on your death dirge.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

80. Yeah, pretty much the response I anticipated

You'll whine yourself into middle age, and it will always be someone else's fault.

You "suggest (I) quit being lazy"? You pretentious little know-nothing.

You are gonna have one hell of a life, child. I do feel sorry for you.

Thanks on the death dirge thing. We're decorating it now, with all kinds of riffs you'll never get to know.

[wellstone_democrat]

65. uh, you live in Lubbock---you view is skewed

what do you get: DLC types and "compromisers" on TV and Kool Aid drinkers in real life. You aren't going to run into much "radical firepower" in your neighborhood (even if you live in Tech Terrace)

[lumpy]

25. Ha ha ha...a lawyer like me

trained to see beyond the obvious. Lawyers are trained to be nitpickers beyond the obvious. OJ case comes to mind.

[txaslftist]

27. Those nitpicker secured an acquittal...

...that's pretty good picking.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

36. We are?

And you know how we get to the details, sport?

By seeing the Great Big Picture.

If your reference point for the way lawyers work is the OJ trial, I'd say you've got some serious learning to do.

[cassiepriam]

43. I often wonder the same thing. How does McCain et al look in a mirror?

I hope that some day we can get candid comments
from some of the pols mentioned. I would love to hear the
real deal from them. What are they thinking?

[spanone]

23. Aye to OldLeftie!

[6th Borough]

33. My republican, baby boomer dad last voted for a repub in 1988.

I'm sure that my father isn't the only boomer who has made that shift (he was born in '52, BTW). He has always been socially liberal (it doesn't help the repubs that socially liberal/civil libertarians are no longer made to feel welcome under the "big tent")...he has grown more economically progressive w/age, however. It could partly be traced to his life experience; he grew up in a multiethnic urban area (Queens, NY); his father, following a divorce from his only wife, moved back in with my great-gandmother and lived in the attic 'till the day he died...he didn't know anyone his age went on to college besides himself (and he started in community college), none of his friends, etc...

The last republican he voted for was Bush the Father, 1st term, and not since, in any level of government (he also voted for Carter 1st term, BTW).

Why is he still a republican? Well, he tried to re-register as an independent, but there either was a screw up when his voter's registration was renewed (or he just forgot to check the party affiliation box...tha't my guess).

It's no big deal though, he doesn't consider himself a republican; he also doesn't vote in primaries, negating the true worth of having an affiliation.

Personally, it was very interesting comparing the direct mail I recieved in 2004 with my parents (the 3 of us= 1 repub, 1 democrat, 1 unaffiliated).

[cassiepriam]

42. I am shocked that in my town the boomers support torture.

They write comments to the newspaper that they do not
care if US troops torture Iraqis, as long as "the troops come home
safe." They also do not want the paper to publish any torture stories. The total immorality aside, the boomers can't understand that torturing Iraqis puts us all in danger.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

46. Those boomers

are the same people who screamed at us hippies as we marched to protest what was going on in Vietnam.

They're the same ones who think Dick Nixon got a raw deal.

We come in all sizes and shapes, like any group. I'll wager the senior citizens and youngsters break down in approximately the same ratio.

So, don't say "boomers." Say "idiotic sheep."

[cassiepriam]

47. "idiotic sheep" is way too polite for those who support torture....

I have other words, but will refrain. And yes I remember
those pro war idiots during viet nam. AGH. Beam me up scotty
I want off this planet!

[OldLeftieLawyer]

48. No, no, stay here!

We need all the smart people we can get.

And you're almost at 1,000 posts!

So, stay. Please.

I promise not to hurt you if you stay ................... :hippie:

[cassiepriam]

50. Gee, what happens at 1000 posts?? DU hat or refrig magnet??

I'll think about staying, but can't make any promises if really good offer comes in from another planet. Anything has to be better than earth! At least early 21st century earth...

[OldLeftieLawyer]

51. I think something happens,

but that could just be my affinity for four figures.

If you find another planet, let me know .................

[txaslftist]

52. The day I hit 1000 posts was the same day I found out my wife

was having a boy. Coincidence?

You decide.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

53. Uh oh

You better tell this to cassiepriam.

Uh oh.

[cassiepriam]

56. gee somebody better prepare me for the 1000 posting drama...

I don't like surprises.... yah, I find a nice planet,
no offense, not sure I want any other earthlings
spoiling the deal. Actually that may disqualify me from
emigrating to any other planet. I am stuck.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

59. Just don't emigrate to

Uranus.

We'd miss you, and the bad jokes would never end.

[cassiepriam]

63. Heck I am here for awhile, can't miss 1000th, I want the DU baseball cap

and matching tote bag.

[raccoon]

75. Thank you! Don't lump all boomers together. nt

[raccoon]

76. self deleted--dupe nt

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

2. Hmmmmmm.... I think if you take a poll of DUers you will find that many of

us are baby boomers.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. You might. As an aging baby boomer, about Hillary and Kerry's age,

I know many who 'sold out'. However, there are probably many more of us who didn't.

[MuseRider]

5. No it will not

if you are truly committed to the cause and do not end up running for office and listening to others tell you how to run. (that is a guess on my part as to the why of those positions)

I was a bleeding heart liberal as a kid and I am still a bleeding heart liberal, maybe even more so, at almost 52.

[lectrobyte]

6. I could sort of understand where Kerry and Hillary were coming from,

even though I disagreed and thought it was stupid for Democrats to do so. McCain totally baffled me, though. I'm not a Senator, so I can't begin to understand the compromises it would take to get there, much less to run for President.

[SeattleGirl]

7. I'm actually becoming more engaged and active as I get older

not less. Perhaps the difference is that the folks you cite are politicians, and I'm not -- I'm politically active. Maybe the complacency they exhibit is more a product of being in politics for so long, that they have lost touch with what motivated them in years past. Sad....

[calico1]

8. I am a Boomer and I don't think

like they do. Remember there are also Generation X'ers who also think Bush is cool and support the war. :-(

[murray hill farm]

14. either as a boomer or an Xer...

it will depend on just how much and the circumstances by which u bought into the system. For the boomers..and maybe even more for the generation Xers, if the system was bought into...and one worked hard to follow the rules, gave up a lot to follow the rules, well....the rules did work. if one studied hard, went to school, got a good job and worked up, developed a good credit rating, bought cars and houses..and are up to their ears in mortgages and debt to maintain the good life, well..then it did work for them...all of their lives and all of their experience has reinforced this..and the rules for success are then passed down to their children...and from that perscpective, the system works..and it works well...and no one in that situation really wants to look at the big picture..especially if the big picture might show a scene of it all falling apart. all that they have dedicated their lives too optaining and maintaining. as long as they close their eyes...and salute the flag and dont look any deeper, that wonderful denial can be maintained.

[wuushew]

9. McCain is not a boomer (born 1937)

the point is still valid however. War sells in Amerika unfortunately.

[Acryliccalico]

11. I am a boomer

and am more active. :kick:

[Totally Committed]

12. I'm a "Baby Boomer", and my convictions

are as strong today as they were when I was juat a "Baby". I have not mellowed with age, nor do I plan to. No going gentle into that good night, no selling out, and no giving up. For as long as I'm here, it's full-throttle.

But, that having been said, I know more sell-outs my age than those who, like me, have refused to mellow.

The fire in your belly will turn to water, only if you allow it to, and only if you're willing to sell the part of your soul that makes you who you are today out for expediency and comfort.

TC

[Jim Warren]

13. Good question

And I am one, smack in the middle of the age bracket, and I'm often repulsed by them.

Like, what's up with former hippy 60's radicals from Chicago that morphed into Neocons copping the Churchillian young no heart/older no brain thing.

Coming crises include boomer retirement/health care bubble.

[Johonny]

16. Well

I'm not sure Kerry or Hillary have changed that much. Kerry did fight in Vietnam and then fought at home to end the war. He has clearly come down on the line that the President made a mistake starting the war His position now is to get Iraq stable enough to allow us to exit. He has stated that if things do not improve soon (and they won’t cause Bush is incharge) that the US will have to cut and run.

I much more lost as to the neocon born again voting baby boomers. Many of them when I was growing up were pot smoking party hardy parents that now have morphed into god fearing, money first retirees.

[leftofthedial]

17. we're all senile, impotent old coots

ya friggin whippersnapper

now get out so I can take my nap, or I'll shock n awe yer snot-nosed little ass.

[MuseRider]

20. LOL

:applause:
:rofl:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

54. What you said.

Wait.

What?

YOU SEE THEM BIRDS?

Pass the munchies.

[leftofthedial]

67. don't bogart the munchies

if it wasn't for the flashbacks . . . (drum roll)

I'd never find my car keys.

[DURHAM D]

18. Kerry is not a baby boomer - he was born in 1943. eom

[Union Thug]

19. In 40's and MORE RADICAL THAN EVER...

These people have a single interest that underscores EVERYTHING they do...and that is to remain rich and elite.

As a working stiff who must suffer in the world they create, my positions have shifted more and more to the populist Left as I have gotten older.

[damntexdem]

21. Our political leaders don't seem to be living in the world with ...

the rest of us. They are certainly not doing their best to make it one worthwhile for either future generations, nor for the old age of those of us who are Boomers.

[txaslftist]

26. You think its because they're all millionaires?

Seriously, the only folks I seem to admire these days are decidedly NOT millionaires, like Howard Dean and Kucinich...

Is the wealth gap so huge that they don't really see the rest of us?

[Greyhound]

22. As someone that has been just behind the boomers my whole life

I would dispute these claims of most have kept their values. Most of them never had any values, nor ideals, except where these 'concepts' coincided with their own self interest. They got really involved with ending the war when they were to be drafted. They were all for helping the poor, until they saw a chance to make money. They were for civil rights until black people moved into their neighborhoods. When did you ever hear this generation talk about health care and how we treat our seniors, until now that they need health care and are getting old? Where did all those raygun repugs come from? Do you listen to the anti-pot campaign-of-lies they are pushing? They know from first hand experience that it is all lies, but now it's their kids.
"I have seen the enemy, and it is us"

[txaslftist]

28. Wow... harsh criticism, albeit a pretty good one.

I never really thought about it in that light. So they were just another manifestation of a "me first" generation in beads and flowers?

whew.

[Greyhound]

38. That's what I've seen during my life. They are the "me" generation. n/t

[Greyhound]

40. I neglected to qualify my previous rant by saying that those of you

who were there and are still decent human beings, thank you for trying, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
:kick:

[raccoon]

78. Thank you for that.

But what you said earlier, "they are the "Me" generation.

Yeah, and all Gen X are "slackers?"

I'm sick and tired of baby boomers being stereotyped.

Gosh, to have lived in a time when every generation wasn't named by the goofy media.

[marions ghost]

58. Guess what--many Boomers in the last two decades

were actually scrabbling --to get through school, make a living somehow, many raised children and are now taking care of THEIR parents. Many have had to revamp for second careers when the first one dead-ended. The Boomers I know are not living it up on easy street--maybe they are where you live. I don't know too many Raygun Repugs either...a couple who've repented. And I certainly don't want to be lumped in with the ones who've gone neo-con and are attempting to screw the rest of us and our children.

You're tarring with too big a brush. Times are VASTLY different now than in the 60-70's. You can hardly even compare the two eras. Everything "progressive" seemed doable then (as opposed to now)--but there was also a very strong force that was NOT going to let that kind of idealism get too far if it could be stopped--this is the legacy of the Reagan Era, which many of us barely survived financially. The 80's were absolute hell for many of us slogging through school and thankless jobs. Of course we now try to contribute to our communities, but WHY SHOULD we have to worry our whole lives about saving THE WHOLE DAMN COUNTRY anyway?--People in Europe don't have to do that. THEY GET TO TAKE TIME OUT to LIVE! I resent that we don't. But here I am, because the situation is just too serious to ignore.

ANYWAY--time to stop whining about what any of us DIDN'T get from the generation before! It's all hands on deck now. The challenges today are different and require different strategies. This struggle is going to take EVERYONE from ANY generation who gives a flying f about where this country is headed.

The Enemy is NOT us--and never has been.

[librechik]

62. The boomers split into two camps in about 1975.

The selfish ones you speak of discovered cocaine, money, and the cruelty of addiction. Those assholes are often Republicans nowadays. They are slaves to the Borg. Forget them. They had kids called Xers, who hate everything, and why wouldn't they, with parents like those.

The values-oriented ones mostly gave up drugs or stuck to pot and a little wine. We're the Stoneground Hippies, and some of us are still around, (even if we don't look like hippies anymore) and we haven't given up. We still talk about all those issues, (we effin invented some of them!) and in many cases are living our ideals, not just gabbing about them. We have spawned a few Xers, but some of our younger kids are called the Global Generation, who are into a worldlinked brotherhood based around stewardship of the earth. They are too young yet to show their power, or express who they are much, but they are just what we need in our future.

You sound like an Xer. If you stopped being quite so pissed off at the wrong people and started to get more activist, you could turn into a Global a Hippie Boomer could be proud of.

[wellstone_democrat]

66. I'm at the end of the BB and have been saying this for years

I'm tired of being tarred by the brush aimed at the front half or so of the "boom"---those of us who were young children during their heyday of the late sixties are always surprised to hear what "we" were doing or responsible for.

[raccoon]

77. Most of the things you've said could apply to ANY generation.

For instance, that about the draft. What you've said about that is true, and I can tell you a lot of Bush supporters now in their late teens and 20's would change their minds if they were at risk of being drafted.

"Most of them never had any values, nor ideals, except where these 'concepts' coincided with their own self interest."

That's true of most people of any generation.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

29. Hmph, I for one am more leftist than I was in the late 1960s

It's what you get for gaining a little life experience.

[txaslftist]

30. So were the lefties of the sixties just self-interested in avoiding...

...the draft? Were they people whose principles just 'blew in the wind?' Or did they fall asleep?

And what about the politicians who grew to power riding the coattails of the new liberalism? Were they just opportunistic free riders or principled?

And if principled, what happened to the principles? Does the give and take of politics become so natural that compromise on any principle is possible?

Bugs me.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. As one who was there, I know (and I've probably written this in

a dozen posts over the past few years--it ought to be a FAQ) that fewer than half of my generation was ever left to begin with.

Look at the teen magazines of the era, say a copy of Seventeen from 1968, and you'll see miniskirts with long jackets, white knee highs worn with about half-inch heels, and pigtails tied with yarn. Or, on the males, khakis worn with shirts with button-down collars and hair slightly long, like the 1964 Beatles. There were a lot more people going around in those kinds of outfits than there were in typical hippie garb.

It was the heyday of protest music, but it was also the heyday of bubble gum music. Top 40 radio might play "Piece of My Heart," "Hey Jude," and "Abraham Martin and John," followed by "Sugar, Sugar" and "One Two Three Red Light."

A lot of people became temporary protestors because it was fashionable, but a lot of others remained completely conventional.

Television always goes for the more pictorially exciting options, so the newsreels of the era give an exaggerated picture of how many countercultural types there were.

From what I saw, the baby boomers who voted for Reagan were largely the same ones who voted for Nixon in 1968 and 1972.

The people who had true anti-war convictions and a passion for social justice are almost all still that way. I've seen a lot more gray-haired veterans of other social movements at current anti-war protests than I have seen thirtysomethings or late twentysomethings. To their credit, though, a lot of the teen and early twenties types are very active.

[Greyhound]

39. The term "day tripper" comes to mind. n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

45. Or the Japanese term

"three-day monk" (mikka bouzu).

[Hardrada]

70. How about "plastic hippie?"

I am actually a War Child (geboren 1944) and so can look askance at later gens from my own perspective. In Ia City during the Movement days we could count on 400 (being wildly optimistic) to come to our rallies out of a student population of 20,000 or so.

[Igel]

31. There was another thread today (re: Miers) that implied that

change is good. Not "some change", but "change" is "evolution".

People frequently change.

Here are some wonderful examples: Not all change is good.

On the other hand, it's possible to drift from liberal to conservative (and back again) depending on context. My brother-in-law worked for the Forest Service counting spotted owls; long-time dem. He liked Carter, thought Reagan was a dufus. Now, years later, he hangs out at Little Green Footballs, voted for *, and thought Kerry was a dufus.

A guy I knew in college worked on the Clinton/Gore campaign as a high school senior. His senior year, he was president of the College Republicans, claiming he didn't change, but everybody at college were so far left that it made him fit in with the conservative crowd at school.

[cry baby]

34. No, absolutely not...You will only get stronger

Those people have to compromise because they are politicians first, human beings second.

People in their fifties usually find their voice. You have already found yours and it will only get stronger the older and wiser you get. I am almost to 50, too, and am just finding my voice. I am getting stronger, too.

[NervousRex]

37. Marketing labels....

fuck 'em!!! I have always choked down the vomit at the use of labels like : Baby Boomer, Gen-X,Y,Z; and shun those who employ them in place of honest thoughtful analyses. People are people...some are assholes, some not.

[eridani]

41. Hey, Bernie Sanders and Dennis Kucinich are baby boomers

We haven't all sold out.

[cassiepriam]

44. I keep waiting for PROFILES IN COURAGE to happen in real life today. nt

[linazelle]

49. What? Another bash the Dems thread? What a surprise. nt

[txaslftist]

55. NOT a bash the dems thread.

Not a where are the dems? thread either.

This is a "where are the boomers?" thread. I AM the Democratic Party, and I don't bash it.

[BeTheChange]

60. OMG, another thread encouraging discourse@@!!!! What a surprise! nt

[kentuck]

68. Technically, Kerry and McCain are not "baby boomers"

They were both born before 1946.

[wisteria]

69. Why? Maybe because this is a different war, we have no draft

so the soldiers who are fighting made that decision themselves, different enemy, and a broader picture of what is actually going on.

[nvliberal]

71. First of all, of the three

only Hillary is a baby boomer.

McCain at 69 is fully ten years older than the beginning of the baby boomers. He was born in 1936.

Kerry is three years older, born in 1943.

[Skittles]

73. I will will stay with you, txaslfist

right down to your tagname, I could have written your entire post :)