Paul Begala: The Worst Generation

[traelin0]

Normally, I don't find myself reading Begala's uber-left rants. But I just felt the polarization of the Giffords thread should be addressed in the proper perspective. Consider the generational equation. 5-10 more years of their "leadership", max, and hopefully we'll have something left to fix. ;D

I hate the Baby Boomers. They're the most self-centered, self-seeking, self-interested, self-absorbed, self-indulgent, self-aggrandizing generation in American history. As they enter late middle age, the Boomers still can't grow up. Guys who once dropped acid are now downing Viagra; women who once eschewed lipstick are now getting liposuction.

I know it's a sin to hate, so let me put it this way: If they were animals, they'd be a plague of locusts, devouring everything in their path and leaving but a wasteland. If they were plants, they'd be kudzu, choking off ever other living thing with their sheer mass. If they were artists, they'd be abstract expressionists, interested only in the emotions of that moment -- not in the lasting result of the creative process. If they were a baseball club, they'd be the Florida Marlins: prefab prima donnas who bought their way to prominence, then disbanded -- a temporary association but not a team.

Of course, it is as unfair to demonize an entire generation as it is to characterize an entire gender or race or religion. And I don't literally mean that everyone born between 1946 and 1964 is a selfish pig. But generations can have a unique character that defines them, especially if they are the elites of a generation -- those lucky few who are blessed with the money or brains or looks or skills or education that typifies an era. Whether is was Fitzgerald and Hemingway defining the Lost Generation of World War I and the Roaring Twenties, or JFK and the other heroes of the World War II generation, or the high-tech whiz kids of the post-Boomer generation, certain archetypes define certain
times.

...

In the long run, will it matter that one generation was so spectacularly selfish? Maybe not. In a great karmic irony, the Worst Generation may in turn be raising another great one. Having taught the children of the Baby Boomers off an[d] on for five years now, at the University of Texas at Georgetown, I find them to be the opposite of everything I despise about their parents -- they are engaged in their communities, spending endless hours volunteering to build housing for the poor or to feed the homeless. They are concerned about their classmates, having calmed down the PC mania and replaced it with a sensible sensitivity to the feelings of others. They care about the future and are concerned about their grandparents. They are more responsible in their private lives and more engaged in our public life. I have no idea whether it's because of the Boomers or in spite of them.

Read more here.

[Tennesseer]

You young tykes-You can thank your very existance on the Baby Boomers.

[Value Buy]

Jan 9, 2011 0:27:24 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

You young tykes-You can thank your very existance on the Baby Boomers.

If it wasn't for the greatest generation, there wouldn't have been a baby boomer generation

[traelin0]

Jan 9, 2011 0:27:24 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

You young tykes-You can thank your very existance on the Baby Boomers.

And our current wars, inflation, immorality, unfunded liabilities' insolvency, outsourcing of manufacturing...

But yes, thanks for your DNA donations, however tainted by LSD it was.

[warsaw (banned)]

It's like every other generation- the Dems are cool, the Pubs suq imho

[traelin0]

Jan 9, 2011 0:48:07 GMT -5 warsaw (banned) said:

It's like every other generation- the Dems are cool, the Pubs suq imho

That's not what he said at all. He said that, for the most part, the Boomers suck. I agree. They give bloodsucking leeches and malarial mosquitos bad names. AND -- the best part is that he is a Democratic Boomer who worked for a Democratic Boomer POTUS.

AND just like him, their children and grandchildren will be doing the happy dance when they walk off the field...or the inflation they created destroys them from within. All they know is polarization. Go look at the Giffords thread and tell me it's not an accurate snapshot of their typical ploys. "Democrats this", "Republicans that", "Palin this", "HuffPo that"...WHO CARES. Where's one iota of original thought from a Boomer?

Here's an original thought -- or not -- from a child of Boomers. RETIRE ALREADY! ENJOY THE INFLATION YOU CREATED!

[Deleted]

So if the boomers suck (my parents), the children of the boomers are leaders (me & dh), what are the grandchildren of boomers (our children) going to be? Another generation of feel-gooders?

[traelin0]

Jan 9, 2011 1:14:08 GMT -5 @rosebaby said:

So if the boomers suck (my parents), the children of the boomers are leaders (me & dh), what are the grandchildren of boomers (our children) going to be? Another generation of feel-gooders?

Another Silent Generation or "Great Compromise" Generation. Think MLK, Ron Paul, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay. Very well-off individuals who follow their words with actions, albeit oftentimes settling for compromises. Assuming those children aren't the Millennials, who immediately follow Gen X. The Millennials are the next WW2 Generation, Founding Generation, Civil War Generation. They do the dirty deeds of the Boomers and Gen X is there to *attempt* to stem the bleeding.

During the Revolution, it'd be like this:

Boomers = Enlightenment (Ben Franklin, at best)
Gen X = Liberty (George Washington, Francis Marion)
Millennials = Founding (Thomas Jefferson, James Madison)
Gen Next = Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, War Hawks.

[dancinmama]

Geez, it's another hating on Boomers thread.

[traelin0]

Jan 9, 2011 1:39:12 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Geez, it's another hating on Boomers thread.

It had to be done. That Giffords thread is so polarizing that I felt it necessary to reorient the polarization. ;D

[dancinmama]

Jan 9, 2011 1:41:08 GMT -5 @traelin0 said:

Jan 9, 2011 1:39:12 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Geez, it's another hating on Boomers thread.

It had to be done. That Giffords thread is so polarizing that I felt it necessary to reorient the polarization. ;D

Next time could you find another topic to "reorient the polarization"? j/k

Seriously, though. There is at least one thread a week that hates on the boomers. Some of us have worked hard, have lived within our means, have saved for our retirement, etc. I hate being lumped in with the financially irresponsible of my generation.

[Deleted]

Well, then, if that generation is going to be so great, lets hope that the gen-x-ers in their attempt to "stem the flow" don't "stifle the imagination"


But haven't you heard? The poles are shifting! ;D

www.notmsnmoney.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=politics&thread=1152&page=1#41589

[traelin0]

Jan 9, 2011 1:48:30 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Seriously, though. There is at least one thread a week that hates on the boomers. Some of us have worked hard, have lived within our means, have saved for our retirement, etc. I hate being lumped in with the financially irresponsible of my generation.

I understand. But there is no denying that the generation as a whole has caused the majority of our mess today, and there is going to be a horrific backlash against it.

Reduce everything to the lowest common denominator. For instance, the highest abortion rates were among the Boomers at (last I checked) around 40+ million. Think of all those potential taxpayers paying into SS to keep it solvent. It's karmic.

[Tennesseer]

(Trae) Another Silent Generation or "Great Compromise" Generation. Think MLK, Ron Paul, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay.

I was shocked you wrote this until I realized there was a space between the names 'Henry' and 'Clay'.

[Tennesseer]

Trae-Who is MLK by the way?

[traelin0]

Jan 9, 2011 10:38:09 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Trae-Who is MLK by the way?

Gasp Tenn! Dr. King!

[Tennesseer]

trae-
Oh-you mean MLK Jr.

[traelin0]

Jan 9, 2011 11:40:39 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

trae-
Oh-you mean MLK Jr.

Yes.

[Tennesseer]

When you mixed MLK Jr. in with the likes of Ron Paul, Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay it was confusing.

[traelin0]

Jan 9, 2011 11:54:42 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

When you mixed MLK Jr. in with the likes of Ron Paul, Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay it was confusing.

Same generational archetype, many top level similarities, based on their experiences as children and young adults. You may like this book by two Boomer generational historians. It's fantastic.

www.amazon.com/Fourth-Turning-William-Strauss/dp/0767900464/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294592436&sr=8-1

[handyman2]

I wonder reading some of his stuff if he was specifically targeting the Congresswoman or really just striking out at the government and society as a whole and she happened to be the most convient target at the time for him to vent his demented rage.

[traelin0]

Jan 9, 2011 12:11:44 GMT -5 handyman2 said:

I wonder reading some of his stuff if he was specifically targeting the Congresswoman or really just striking out at the government and society as a whole and she happened to be the most convient target at the time for him to vent his demented rage.

handy, Begala penned this article 11 years ago. I was just trying to reorient the polarization of the Giffords thread to a different topic.

[handyman2]

Tre: They posted some of his current rants on tv and they both seem to vent the same theme. Although it does take a little reading between the lines. He seemed to hate everything that did not fit his idea of how things should be.

[traelin0]

Jan 9, 2011 12:29:16 GMT -5 handyman2 said:

Tre: They posted some of his current rants on tv and they both seem to vent the same theme. Although it does take a little reading between the lines. He seemed to hate everything that did not fit his idea of how things should be.

handy, you're a Silent Generationer, right? Tell me he's not dead-on with regard to the Boomers. They're only making it worse on themselves by digging in their heels on the welfare programs. Seems kinda masochistic if you ask me, considering they only have a few more years of power in this country. And their political choices have bankrupted us.

I remember the very first question of my very first Engineering class, Intro to Engineering. The professor posed us with a dilemma. Imagine we were on a sinking ship, we had to save ourselves, and we had to save one other person. We had to choose to save our mother, our significant other, or our child. Who do we save?

[sanityjones]

I remember the very first question of my very first Engineering class, Intro to Engineering. The professor posed us with a dilemma. Imagine we were on a sinking ship, we had to save ourselves, and we had to save one other person. We had to choose to save our mother, our significant other, or our child. Who do we save?

Most people today would save an average persons weight in FRN's rather than save their own Mother.

[Deleted]

Jan 9, 2011 13:48:50 GMT -5 @traelin0 said:

Jan 9, 2011 12:29:16 GMT -5 handyman2 said:

Tre: They posted some of his current rants on tv and they both seem to vent the same theme. Although it does take a little reading between the lines. He seemed to hate everything that did not fit his idea of how things should be.

I remember the very first question of my very first Engineering class, Intro to Engineering. The professor posed us with a dilemma. Imagine we were on a sinking ship, we had to save ourselves, and we had to save one other person. We had to choose to save our mother, our significant other, or our child. Who do we save?

Is there a right answer to the dilemma?

[traelin0]

Being engineers, the class was divided on their SO or child. It made sense on the surface. Those who answered SO pointed to the future potential of reproduction among an already-defined couple. However, the professor deliberately did NOT define the age cohort of the couple.

[traelin0]

Jan 9, 2011 13:57:43 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Is there a right answer to the dilemma?

Yes, when emotions are put aside in favor of logic. It will be the dilemma of the ages for America as well.

[Deleted]

Jan 9, 2011 13:59:13 GMT -5 @traelin0 said:

Jan 9, 2011 13:57:43 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Is there a right answer to the dilemma?

Yes, when emotions are put aside in favor of logic.

So what is the logical answer?


Definitely don't save Mom, because she is a lousy baby boomer.

[traelin0]

Jan 9, 2011 13:59:52 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Definitely don't save Mom, because she is a lousy baby boomer.

Sarcasm (and emotional kneejerk) aside, you save your child because they present the best opportunity to continue your DNA. Or expand it out to say that futurity presents us with the best opportunity to save the country, species, whatever.

We are at that point in this country. We will have to choose at a national level whether sacrificing our nation's future is worth it for a generation that has refused to live within its means and continues its policies of profligacy.