"You say you want a revolution, well, you know we all want to save the world. . . You say you got a real solution, well, we'd all like to see the plan. . . It's going to be all right, all right, all right."
John Lennon, "Revolution," 1968
Below: A Guest Comment by Andy Seles:
It turns out the Baby Boomer generation didn't save the world. The idealism that seemed so palpable in the late 1960s faded into the demands of the grown up world of work and paying the bills.
High school hippies became yuppies.
The college radicals of the 1960s watched the line of progress from FDR's New Deal, to the group cohesion of WW2, to the Civil Rights bills that included more people into the American polity, and then the passage of and Medicare of the early and mid-1960s. Surely, this trend toward a social welfare state would continue.
High school hippies became yuppies.
The college radicals of the 1960s watched the line of progress from FDR's New Deal, to the group cohesion of WW2, to the Civil Rights bills that included more people into the American polity, and then the passage of and Medicare of the early and mid-1960s. Surely, this trend toward a social welfare state would continue.
But it didn't. It stalled, then reversed.
Industrial unions began shrinking, industries deregulated, Reagan was elected. Bill and Hillary Clinton, who tried to continue the social welfare trend by expanding healthcare, was rebuffed in the 1994 Gingrich landslide. He described the zeitgeist: the era of big government was over. The public trusted market capitalism--not government-- to allocate resources and rewards. It is an era of dis-investment in schools, in infrastructure. Government functions privatized.
Guest commenter Andy Seles shared an insight and perspective on what happened. He observed that the Boomer generation turned inward, toward self actualization. A generation that focuses inward is a poor breeding ground for socialist programs.
Andy Seles is a retired English professor and co-founder of Move to Amend Jackson County, a member of the Peace House Board, and current chair of Our Revolution Southern Oregon. He describes himself as a student of history, who encourages a non-partisan return to patriotism as defined and practiced by the Founding Fathers.
A comment by Andy Seles
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| Seles |
"In "Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire" Kurt Andersen makes a good point.
While much was gained in the sixties in the area of civil rights and social progress, economic progressive deteriorated. Andersen attributes this to the underlying "mantra" of the "revolution:" "Do your own thing!" This extreme focus on individualism and individual perception brought us the "me generation" and the cult of personality.
Perhaps, after food, water and shelter, human beings most crave community and acceptance of their individual perceptions..."kindred spirits." The underlying theme of a shift from the conservatives fifties gave us the likes of Abbie Hoffman and Angela Davis but it also gave us Dick Cheney and Grover Norquist...all "doing their own thing."
This, I submit, was the foundation of our current tribalism based not on the true patriotism, envisioned by our enlightened founders, rather on what has become acceptable, subjective self-indulgence."
Tomorrow: The cycles turn. Youth is rejecting the old.
3 comments:
The term "me generation" is a Regressive pejorative and, like all of them, a simplistic descriptor of a cultural observation whose inaccuracy is only exceeded by its meanness.
This is complex, but essentially the shadow of WWII hovers over our society, exacerbated by the Cold War and Middle East tension, and has essentially made it a military bunker with a terrorized population. It's extremely difficult for leaders to move away from this fundamental mindset. The economy depends to a large degree on weapons manufacture (no wonder we have guns everywhere).
It's created a schism where people try to have prosperous and fulfilling lives all the while existentially anxious. I could go on...
No "meanness" intended, unless you are referring to the second meaning of the term: "lack of quality or attractiveness; shabbiness as in
"the meanness of that existence." This describing the present state of our country and our infatuation with all things "individual." Bernie Sanders has to constantly remind his audiences that he is not the "divina ex machina" who will save them...that the political revolution is a MOVEMENT. As a nation we have been brainwashed by popular fiction and movies and a plethora of historical anecdotes...constantly providing us a false reassurance that single person can overcome great odds...the exceptional and great American hero. We" "We" is the antidote to "me." I see "We" heroes everyday; their numbers are growing.
Andy Seles
Are yo saying that Boomers aren’t self indulgent, Rick? C’mon man ...
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