Dana Milbank, who is about a year and a half older than I am, is morose about our generation. I think he’s off base. Now in our mid-forties, the people of our generation are only beginning to assume positions of power. We didn’t bring America the War on Terror. We certainly didn’t invent the Tea Party, which is primarily made up of old farts who don’t realize that their Medicare is a federal program. Our generation is going to fix this shit and hand off something better to the next generation, which is the one that is going to really transform this country for the better. We’re just suffering from the death throes of a vanishing America, and we’re not going to miss much of it.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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So it’s “the Handoff Generation”? I guess that’s less presumptuous than “the Greatest Generation” (though they didn’t coin that).
The median age Tea Partiers seem a few years younger than the GGs. What should we call them – “the Curmudgeonly Bastard Generation”?
After the GG and before the Baby Boom came the “Silent Generation”.
I’m a great beleiver un the theories of Howe and Strauss as summarized in this wikipedia entry. According to this theory, Booman and other Gen X’rs, such as my daughter, belong to a “Nomad” type generation,
I and other Baby Boomers belong to “Prophet” type generations.
However, many here would not associate “inspiring words” with me. More likely, the “embittered words” associated with a Nomad.
I’m a bicentennial baby (so, 36), first child of late-boomer parents, so I think that I’m on the line between Xers and Millennials. I definitely feel that line, and fall over to one or the other side of it depending on the issue or circumstance. It’s an odd feeling but I guess I’m used to it by now.
The first Millennials were born in ’82, so you are definitely a X’er. But it’s not unusual for people near the end of a generation to feel a kinship with the next. And, of course, not everyone in a generation is the same.
Yeah, I spoke to soon; went off to read the link after commenting, and got sucked in. The demarcation lines seem to move depending on what you read, and I guess I had another one in my head (that marked Xers as ’65-’80, which still doesn’t help my comment) when I said that.
But yeah, they’re humongous generalizations that fit in just enough ways to make them totally interesting.
Right. Like my older sister who is a Silent, born during the war. Most Silents are conservative, but she is more Liberal than I am, enthusiastically working for McGovern. I think her one conservative vote was for Goldwater in 1964 against Johnson. She had voted for Kennedy in 1960. She just hated Johnson and wanted him out. That was one of only two Republican votes. The other was for Judy Baar-Topinka for Illinois Governor and was made for Feminist rather than political reasons. Similarly she voted for Hillary in a forlorn hope of electing the first woman President. Still, she would never vote for Palin, whom she considers a disgrace to all women.
But other than her politics, her personality fits the Silent Generation, not aggressive at all, very congenial.
The Howe and Strauss books are incredible. I learned more about American history from them than I ever did in school. And their theories have helped me to maintain my sanity in this crazy age. Knowing that we have been in similar positions before, and that we survived, gives me hope. Everyone should read them.
More on the Howe and Strauss books, please.
Wikipedia actually has a good introduction to their works and theories. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss-Howe_generational_theory
That was the second link in my original post. Thanks for pointing it out.
The first link is to Amazon’s order page. I bought the book about ten years ago in a remainder shop for $1.00. I was out of work at the time.
Not looking good for your generation so far:
Scott Walker – 45
Paul Ryan – 43
Ted Cruz – 42
Bobby Jindal – 42
Marco Rubio – 42
Chris Murphy (40) – U.S. Senator, Connecticut
Martin Heinrich (41)- U.S. Senator, New Mexico
Kirsten Gillibrand (46) U.S. Senator, New York
Michael Bennett (48) U.S. Senator, Colorado
Chris Coons (49) U.S. Senator, Delaware
Steve Bullock (49) Governor, Montana
Martin O’Malley (50) Governor, Maryland
I only took two minutes and used a cut-off age of 45 (mid-forties). With more time and an additional five years, my list would be much longer. And include Rand Paul.
Yes, but look at who is electing them.
So, my generation has talented people with whom I agree, and talented people with whom I don’t. So what? Isn’t that always true? But if you look at where we stand over all, X-ers tend to favor civil rights and we believe in taking care of each other. We’ll be fine.
Yes. But there are no more of the former in your generation than there are among Boomers and we’re not fine. What heavy lifting have X-ers done so far? As for civil rights, early Boomers did carry that issue forward but can’t take credit for the heavy lifting. X-ers get even less credit on that issue than early Boomers. Early Boomers were in the thick of it wrt to the Vietnam War, women’s rights and gay rights.
Late to the thread and OT, but Meet The Press will be re-airing the 1963 interview with Dr Martin Luther King Jr.
NBC Re-Airing Martin Luther King Jr. Interview
“Our generation is going to fix this shit and hand off something better to the next generation”
Just wait for the Teatards to die off, and take credit.
Pretty much. Our main job is to keep them from destroying the world before they die off.
So, you know how Prince Charles is caught between a powerful elder who refuses to retire, and a charming son who everyone loves? Is there any point in Charles taking the throne instead of just passing it on? The X-ers are in the same sort of bind. The Baby Boomers are living longer than any generation before them, and keeping power in their own hands as long as possible. The Millennials are still very young, but you can already see how they are going to change things. And we’re stuck in the middle, just trying to keep the world in one piece long enough for our kids to finish growing up.
Obama is the first X-er president, and a perfect example of our generation. He has done good things and bad things, but he’s gotten a great deal done with a minimal amount of drama. He doesn’t worry about who’s getting the credit or blame, but about getting things fixed, as he sees it. And he’s not making sweeping reforms. He’s just trying to make it all work well enough for us to survive until our culture is ready for bigger change. He’s not the huge hero we hoped for, in part because of a Congress that is still mostly in the hands of Boomers. But also because his personality is more inclined to small, pragmatic steps. But when he’s done, I believe that the average American will be better off for what he’s achieved. And that’s all the X-ers really want.
So, everyone here seems to think that each “generation” has separate personality characteristics? Is there any actual evidence for this of any sort? It seems like Time magazine-level pop sociology at its most pointless.