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Many analysts, desperate for some angle on the events in our nation's capital, have focused on generational conflict.
In this script, there was a noble and virtuous generation which overcame the Great Depression, triumphed in World War II and established justice and prosperity throughout the land in the 1950s.
Just when all seemed serene, along came the evil Baby
Boomers, an immoral and narcissistic generation who have
tried to impose their horrible 60s values
on the
decent and hard-working people of America. However, the
traditional forces of virtue are now staging a
comeback.
While this might make for an enchanting parable along
the lines of Lord of the Rings
or The Stand,
it doesn't fit the world we live in.
One of the most prominent adherents of this dingbat theory is former federal jurist Robert Bork, who has made a literary career out of his disdain for the values of the 1960s.
The last time I struggled through one of his books, I
kept thinking, Okay, Judge, all of us who were born
between 1946 and 1964 are terrible, and the generation that
came before was perfect. But if they were so damn perfect,
how did they raise a bunch of louts like us? Couldn't you
at least admit that they messed up in that respect?
No, he couldn't. It doesn't fit the scenario. Most facts don't. The elders of 50 years ago were horrified by bobby-soxers swooning for Frank Sinatra. The highest divorce rate in American history wasn't among degenerate Baby Boomers -- it was among their parents, in 1946.
Most of this generational division was a contrivance of
Madison Avenue 35 years ago, trying to find some way to
sell overpriced sugared water to the Pepsi
Generation
and gas guzzlers to the Dodge
Rebellion.
It continues as a way for Bork and his
comrades-in-arms, like William J. Bennett and George Will,
to sell books and haul down five-digit speaking fees.
I am a Baby Boomer in good standing, born in 1950, and if you had asked me, 30 years ago when I was fresh out of high school, what America would be like in 1999 when we Baby Boomers would be in charge of things, I'd have made these predictions:
· No golf. We were way too cool to be hanging out at decadent country clubs, pretending to get exercise. By now, all the golf courses would have been turned into places where you could toss Frisbees, either with your mellow friends or with your faithful dog.
· No Las Vegas. Garish and noisy, for starters. Home of the pitiful old guys like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin who tried to sound hip and didn't have a clue as to how square they really were. Really unhip lounge acts like Wayne Newton and Tony Bennett. Truly uncool stuff on stage like strippers and dance revues.
Plus, we were the best-educated generation in the history of the universe, so we knew that the gambling odds always favored the house, and we were smart enough to stay away.
· No Suburbs. We might build new towns, we might live in bustling downtowns, or out on our holistic little farms where we could grow our own marijuana and commune with the wild creatures -- but we wouldn't live in sterile sprawling suburbs, especially some income-segregated enclave where we couldn't relate to our brothers and sisters. Plus, regularly watering and mowing a lawn is about as uncool as an activity could get without involving the CIA or the Army.
· No pro sports, especially football. You've got to participate in life, not just sit on the sidelines and watch. That whole scene is so competitive when it's cooperation that's cool. And football, a bunch of big men violently contesting about territory -- hey, what a bummer, you might as well get into war, which hurts children and other living things.
· Legal Pot. Every study that's ever been done says the stuff is totally harmless, and it doesn't even give you a hangover. It grows everywhere, so everybody can enjoy a cheap mental analgesic. Big Alcohol is against it, of course, but they can figure out a way to get a piece of the action, and America can be this relaxed, mellow, cool place to groove.
· No Dress Codes. What with all this automation, most of us won't even have to work, and if you do want to make a little coin doing your own thing, well, people will judge you by your profound deep inner beauty, not by shallow external appearances.
Now observe that people still buy power outfits, marijuana is more illegal than ever, pro sports dominate American popular culture, the suburbs continue to grow, Las Vegas thrives, and golf courses keep multiplying.
None of this would be happening if 60s values
had
exerted any effect whatsoever on modern America, which
means that those who say they are fighting the good fight
against 60s values
are just knocking over a straw
man that they fabricated themselves. How brave and noble
of them.
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