Is it really Boomers' fault?

Boomers catch a lot of heat for being the "me" generation, for being the last generation to live better than their parents, for orchestrating America's decline from a proud nation to a failed social experiment. Every measure of societal health has fallen off a cliff since Boomers came of age in the '60s and '70s, and negative trends have accelerated since they rose to power in the '80s and '90s.

A question arises. Is it their fault?

I've been toying with the idea it isn't. A sea change occurred in the first half of the 20th century. The post-war liberal consensus became the de facto ideology of the ruling class. There were a few high-profile exceptions, like Charles Lindbergh and Joe McCarthy, who exist now as caricatures of backwardness. But the real power resided with the Kennedys and Rockefellers.

That ideology did not really begin to bear fruit until it had filtered into and reshaped the public consciousness. Many Boomers were toddling around in diapers while this was happening. Not one Boomer sat on the Supreme Court that delivered the Roe v. Wade decision (1970). Not one Boomer voted for the Hart-Celler Act (1965).

So if it's not Boomers' fault, whose fault is it?

Adam Lane Smith wrote a terrific piece on intergenerational views of heroism. I recommend you read the whole thing, but I pulled this quote:

If WWI was bad, at least people believed it was “the war to end all wars”. WWII convinced the survivors their sacrifices had been in vain. The Lost Generation struggled to stay out of it until they were dragged in, then they sent their children, the Silent Generation, to die in another futile war against the same enemy: Germany, this time on steroids, plus a new enemy: Japan. These two brutal regimes showed the Lost Generation and the Silent Generation that humans were capable of true evil, and many came back scarred and broken from the confrontation.

These battered, ravaged souls who threw themselves into workaholism to feed their dying kids and lived on the edge of disaster gave birth to the Baby Boomer generation. They also craved freedom from the stifling inner city, and returning GIs were given incentive to build their own single-family homes. A single woman was now responsible for maintaining the entire household while a single man was responsible for funding every aspect of life. Cue the rise of “Mother’s little helper,” designer anti-depressants and anti-anxiety pills to help cope with the increased stress of isolated nuclear families who don’t have time to learn about each other or develop deep loving bonds.

How could these older generations possibly give Boomers what they needed to understand love, objective morality, warmth, nurturing, and family responsibility? Most Boomers barely knew their parents on the inside, down in their emotional core. We call the Silent Generation exactly that because they refused to talk about how they felt because they’d probably commit suicide if they stopped to think about all they’d endured and had taken from them. The Lost Generation and the Silent Generation gave themselves in near martyrdom to provide for their children, but the absence of larger family structures meant many Boomers went without those additional guideposts (grandparents, uncles, aunts) that would have taught them the value of love and family.

Some grew up understanding love nonetheless, seeing the deep sacrifices made on their behalf and recognizing what it meant. Many did not. Many Boomers resented the harsh disciplines laid upon them to prepare them for what the Lost Generation and Silent Generation knew were the secret horrors of the world. “Toughen up or you’ll die” could be an exact quote from these older generations, but to the Boomers, the strict rules from absent parents who came home exhausted and angry and barely had time for their kids smacked of draconian totalitarianism.

“You can’t tell me what to do, old man,” became the rallying cry of the Boomer generation. The movie Grease embodies this, and we start to see the true rise of the antihero.

No one wants to pile on the generation hardened by two world wars and the Great Depression. They bested the Ottoman Empire, Hitler, Mussolini, and the Dust Bowl. It would be tragic to suffer so much for the sake of world only to let faith and the first principles of culture wither on the vine, before their children could taste it.

Yet I think that's what happened.

No matter. It's up to Gen X, Millennials, and Zoomers to reverse the momentum of the recent past. It starts with faith in God, and builds through culture and community.

As always, let me know what you think in the comments. If you like hard sci-fi, check out my books Seeds of Calamity and Tendrils to the Moon. You can find extended previews for each here and here.