jiddBaby Boomer Bomb-digityPosted by: Jim Isaacs | October 3rd 2008 |
This post is directed toward those of you who may actually be, or have relatives who are your average typical 50 something baby boomer. For those of you who don’t know, the baby boomer generation is currently running our country, and will do so for the next 10-30 years until they start taking their final exits. I am talking about the baby boomers who were born with a golden spoon in their mouth from the prosperous 1950′s after the war-torn GI generation came home to a booming economy after WW2. These baby boomers are most of the greedy SOB’s that so many people in the media speak of anonymously in economics and politics.
That being said, the point of this post is something that has been frustrating me for the past two elections.
What is the reason why they are so conservative? Why do they portray themselves as being ignorant in important issues, but are apparently not as ignorant as they portray? Not including this election, why have the candidates been so bad? Why was someone like G. W. Bush allowed to be elected, TWICE?!
Let me give you some perspective… For all of you 20 to early 30 somethings that might be reading this. Do you have parents, or relatives that fit the profile I previously described? Have you ever tried to have an important conversation with them about the energy crisis, alternative energy, foreign policy, global warming, abortion, stem cell research, health care, or just politics in general, etc.? What kind of response do you get out of them?
Not much at all right. They usually either smile or look like they’re interested in what you are saying, but about the only rise you get out them is when you bring up religion or money. It seems like if you could get into their minds, you can almost hear the words “awww, that’s nice”.
Here is my point: no matter how old the generations below the boomers are, or how much responsibility is on them, the boomers will never take them seriously. We are just kids to them until they are either dead or senile.
The youngsters have always been labeled as rebellious. In reality, when it comes to important issues of this country, the baby boomers’ only cause for ignorant decisions is to make sure they choose the opposite from their kids. Most of the time they don’t even have a good enough reason of why they vote the way they do. Their reasons sound something like this: “I don’t know, I just like him”, “he has good morals”, “he knows his stuff”, “I like his policies (…silence)”, “He’ll show them terrorists whats good for them”, “He makes me feel more safe”, “He is really experienced”, “He’s a nice man”, “He’s a good christian”, “He’s a maverick”.
Believe me, if that’s what they see as a maverick, then I’m voting for Goose.
In reality, what do any of these responses have to do with being a good candidate for government, other than maybe the head of some gated housing community.
If we don’t want to see these kinds of people elect another person like in the past two elections, we have to take more initiative in our conversations. Don’t give up. Perseverance is the only way to get through to them, because intelligence, obviousness, and common sense definitely do not.
Working on the people you know is where the start should be, instead of mass marketing which also seems to have no effect on them regarding political issues. To give an example, things like “lipstick on a pig” have more bearing on them. The only way a good candidate can be elected is if we get through to them, or the same will happen again.
Statistically speaking, the young vote only matters, if we can convince 30-40% of the baby boomers to vote our way.
It CAN be done, good luck.
I just have to say this right here on this post, and now on November 5th, 2008…
I TOLD YOU SO…
and
WE SHOWED THEM!!!!
Yes, you certainly did show us. Now that you've show us, when is it not going to be George Bush's fault anymore? I'm just younger than "boomers" by a few years. Maybe the reason the older folks sort of dismiss you mentally when you talk about global warming is that we remember the seventies- when we were all going to die under a pile of trash and toxic waste. We remember that it used to be global cooling, not global warming. The energy crisis? Agreed we need more cheap energy- is nuclear ok yet? Alternate energy- still a bit dicey, don't you think we looked at that under Carter? Stem cell research- are you a parent yet? Have you ever held your own child in the quiet of the night as they drink from their bottle and stare into your eyes? Maybe after you have done that you might favor any stem cell research that does not involve killing babies.
Continued….
Perhaps the reason the boomers seem to check out is because they have seen this stuff before. Go back and watch the state of the union addresses of presidents down through our recent history. They all said the same things, were solving or have solved the same problems. They were all going to bring new perspectives and solutions to the problems of the world and the country- look at the Middle East! They remember other presidents who people thought were nice or had good morals but they thought were idiots. They’ve stood there in the voting booth and considered- "evil, or lesser of the evils?”
Continued…
President Obama isn't anything new (look at all the recycled appointments he's made from the Clinton years), you just don't realize it yet. Remember the British sailors taken hostage by Iran and put on television to talk about the horrible things their country was doing? Look up the USS Pueblo- this has been done before. By the way, the North Koreans took pictures of them to show the world they were being treated well, which they weren't. The crew found ways to get the point across, by making a hand gesture they told the North Koreans was the "good luck" sign. It was the middle finger, they didn't know what it meant. Again, look it up.
Continued…
No, I didn't vote for B.H.O. I voted against him, by voting for McCain, the lesser of the two evils. Why? Not because he "seemed like a nice man". Because he's worn the uniform, he's been in combat; he's been a navy pilot. That's a lot of training, responsibility (have you driven a multi-million dollar vehicle lately?) and danger he's faced. At some point in his life, he was smart and dedicated, and can prove it. Do I relish the thought of four years of "my friends" and Democrat "light"? No. Was he qualified because "he got shot down"? No, I didn't think he was qualified, but I couldn't vote for Alfred E. Neumann (what, me worry? MAD magazine, a long time ago); he wasn't on the ballot.
If we're all very lucky, you will live long enough to see another Obama, another Hillary, and another McCain. Then it will be your turn to decide to let it pass when someone who doesn't know history tells you that something is new.
When is a gun not required to make people listen?
If you can answer this, and make yourself believe it before you try to make me believe it, then maybe we have something to debate here about McCain and Bush.
Talking about children, what about the parents who watch their children with disabilities loving them unconditionally, but having to watch them die none the less because of the lack of medical research. It's not about the banning of certain stem cell research practices, this is about the banning of research altogether. You are comparing apples to oranges, which is exactly what Bush and anyone like him tries to do when bringing religion into medicine.
Don't get me wrong, I am a moral person and a believer…
I just don't pretend to know anything. Which is a lot more than 90% percent of people who consider themselves a part of some sort of common faith.
You compare the future to the past like every person who repeats history.
If we take that point of view, then everything that has happened is another point to discourage future action. Sounds kind of the opposite of what looking to the past should do don't you think?
Thank you for pointing out that things in history repeat themselves. I had no idea…
Of course things also happen in a cycle of 4 increments of 20 years. In an up and down cycle.
Whatever you want to believe, I believe this is the up swing, and when it's our turn to take the down swing, I can only hope for the next generation to take initiative like this one.
All in all, the baby boomers like to believe they had as much experience as their parents, our grandparents, when they were really born with a bunch silver spoons.
Wow!, this was a top quality post. In theory I’d like to write like this too – taking time and real effort to make a good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate a lot and never seem to get something done