"Klein: Baby Boomers Ruined The Government"

[applegrove]

Klein: Baby Boomers Ruined The Government

By Joe Klein at Time

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2154390-2,00.html

"SNIP..............................


I am not saying the baby-boom generation caused the government shutdown, but we've presided over an era during which public trust in government has been demolished. We allowed the influence of concentrated money to corrupt our democracy. We allowed the gerrymandering of congressional districts, especially the racial gerrymandering that became legal after the 1965 Voting Rights Act, to make it less likely that politicians would run in districts with a centrist majority. We were brilliant at marketing, which plays to our niche differences. All of which conspired to make the political parties ideologically coherent rather than confusing regional coalitions. Those coalitions allowed a system where compromise was easier than confrontation. There would have been no New Deal without Southern Democrats, no Medicare without Northern Republicans.

We are far from that now. My generation has done wonderful things--increased equality across racial, gender and orientation lines; rock 'n' roll; The Sopranos; Whole Foods--but we have made a hash of government. We failed to bring our democracy into the information age; instead we brought it to a precipice. We allowed lobbyists to fester, turning every major piece of legislation into an encyclopedia of contradictions. There is some polling evidence that the millennial generation will be different, more collegial. I certainly hope so. Our sell-by date has passed.



...............................SNIP"

[Oilwellian]

1. Speak for yourself, Joe

You were one of their biggest cheerleaders. Schmuck.

[applegrove]

2. Could this be a sign those people who aren't strong dems are

actually reassessing the whole gerrymandered world the US has become? Could this be regret?

[Eleanors38]

3. Another generational bashing. Yawn.

[JHB]

4. Lazy, lazy, lazy "analysis". Lazy enough to eliminate the "ysis" part.

Boomer, Joe? Really? That's the commonality you see?

Not the oceans of money in political operations?

Not the concerted and well-funded efforts by Movement Conservatives to undermine the government on ideological grounds? To force government back to it's "proper" role, NOT working for those trying to get ahead, just for those who already are?

But no, why blame the parties responsible when you can just blame "boomers" in general?

No wonder your nickname is "Joke Line".

[JaneyVee]

5. Seriously.

[Warpy]

7. Hey, asshole! Nobody ever consulted me on any of this stuff

and if they had, I'd never have allowed it!

So there.

[BootinUp]

8. A moment of lucidity.

[Spider Jerusalem]

9. "We allowed"...

the WWII generation were still running things up until, at least, the mid-'70's or '80's (Bill Clinton was the first president in 40 years who wasn't a WWII-era veteran; Jimmy Carter was at Annapolis during the war). And it's the Nixon Southern Strategy that ruined the government, probably. Playing to racist Southern whites. Racism is at the heart of the Republican Party's policies of the last 40 years or so; defunding "entitlements" and so on is more about "I don't want my tax dollars paying for those people" than anything. (See the percentage of Republican voters who think blacks constitute a majority of those on welfare, for instance.) And racism is also behind the Republican extreme right refusing to accept Obama's legitimacy.

Lee Atwater:

You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.” - See more at: http://www.thenation.com/article/170841/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infamous-1981-interview-southern-strategy#sthash.OypqE3N6.dpuf

Which is a much better explanation for the USA's current political dysfunction, and the Republican Party becoming representative of extremist Christian fundamentalist Southern whites, than "the baby boomers fucked things up".

[icymist]

22. This makes more sense.

Read it!

[WilliamPitt]

10. Oh, bullshit.

I can't even fathom the size of the broad brush necessary to paint an entire generation. How about the members of the "Greatest Generation" who fought like wolverines against Social Security and Medicare, who ruined lives and careers hunting commies or stayed silent during that hunt, who wallowed in the Jim Crow rule of law? Or the generation before that which invented Jim Crow to begin with? Or the generation before that, which had to have a massive morality conference called the Civil War before coming to the conclusion that chattel slavery might not be such a hot idea? Or the generation before that, which brought, bought and sold those slaves on this continent to begin with, all while slaughtering the natives?

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm...think it's possible we're still enduring the shitty morals and decisions from those generations, kinda, sorta, maybe?

And WHO ruined government?

History is consequences, and the consequences of our history have been battering government pretty much since we set up shop. Blaming one generation alone is obnoxious folly.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

11. Joe can kiss my ass..........

This tripe that passes for journalism is disgusting. Baby boomers were born between 46 and 64. The first ones would have been 19 when the Voting Rights was passed. How many 19 year olds do you know that have any political awareness, much less clout at that age? We all can agree, I hope, that changes really needed in American society/culture regarding policy and procedures are controlled by the 1%. Many things got changed as a result of pushing back on the system. The things that really counted ; laws with teeth, real justice for all citizens, ecological responsibility, have been blocked or reduced to all sizzle and no steak. If we aren't in the 1% we aint shit..............

[applegrove]

12. But exploring what is wrong will go a long ways to letting the reality

that something is actually wrong sink in. And that is a start.

[pinboy3niner]

13. Yeah, we had a meeting and good governance didn't get enough votes

[applegrove]

14. LOL!

[HappyMe]

23. Of course, we did!

We hurried through the vote because we wanted to get to the cake and coffee social.

[SoCalDem]

15. So many draconian laws were promoted & passed by so many Boomers

NOT!!

MOST of the presidential/senate congressional decision-makers until The Clinton presidency, were of WWII era

Clinton's administration was hobbled mercilessly from day-one by this crew of "pre-Boomers"..and their toxicity lingers

[struggle4progress]

16. I have to admit, I wasted some years of my adult life thinking that the system was so corrupt

that it would be not only pointless but actually immoral to get involved politically

[Cha]

20. Glad you saw the error of that kind of thinking!

[struggle4progress]

21. Me too!

[FarCenter]

17. Although George W was a boomer, Cheney and his cabinet were from the previous era

Most were either WW II vets or were born before 1946.

[Hekate]

18. Thinks he's humorous, but generally just an ass.

"We allowed" -- no, actually "we" didn't, not any more than the rest of the 99%.

[YoungDemCA]

19. Right-wingers-regardless of when they were born-ruined the government

Enough of this generation-bashing.

Signed,
A Non-Boomer