How Baby Boomers Ushered In Our Narcissistic Age
By: Michael Morris (The Federalist)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Helen Andrews' book, 'Boomers: The Men and Women Who Promised Freedom and Delivered Disaster,' offers a penetrating and damning look at a generation that put America on a path to ruin. By Michael Morris By Michael MorrisFebruary 26, 2021
On Nov. 4, 2019, the radio host Bob Lonsberry of WHAM1180 took to Twitter to air his grievances. The host was fed up with the prevalence of "OK Boomer" memes on Twitter.
Just short of the season of Festivus, he conflated the memes with hate speech: "Boomer' is the n-word of ageism. Being hip and flip does not make bigotry ok, nor is a derisive epithet acceptable because it is new." Lonsberry was done listening to the internet-fueled ageism on steroids. After years of cultivating "snowflake" and "Peter Pan" as practical analogs of the word "millennial," the baby boomers were not about to lay down and take it in return.
Then again, anyone who has survived the COVID-19 apocalypse thus far should only be surprised at the vainglory. Only a generation who has been dictating the past 50 years of cultural trends could happily raise children and grandchildren who demanded worldwide lockdowns and wave it off as the price of living in society. The Baby Boomers ushered in this narcissistic age, and the millennials will have to wrest it from their cold, dead hands.
It is against this backdrop of inter-generational warfare that an editor of The American Conservative, Helen Andrews, has released her book Boomers: The Men and Women Who Promised Freedom and Delivered Disaster. Written in the spirit of Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians, Andrews chronicles the rise and dominance of this generation through the profiles of six prominent baby boomers.
To Andrews' credit, these are not characters everyone loves to hate. She admittedly picked people with whom she feels an affinity. The chapters are broken down into several boomer mini-biographies that cover the lives of Steve Jobs, Aaron Sorkin, Jeffrey Sachs, Camille Paglia, Al Sharpton, and Sonia Sotomayor. Each symbolizes the deconstruction of his or her professional field, and together come to represent a collective boomer arc.
Destroyers of Institutions
It is hardly a secret that the Baby Boomers never quite grew out of the tendentious years of their youth. As Yuval Levin describes in "The Fractured Republic," "The boomers' self-image casts a giant shadow over our politics, and it means we are inclined to look backward to find our prime. More liberal-leaning boomers miss the idealism of the flower of their youth, while more conservative ones, as might be expected, are more inclined to miss the stability and confidence of early middle age—so the Left yearns for the 1960s and the Right for the 1980s."
In both cases, as Patrick Deneen has demonstrated, this nostalgia—manifest in the social deregulation of the Sixties and the financial deregulation of the Eighties—has had a devastating effect on American civil institutions.
In the story of Al Sharpton, Andrews highlights how his contribution to civil rights undermined the truly democratic "Machine Politics" in favor of macro scale change. Functionally, this means cutting the little guy out of the process by seeking reforms through courts and corporations. The incentive, however, is pretty straightforward—in shifting the preferential option towards the powerful—channels of great personal enrichment become available.
Through Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor, Andrews paints a portrait of how the courts essentially weaponized law against the longstanding institutions of America. While the Baby Boomers, merely carrying the torch of the Warren Court to its absurd conclusions, are not singularly guilty of razing the social safety nets of Main Street via judicial activism, we can certainly see their fervor in carrying the torch. The reader encounters how the baby boomers' seething hatred of all things remotely resembling tradition undergirds their willingness to use the levers of power to revolutionize the law.
The End of the Labor Left
In 1977, the reader is offered a visceral glimpse of the end of labor as the hinge on which left-wing politics shifts. The Sex Pistols' single "God Save the Queen" had been released by Virgin Records, but the laborers who pressed the vinyl walked out in protest amid controversy surrounding the lyrics. For the average worker, the song was thought of as nothing short of treasonous, but it is here where we see corporate liberalism coming into its own.
"Joe Lunchbox" was cast aside and boomer chic now gyrated to the pied pipers of corporate America. Andrews summarizes, "After weeks of negotiation, Richard Branson prevailed and the workers were forced to produce the record. The fact that this is remembered as a victory for free speech and not a corporate boss quashing labor is the decline of the Left in a nutshell."
Anecdotes of this sort, pervade the book. Andrews explains, "Instead of champions, the working class got neoliberal triangulators like Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. By the time Hillary Clinton became the presidential nominee in 2016, there was no longer much attempt to disguise the Democratic Party's alliance with the educated and wealthy elite.
This was the year one left-leaning news outlet ran a headline, in the wake of various business boycotts in support of leftist causes, suggesting that "corporations are replacing churches as America's conscience." Time and again, we are able to see the same story play out, whether through Apple CEO Tim Cook's unholy alliance with China or Jeffrey Sachs's slash and burn brand of Harvard humanitarianism, boomers demonstrate a dogmatic eagerness to burn the bridges of the past and steal assets from the future.
Ambivalence of Apple
The character profiled in Andrews' book about whom I remain the most ambivalent is Steve Jobs. He quite literally lived up to the hype of Boomer idealism. His unique amalgamation of hippie ideas and technological foresight manifested in a legitimate form of Platonic excellence. This unconventional recipe guided his desire to unleash the creativity of the Everyman.
Apple really was the product of the rebellious teen and the counter-cultural misfit, and Jobs was the real deal. He was an icon who marched to the beat of his own drum, both anti-political and pro-America, once bragging about never voting in a presidential election. He was also known for stubbornly keeping his business affairs state-side when outsourcing work to China was the thing to do.
But for every Jobs, there's a mediocre boomer lurking in his shadows. Tim Cook has single-handedly engineered the worst excesses of the Apple Empire. His tenure as CEO has been one of excitedly applying the Apple logo to the most banal of leftist political causes.
He has also trailblazed lawsuits against the federal government in the push to normalize corporate use of slashing costs via Uighur labor camps. Cook has managed to take a company that uniquely reflected its founder, in his commitment to personal excellence and unleashing the creativity of everyday people, and turned it into yet another NPC meme.
Andrews closes her book with an obvious, but necessary question: How does this affect Gen X, millennials, and other forthcoming generations? Unfortunately, there's not much room for optimism.
While millennials may be very sensitive to boomer excess, they seem to want to double down on its ugliest manifestations. We saw the chaos of the sixties play out in the Black Lives Matter riots over the summer, and the absurdity of a "free love" state of mind come home to roost in plummeting marriage and birth rates.
While the television era has given way to Twitter, we are still living a significant portion of our lives play acting through one-dimensional characters on our screens. Andrews offers a compelling book that will help readers identify these excesses and, Lord willing, maybe provide an opportunity for correction.
Mike is a husband and dad who lives in Denton, Texas. His essays have appeared in Aleteia, FEE, the Libertarian Catholic, and Church Pop. Mike has also written for the upstart cultural commentary site The Everyman.
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I lived through it. This book is on my list.
Trump and his supporters are obviously off topic as am I
... the maybe sometime in the future reading list?
Nothing political should be off topic since the article negatively mentions both Clintons and the Democratic Party.
Ronald Reagan presided over the expansion of Earned Income Tax Credits, which end up requiring the taxpayer to subsidize low wage employers in lieu of increasing the minimum wage and all low wages.
Sorry John, enough is enough. Seeders/authors get to determine topic. This one is clear.
Ronald Reagan presided over the expansion of Earned Income Tax Credits, which end up requiring the taxpayer to subsidize low wage employers in lieu of increasing the minimum wage and all low wages.
The earned income tax credit was enacted by Gerald Ford, though Reagan expanded it. It was the right thing to do.
Reagan ushered in corporate greed and excess.
How about the boomers?
The earned income tax credit is used to hold down the minimum wage. Taxpayers pay money to the working poor that low wage employers refuse to do. Since low wages result in higher profits the American taxpayer is subsidizing stock market gains.
How about people before the boomers?
Was everything just peachy keen until they came along?
Today, Reagan would be run out of town by the maga people.
Easy to do and say when one is not here.
I actually liked Clinton.
What a load of shit.
This is just the opposite of the older crowd blaming the younger generations.
Sounds like an entitled millennial that can only throw blame instead of actually tacking any problems.
Don't know about her. I happen to be a boomer who lived through it. She nailed it.
Bullshit. I was raised by boomers and my childhood was a lot more free than most children now.
Trying to blame boomers for every woe in the country is a copout. One that, like I said, only casts blame and refuses to tackle issues themselves.
Um, your "he" is named Helen. Have you read this book yet?
Have you read post 1?
Um, your "he" is named Helen.
You were a little too quick on the trigger. Any thoughts on the review or the boomers?
Not my fault you edited your comment after I posted mine, Vic.
How does one attest to the truth of a book one has not read?
Do you really think I could post an article and say that I think all conservative people are assholes. Then post an addendum that I am off topic?
It is only a way for you to be able to say whatever you want without any pushback.
Let's begin with a boomer icon:
Timothy Leary , in full Timothy Francis Leary , (born October 22, 1920, Springfield , Massachusetts , U.S.—died May 31, 1996, Beverly Hills , California), American psychologist and author who was a leading advocate for the use of LSD and other psychoactive drugs.
Leary, the son of a U.S. Army officer, was raised in a Catholic household and attended the College of the Holy Cross , the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and the University of Alabama (B.A., 1943). In 1950 he received a doctorate in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was an assistant professor until 1955. During the 1950s Leary developed an egalitarian model for interaction between the psychotherapist and the patient, promoted new techniques of group therapy , and published a system for classifying interpersonal behaviour. He acquired a reputation as a promising young scholar and was appointed to the position of lecturer at Harvard University in 1959.
At Harvard Leary began experimenting with psilocybin , a synthesized form of the hallucinogenic agent found in certain mushrooms. He concluded that psychedelic drugs could be effective in transforming personality and expanding human consciousness . Along with psychologist Richard Alpert (later Ram Dass ), he formed the Harvard Psilocybin Project and began administering psilocybin to graduate students; he also shared the drug with several prominent artists, writers, and musicians. Leary explored the cultural and philosophical implications of psychedelic drugs. In contrast to those within the psychedelic research community who argued that the drugs should be used only by a small elite, Leary came to believe that the experience should be introduced to the general public, particularly to young people.
How responsible was Leary and the boomers for making drug abuse mainstream?
And a lot of boomers want pot legalized. Your point?
Wrong again. Remember, we aren't supposed to make it personal, right?
How does one attest to the truth of a book one has not read?
The book itself? I can't speak for that. The boomers were my generation. A huge generation. I know that in general they did more harm than good. I also agree with the part about what they did to our institutions.
I made it and you just highlighted it.
How was I able to quote your comment, then?
How does one attest to the truth of a book one hasn't read?
Leary isn't Boomer. He is Greatest Generation!
These reviews are the Crib notes version of being 'well read'.
You made no point other than trying to disparage those of your own generation.
No matter what you say, pot is not going to be the downfall of society.
Hahaha
If you have any real point, pushback would not involve a personal attack. That is why I have gone to all the extra trouble of declaring in Post 1 that I am not the topic.
Timothy Leary's dead..
Oh no he's outside, looking in...
He is whom many boomers followed.
What say you to that?
If you see a personal attack, be sure to let the mods know...
You just made yourself the topic.
What are you claiming now?
Only in your mind, Sandy. Surely, you can debate a subject without a personal attack?
You can't inject yourself into the topic and then declare yourself off topic.
How is asking whether you read the book, when you admit that you haven't, a personal attack, Vic?
I'll address it later, but thanks for your concern.
I do not know of anyone following Leary. I am a liberal boomer and he never influenced me.
By simply expressing a thought on whether the boomers had a negative impact on our culture
How does one attest to the truth of a book one hasn't read?
Not what is in the book, but the boomers and what they contributed for the culture.
Last warning Sandy.
Look, the reason I call this bullshit is it is only casting blame on a whole generation.
I would not accept an overall demeaning meme against the boomer generation just like I would not accept a book calling all millennials entitled brats.
It is an over simplification and an overall wide brush that is in no way indicative of the whole.
If you never did drugs, that's great. As I said it was a huge generation. Enough of them did follow Leary to make drug abuse mainstream.
According to the book.
And opium dens were popular in the eighteenth century.
His legacy lives on:
General Drug Use Statistics
In 2o18, 31.9 million, or 11.7% of the population over age 12 in the US were current illegal drug users (had used within the previous month)
In 2018, 53 million or 19.4% of people aged 12 years and older used illegal drugs or misused prescription drugs in the previous year:
Drugs have been used since prehistoric times. People have been using cocaine, opium and cannabis for thousands of years. You greatly overestimate Leary's influence...
But they were not mainstream in the US.
Nope. There were always drugs, but it was a massive generational problem beginning with the boomers. Many of them lived in a Yellow Submarine and puffed the magic dragon!
What part of my statement don't you understand?
Seems someone forgot about the drug alcohol. Which of course has been prevalent in America since its conception. And of course is not a baby-boomer initiated.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, alcohol causes 88,000 (62,000 men and 26,000 women) deaths every year. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism tells us alcohol shortened the lifespan of those 88,000 by 30 years. That makes alcohol the third leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. All other drugs combined cause approximately 30,000 deaths annually.
It’s no wonder more people enter treatment facilities for alcohol abuse than drugs.
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/all-about-addiction/201601/which-is-more-dangerous-alcohol-or-drugs
For the most part it does. The boomers (in general) did change the culture. Did they not? Did you remember what life was like before the late 60's?
If not how can one compare?
Simply remove the veil from it.
Then we clearly didn't need a drug epidemic to go with it!
So you have some romanticism of life in the 1950's...
According to many.
Maybe this conversation is for people who remember our society before the late 60's.
So you are too young to have any knowledge of what life was like?
Ah yes, separate water fountains, separate restaurants etc.
Nothing like the good ole days of blatant racism and sexism.
Women should be in the kitchen barefoot and pregnant.
The great 1950's.
True but being a marijuana user myself and coming out of very alcoholic past where every one of my other immediate family of 5 are dead alcoholics including two younger siblings, I gladly "Puff the magic dragon" compared to being Dead.
I think if I had not had a substitute for booze in marijana I too would be DEAD.
Some of the epidemic we current have is medial based opioids. Like Booze readily available in America and quite deadly.
You don't have any knowledge of it do you?
How about we discuss the boomers who changed life to the world so many accept as normal. Who were the boomer race hustlers who divided America, when things had gotten so good for so many?
Al Sharpton created a hoax and got people killed. Sonia Sotomayor brought racial grievance to the high court.
Thoughts?
Then why cite a book whose contents are unknown?
Now who is doing the personal attacks?
Saying I have no knowledge?
The one that seems to have no knowledge is the one stuck in a box, trying to define a generation by ones own personal grievances.
Race hustlers?
Really?
So the people that wanted change and freedom, equal treatment for all are race hustlers?
Says the people that obviously didn't want change...
Understood. I'm hoping all goes well for you.
We were discussing the boomers and the consequences of social change, remember?
Al Sharpton?
What did he do?
Says the people that obviously didn't want change...
Be specific
I was...
You were asked numerous times if you were old enough to remember.
Just because you were old enough doesn't mean your memory is correct.
Is Ender the topic?
It also sounds like you are saying that people can never talk or discuss actual things just because they were not alive at the time.
An odd view to have, I wonder what historians would think about not being able to talk about history, as they were not there...
How can you compare what life was like before the massive social changes that came in the late 60's, if you weren't alive then?
I have been for a while.
Then why cite a book whose contents are unknown?
Read my next comment...
Drugs are a part of what is being discussed. Somehow alcohol was left out of being drugs. I remembered it is.
Understood. I'm hoping all goes well for you.
Thank you, I am doing fine. I stopped drinking 40 years ago and have done well ever since.
Absolutely not. He was asked a question. He finally answered.
About himself.
I will remember that if you ever want to talk about the civil war.
You were not there so whatever you say is not valid...
About his recollection of an era.
Will you remember that I asked you about Al Sharpton? Or the drug epidemic?
And his age.
Then why cite a book whose contents are unknown?
I could care less about Sharpton. He does not define a generation.
I did answer about drugs, you just refused to see it.
And his age.
That's ok, Vic. I can repost them all day, but I think it's clear to all that this is the equivalent of a book report done from the Cliffs Notes.
[DELETED]
You can and you have.
He, like others, used "white guilt" to divide America racially and it has only become worse with time. BLM is part of that legacy.
And his age. It's there for all to read, Vic. Pointing that out isn't a violation.
And his age. It's there for all to read, Vic. Pointing that out isn't a violation.
Maybe 'white guilt' wouldn't be a thing if white people didn't have anything to feel guilty about.
The US was already divided in the 50's. The sixties ushered in civil rights.
Odd that you seem to be against that.
And his age. It's there for all to read, Vic. Pointing that out isn't a violation.
After criticizing everyone else for making this personal, you have made this very personal, indeed.
Seriously Vic, YOU pointing out that someone hasn't answered a question is rich.
Do you remember that YOU were asked:
Answer?
I think a lot of people took the nation's history with slavery & reconstruction to heart. Americans are a decent people by and large. That sentiment has been egregiously taken advantage of.
The US was already divided in the 50's.
How so?
The sixties ushered in civil rights.
The Civil Rights movement was destined to come at some point.
Odd that you seem to be against that.
I'm against what?
The US was divided by race from its inception through the 50s and 60s when the ''Civil Rights'' era came of age.
It's pretty easy to remember segregated America if you were a minority. [DELETED]
Then what is the point of maligning a generation?
Really Vic?
The answer is obvious - I never said that people who wanted equal rights were race hustlers.
I mentioned specific individuals that divided the country via race.
One cannot divide a country that is already divided.
I don't recall any national objection to the Civil Rights Act.
It's pretty easy to remember segregated America if you were a minority.
For sure.
Congrats, That's the real question here!
Answer:
Let us assume that most boomers rejected the radicalism of the left. The fact that the left went on to do so much damage to the nation may not be their fault.
On the other hand, they didn’t do anything to stop the boomer elites from destroying America, did they?
Contrary to your belief, the 'left' is not responsible for everything that has happened in the country.
There were elites before the boomers and there are elites after.
Acting like the 'elite' is only one side of the isle is a misnomer.
I never said that either, but they have done serious damage.
And his age. It's there for all to read, Vic. Pointing that out isn't a violation.
After criticizing everyone else for making this personal, you have made this very personal, indeed.
No Sandy, I simply asked him a reasonable question - was he old enough to recall the time before the late 60's?
It was you who launched into a personal attack, abused the power you never should have had and derailed another seed.
The opposition to the civil rights movement was both active and violent. The national objection to the Civil Rights Act was significent.
No, you said 'boomers'. That isn't 'specific individuals' that is a WHOLE generation.
Secondly, you seem desperate to ignore that fact that this country has been divided by race since white men stepped foot on this continent. The Europeans and Native Indigenous people were divided by race and the Europeans used the excuse of race to oppress and enslave the 'savages'. We established chattel slavery based purely on race. ALL of that was done long before 'boomers' were a twinkle in their daddy's eyes.
It's obtuse to try to pretend that before 'boomers' America was some kind of utopia, especially on the topic of race relations.
'Many' followed William Buckley.
So what?
I was living in the South during that time, and I can tell you that it was Hell on earth for Blacks and other ethnic groups. Being Cherokee I lived with the hate and discrimination that was aimed at making the non-white people targets for hate crimes and even death.
Although I was a very young girl at the time, that fact did not make the hate any more bearable. And it is not that much better in the South today. The tolerance of anyone with a skin color other than bright white did not exist during that time. And for me, the worst place to live was Texas. Because of my olive complexion they thought I was a Mexican, and that gave itself to being treated with total disdain. And when my Cherokee ethnicity was brought to light, I became a target for eradication.
Texans hated Native Americans more than Mexicans, and I got beatings by gang-up at and on my way home from school. There was no help from the police, school Principal, even when people saw what was happening they turned a blind eye.
For those who did not live in that time, they have no idea what life was like for anyone without pearly white skin lived with. So it is so easy for them to deny such things ever took place, and refused to believe such inhumane acts of violence occurred. To them it was all lies and just made up stories to try to make Southerners look bad.
But, it was not only in Texas, or the South as a whole. Many in the Northern states were just as vicious, especially, toward Native Americans. And that is part of America's racist history.
those aren't your words?
Is there a point to your comment?
Nope.
It is both of them trying to silence me and it won't work.
When losing an argument, try to silence the opposition.
Exactly! Why do we care this guy's opinion of us?
If we Boomers are so uncool, what is this guy?
Mike is a husband and dad who lives in Denton, Texas. His essays have appeared in Aleteia, FEE, the Libertarian Catholic, and Church Pop. Mike has also written for the upstart cultural commentary site The Everyman.
"Our Narcissistic Age"
the Greatest Generation?
The Greatest Generation is a term used to describe those Americans who grew up during the Great depression and fought in World War II
LOL Narcissistic.. the greatest.
LOL ... Worthy of the DUuu
Society and cultures will always change always has and always will. If it didn't we'd still be squatting up in the trees in Africa flinging our poop at each other (instead of using the internet to do so)
And just like this article older generations will always remember the halcyon days of their youth as the best of times while decrying where younger generations are heading. In a couple generations some Gen Z'ers will be online somewhere muttering how in their youth things were great and the new generations will be the ruin of America.
Lol I remember when I was young my great grandfather bitching how women showing their knees, rock and roll and Protestants and Catholics getting along were sure signs of the downfall of society
Some of us don't remember the days of our youth as idyllic and hope to hell that wasn't the 'best or times'.
us boomers made it OK to be happy with ourselves and our accomplishments.
The greatest generation looked down on that, they sought happiness in their enduranc e of hardship and the true grit of men to face it.
Times changed the wars were over, and we baby boomers are the result of times changing, attitudes changing and a long term growth in the economy. Happy times were here again !
In other words we baby boomers are spoiled LOL We were fortunate enough to be born in a fairly safe industrious society where instead of people's and our government's time, money and effort being put into wars, and war production people were free to explore themselves and the world.
I for one feel fortunate to be born into the time I was. I don't consider that to be narcissistic, I consider that to be grateful.
I seem to remember a little 'conflict' that we had in Viet Nam. All too many of my friends never came home from that. Some of those that did were changed beyond recognition. We spent a lot of our time protesting and trying to get the US out of Viet Nam. It was the first 'war' that Americans watched it every night on the news. It became harder and harder for the government to BS us. When they lost Cronkite, they knew it was the beginning of the end.
Timeline of World War II From 1939 to 1945
Vietnam War began 1955 ended 1975
1945 to 1955 There was over ten years before Americans were really thinking about any war, under a thousand US military advisors were even in Vietnam in 1959.
My older sister was involved in protesting but it missed me and most of my friends.
I was born in 1957 by time I was old enough to know about much about the Vietnam war, (We lived in a small town) I was almost old enough to worry about being drafted. By time I was old enough to be drafted, the war ended. One month before.
I did kinda feel bad that I didn't have to go to nam for years then I did some volunteer work with disabled veterans to make myself feel like I at least did contribute in some small way.
I stand by the gist of my post though, boomers made it OK to be happy again. For that I am glad.
I'm a late 'boomer' too but I was about 18 months younger than most of my peers since I started in school so early. By freshman year of HS, I wasn't quite 13 and almost everyone in my class was 15+ with older siblings 16 and older. We all hung out together. By sophomore year, I had friends getting drafted and some coming home in a box.
Sorry to hear about the friends. I knew guys that got drafted but no one close enough to hear what happened to them later.
I felt very fortunate when the draft ended it really was about one month before the month my number likely would have come up.
I was quite concerned as of what to do as I am no killer. I accidentally killed a couple of small animals when I was a kid and it bothered me too damn much.
DO NOT put a gun in my hand and a gun pointed at me. I don't know that I could pull the trigger ... before they did. for sure. I know myself, I knew I was not infantry.
Anyway, as I said I was happy to do volunteer work later and not to be drafted back then.
(I now figured they would have not put me in infantry)
I hope they'd have been that smart anyway. lol
That made me guffaw.
I did not like the 80s or 90s personally... when I was a youth. My favorite time to be alive was the early 2000s even though we were struggling to make ends meet.
Glad you enjoyed it
I realized after I posted it that I should have said some of the older generations. Oh well live and learn
Helen Andrews is a fine writer, perhaps a tad too full of herself and a rolodex too full of obscure personalities . On the other hand Michael Morris is not. That leaves us with he who shall not be mentioned: the seeder ... no comment (very fitting).
Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter weren't boomers. Ronald Reagan wasn't a boomer. George H. W. Bush wasn't a boomer. Bill Clinton was the first boomer President but only by a few months. George W. Bush was also a boomer President, again, by only a few months. Mitch McConnell isn't a boomer. Nancy Pelosi isn't a boomer. Joe Biden is not a boomer.
Our politics is still being shaped by the Great Depression and World War II. Biden wants to be the next FDR. And the Marshall Plan is still a model for American leadership on the world stage. The boomers haven't had as much say in what the United States has become no matter what the finger pointers want us to believe.
That's a damn good point.