By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
Where did it all go wrong, I wonder? When did our parents become hard-nosed bigots and religious freaks? Did we simply refuse to notice which All In The Family jokes made them laugh loudest, secret admirers of Archie Bunker’s candor? Did we fail to note their growing interest in televised evangelical promises to double and triple their income with regular tithing to the likes of Jim and Tammy Fay, Oral Roberts and Jimmy Swaggart, who fleeced the rubes in the name of Gawd? Were they social and political closet cases long before The Times™ swung that door wide, allowing a lifetime’s collection of racial bias, insecurity and fear to come tumbling out? Oh, I know — I’m generalizing — but seriously, what exactly WERE they discussing during those Friday night card parties, and why didn’t we know about it earlier?
And how did so many of our kids turn into Alex P. Keaton? Did we watch one too many episodes of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” with them, activating errant DNA that overrode their ability to put perspective on how much is TOO much? Did we cater to their wants and misinterpret their needs? Did we give them too much stuff without understanding it to be the gateway drug to a lifetime addiction to rogue capitalism? Did the Gordon Geckoes of the world take on all the luster and sparkle of baseball heroes, morphing greed and hubris into a new brand of ‘cool’ that even the Fonz couldn’t compete with? As for the many who did not measure up to an almost-mythical blend of cut-throat competition and cold-hearted calculation, why are we surprised they’re now living in our basement?
A fine generation we Boomers turned out to be. We started out working for the Peace Corps and ended up retiring from Morgan Stanley. We marched in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in union strikes and anti-war protests and ended up more envious of Mitt Romney’s 100 million dollar IRA than distressed that union membership is in the crosshairs, or that political protests are being relegated to appropriate ‘zones,’ out of sight and mind of those who should be subjected to them. And even now, with the nation in tatters and the future dicey, the Pluto in Leo generation is more concerned about “looking good” in their retirement than making sure the whole of us have a roof over our heads and a meal in our bellies. We started out a “we” generation and ended up concerned about “me.” We devolved.