Posted by
ClearCommentary.com on Thursday, May 29, 2008 3:25:10 PM
One of the more annoying hallmarks of the Baby Boomer generation is its nearly limitless sense of entitlement, in particular because it's so obviously unearned. In competition with that medal of dishonor is the desperation they bring to achieving a life sans pain or suffering, one that makes expansive demands without so much as a hint of justification.
Although much of this arose out of the social pathology of modern liberalism, conservatives have not avoided the cultural undertow and seem at least complicit in the scheme to eschew responsibility for our self-generated woes, our crises-du jour--housing, health care, the financial markets, crime, social security, energy, and, of course, the war in Iraq. Compounding the problem is the hyper-responsiveness of our politicians, who reflexively drag oil executives before congressional panels for a stern cross-examination. The truth, in every such instance, is the first casualty.
To call this generation spoiled is far too charitable, but it's even more subtle than that: The most culturally pernicious habit we've developed in the past forty years is the noxious notion that for every problem there is a government solution. Within the broad bureaucratic shadow of government is the rich panoply of disincentives to assume responsibility for our individual decisions, and to understand that, regardless of how unpleasant it might be, when we confront our problems, new and entirely unknown internal resources are realized.
Conversely, there's not only an intellectual slovenliness that accrues when problems are solved on our behalf by the indifferent and impersonal hand of government, since we were missing in action during the confrontation, we become progressively disconnected with the effort. That, in turn, encourages us to downgrade our aspirations, which will make further overtures from anonymous bureaucracies more enticing. As you can see, it's a cyclical affair that conveniently legitimizes an ever-deeper intrusion by government and its retinue of non-profit self-help agencies.
The result is that this generation has become culturally pauperized, but also convinced of its self-importance and stellar status in the universe, all of which ensures that every 'crisis' will be met with a yet another series of corrections--to wit, encourage home-ownership by changing the definition of credit-worthiness, then knee-cap lending institutions for having the temerity to lend to those less well-qualified; demand the best health care, but recoil when presented with the tab; topple the Iraqi despot with the broad support of the American people and the backing of nearly three-quarters of the senate, then excoriate the president when he wants to finish the job.
Ours is clearly an emasculated, entitled, simpering culture of half-wits and cry babies, where authority has been stigmatized, morality demoted, and responsibility diffused. It's a place where the Democrats have convinced us that race and gender are determinants of values, predictably resulting in Party infighting, with Obama, Clinton and their surrogates on hair-trigger. Moreover, our public education system is an antiquated Leviathan run by unions with mediocrity as their goal, and the traditional "3-Rs" are replaced by racism, recycling, and reproduction, which has put a lock on the bet that the upcoming generation will faithfully replicate the Boomers' stupidities.
There is no easy out of this quagmire because the lessons the Boomers so cavalierly ignored were learned first-hand by our ancestors, and without a self-imposed mandate--which is unlikely--there's a self-perpetuating aspect to this that is a kind of promissory note ensuring that we'll live in a judgment-free society where cultural anarchy will flourish.