Texas Style Extremism

As we enter the fifth decade of the cultural war pinning the left and right wing Boomers against each other, the new battle lines are being fought over school curriculum.  With legislation such as No Child Left Behind, which will eventually nationalize our school curriculum, both sides of the cultural war want to assure that their point of view is being proselytized to future generations.

Today's battleground is in the state of Texas.  The vastly right wing Board of Education of Texas has voted to change the language in social studies and history text books. And, since Texas purchases the most text books in the country, they dictate what the publishers will print for most other states.

The new text books will alter language regarding many historical events.  For example, instead of referring to the business of bring slaves to the North American continent as the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the new text books will refer to the slave trade as the Atlantic triangular trade.  The most disturbing alteration is in regards to the concept of "separation of church and state".  Wanting to ignore the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Texas Board of Education points out that the Constitution never actually includes the words"separation of church and state."  They even went as far as removing Thomas Jefferson as an example of an influential political thinker since Jefferson believed in separation of church and state and was not a Christian.

While I do agree somewhat with the frustration of the right regarding the text book language written by the politically correct left, swinging the pendulum so far right and invoking non-factual content, along with omitting critical historical figures, is not the answer.

But, what should we expect from the Boomers.  With such irrational and extremist views, they are not competent enough to rationally eliminate politically motivated curriculum from text books and create factual historical content for which students can analyze and debate. 

This time it is the right wing that is at fault.  But the left wing Boomer zealots are no better.  The text books created by the left wing Boomers had white Americans at fault for seaminly everything.  The left wing text books leave white children sobbing with the realization that their culture is the crux of all the worlds ills even though, most whites in the United States come from as diverse backgrounds as non-whites.

For those of us who study the Boomers, it is no surprise to see what is happening in Texas.  However, we should be concerned that this so called "cultural war" is polluting the education of future generations of Americans.

The Sky is Warming, The Sky is Warming

Hyperbole and Baby Boomers are synonymous. It really doesn't matter the subject matter.  However, when it comes to climate change, the Boomers even outdo themselves in extravagant exaggeration.

In the latest study conducted about climate change, the National Academy of Sciences is calling for even more extreme measures to counter the earth's warming temperatures.  (Now, before, I lose the zealots who are absolutely convinced climate change is happening, I have read climate change studies and do believe that "man" is a major factor that has led to increased earth temperatures.  When you think about it, it is pretty obvious.  The earth's human population has increase substantially in the last hundred years and there are bound to be some affects.)

With that said, some of the foolish exaggeration coming out of these Baby Boomer scientist's mouths are dumbfounding.  Here are some points from the Los Angeles Times article covering the new climate change study:

• Human populations should be shifted from coastal locations. (Seriously?  Should we really start panicking when nothing has happened to demonstrate rising tides)
• The Southwest will inevitably become more arid. (Really? Why can't the Northeast become more arid and the Southwest become more wet?  Where is the data to back this up?...or there isn't any)
• The ocean levels are going to increase by 5 feet by the end of the century. (We can't predict the weather for next week, but we are sure about the ocean level increase in 100 years? Yeah...right.)

From reading past climate change studies, the only thing that can be proved is that the earth has been warming in the last twenty years.  There also seems to be correlation between industry output and warming temperatures.  However, that is where the science stops. The rest of the arguments are typical Baby Boomer exaggerations about a myriad of climate change catastrophes.  With no data to back up their hyperbole, the Boomer scientists studying climate change have very little credibility.

The sad element is that climate change may affect the planet substantially.  However, the Boomer scientists and Boomer politicians like Al Gore are going to exaggerate to the point that we will stop listening to them.

Didn't any of these Boomers read Chicken Little?

I was at Woodstock...Man

As a youth growing up in the "post" Woodstock world, one of the big jokes was that even though approximately 500,000 people attended Woodstock, millions more claimed to have been there.

Another claim made by the Woodstock generation is that there were babies born at the event.  While one person did actually die, the Boomer attendees love to spout proudly "Yeah, man, one guy died but three babies were born."

According to a story compiled by the Associated Press in July of 2009, "no one has come forward with a credible public claim of giving birth to a Woodstock baby or being born there."  So, here is another Woodstock myth going awry.

While Woodstock provided some wonderful concert performances, the event was more a distorted myth than a grand experience.  For those who did attend the show, it was an unsanitary, mud fest for which you needed binoculars (which probably all attendees did not have) to even view.  With little food and even less bathroom facilities, it was a probably more a nightmare than the cultural event of lifetime.

For those who were not there and yet claimed to be, Woodstock became a symbol of a generation getting together for peace.  However, for those of us who review the actual history, the Woodstock era was more about divisiveness and individualism.  Divorce rates began skyrocketing after Woodstock.  People moved into separatist camps about numerous issues like war, culture, race and politics.  The 1970's then became the "me decade" as declared by journalist Tom Wolfe.

While the Baby Boomers relish Woodstock as some momentous and cathartic time, the reality is that Woodstock was more a anomaly then a symbol of the Baby Boom generation coming of age.

I was in Vietnam...Man

Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, just revealed today that even though he professed to have served in Vietnam, he actually did not.  He claims that he said "during" but he actually said "in" Vietnam.  Whatever, Richard.  My question is, why do Boomers consistently exaggerate their service in the only war totally lost by the United States?

Richard Blumenthal is not the first American politician to exaggerate his service in Vietnam.  When Al Gore ran for President, he used pictures of himself in Vietnam to demonstrate his strong war record.  What Gore didn't show was the entourage surrounding him to make sure he did not receive any harm.

Another politician running for President used Vietnam as backdrop and that was John Kerry.  Kerry served in combat but there was a discrepancy regarding the validity of his Purple Heart.  Whether we believe Kerry or his politically charged comrades from Vietnam, again, why would anybody want to remind the voters that they were part of the worst fighting force in the history of the United States?

One of the great excuses provided by the Vietnam soldiers to explain their defeat was the lack of commitment of the people and the government.  It may be true that after three years, the public started to question the war, but the government support lasted almost ten years.  In "To America, Personal Reflections of an Historian", Stephen Ambrose states that during the Vietnam War, more bombs were dropped than all  wars put together.  In World War II, the troops had much less aerial support than did the troops in the Vietnam War, yet, those troops were able to defeat two immense worldwide empires.

The reality of the Vietnam War is that Baby Boomers make lousy soldiers.  Soldiers need to be group oriented, selfless and civic minded.  Most Baby Boomers are individualistic, self absorbed and rebellious.  These are not traits one calls upon when they put together a winning army.

So, it is about time for Boomers to stop claiming that they served in Vietnam.  It is really nothing to be proud of and nothing worth remembering.

Extremism Extremism and More Extremism

Ever since the Baby Boomers came of age and probably even before that, they have looked at life with grand extremism.  The first great example was the comparison of the Beatles versus the Rolling Stones in the 1960's.  For some reason, Boomers could not like both outstanding musical bands.  You were either a Stones fan or a Beatles fan.  Love relationships became extreme as well.  You either believe in free love or monogamy/marriage. The most intense extremist battle revolved around the Vietnam War. You were either part of the silent majority that supported the Vietnam War or you were adamantly against the war. 

The extremism continued into the 1970s.  Disco sucked or you loved disco.  You either accepted Jesus or you will go to hell.  You became physical fitness nut or a drug addict.  You either accept that American business is destroying the planet or you participate in the capitalist markets.

In the 1980's the extremism started to become more political as the Boomers started to enter leadership positions.  Abortion is murder or woman has a right to choose.  You were either for Reagan or for the nuclear freeze movement.  You were either a Democrat or a Republican.  You were either a born again Christian or not a Christian at all.

As the 1990's came about, the Boomers elected their first President.  At this point, the extremism started to become uglier.  Within days of the election of Democrat Bill Clinton, the right wing Boomer extremist spent every last breath to oust the first Boomer President.  The extremist attitudes came to a head when the Republican congress impeached the President for an extra-marital affair (extremist values hotly contested since the 1960's. Free love vs. monogamy). 

Then came the Presidential election of 2000.  Historians for centuries will use this election to demonstrate the extremist attitudes of the American culture in the later part of the twentieth and early part of the twenty first century.  The country became so intensely split in extremist camps that the Presidential election took over a month to resolve.  The end result had a right leaning Supreme Court pick a Republican candidate which brought out vengeance from the left wing zealots.  From the first day of George W. Bush's Presidency to the last, Democrats denied the validity of the 2000 elections outcome.  As the Republicans tried to destroy the Democratic President in the 1990's, the Democrats did the same in the 2000's.

The extremism continued even after Al Qaeda attacked America on 9/11/2001.  The right declared that we must fight terrorists and supplant civil liberties for safety.  The left vehemently disagreed and fought the right at every turn.  Issues such as gay marriage became a new extremist issue.  You either thought marriage was for a man or a woman or you were a sinner.  You thought people should be tolerant toward gay marriage or you were a bigot.

The environmental debate started to heat up as well.  You either believe in global warming or you do not.  Then when Democrat Barack Obama became President in 2008, the extremism of the Boomers hit a new level.  The right literally flipped out.  While President Obama pretty much continued most of the policies of the last Republican President, the right called him a socialist and a Nazi.  I am not sure how you can be both but it did not stop them from saying it.  Many extremist right wing Boomers then questioned the Presidents citizenship. 

So, here we are in 2010 with a nation split into two extremist camps.  It should be no surprise that the country is crippled by two extremist political parties bickering to the end, but one things is for sure, the Boomers are to blame for extremist attitudes that exist today all across the country.

The Most Debt Ridden Generation

It is no secret that the United States has a debt problem.  According to the CIA World Factbook, the United States government leads all debtor nations with over 12 billion dollars of debt.  And, an even more disturbing figure comes from Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (FRBSF).  According to the FRBSF, the United States personal debt rose to 133% of income in 2007 up from 65% in the 1980's.  This means that today, the citizens of the United States are spending 33% more than they actually earn.  The major reasons given by FRBSF for such an increase in debt stem from real estate speculation and consumer spending.

To make matters worse and to no one's surprise, the savings rate has also dropped considerably in recent years.  According to a McKinsey Global Institute study published in June of 2008, the Boomers savings rate has reduced dramatically compared to the previous generation of Americans.  The Silent Generation, born from 1925 to 1944 savings peaked at about 30% while the early Boomers born from 1945 to 1954 only peaked at 20%.  The later born Boomers born from 1955 to 1964 saving rate only peaked at 10%.  Based on their study, McKinsey concluded the following:"Our analysis shows that the Boomers' missing savings peak accounts for most of the collapse in the U.S. household savings rate from its peak of over 10 percent in the mid 1980's to around 2% today." 

An even more daunting statistic regarding savings comes from the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.  In 2005, the savings rate in the United States went into negative numbers.  Now, this is not unprecedented.  In 1933, the United States also had a negative savings rate.  The difference is that in 2005, the United States was in the middle of a great "Boom" and in 1933, the United States was in the worst part of the Great Depression. 

With the lowest savings rate since 1933 and the highest personal debt ratio in U.S. history, it seems pretty obvious that the Baby Boom generation is not only the most debt ridden generation ever but financially incompetent as well.  With no foresight to save during a boom and no preparation for retirement, the Baby Boom generation has placed the United States in a very precarious position.  With Boomers having no money to live off of, how will the country afford to take care of the older Boomer generation?

Over Forty Five and Still Pathetic

According to a newly released survey by AARP,  "Americans 45 and older are far more open to sex outside of marriage."  Gee, what a surprise.  The generation that perfected divorce and made a travesty of the institution of marriage wants to pervert it even further.  So, when Stephen Stills sang out "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one your with," the Boomers really took that as gospel.

The Baby Boomers obviously did not invent divorce but they did become the most divorced generation in American history.  According to the Americans for Divorce Reform, the divorce rate started to increase in the 1960's and then peaked in the 1980's.  This is another example of Baby Boomers not actually changing things, as they always claim, but taking an element of society and running with it or in this case destroying it.  Currently, one out of every two marriages fails.  However, there is no doubt that when Boomers finally stop getting married and divorced (which should happen when the finally get in their seventies and Viagra doesn't work anymore), the divorce rate will surely decline.