Background for this discussion is : the US Elections
- This November Americans go to the polls to pick their President for the next four years. The President in the US is picked by a multi-state primary process where the candidates from each party give speeches in each state during a specified period of time to political party members, and each state party has mini elections to votes on which one should represent the particular party in the state.
At the end of this primary process the candidate with the most votes from the most states gets to be the party nominee.
In theory it is democratic, but in practice there are people called electors who are the actual voters for each state, and although they are suppose to reflect the will of the party members in each state, it is politics and all is not always as it sold be.
In any even it is an attempt at democracy, and sometimes it works, other times it is questionable. But as we say were I am from; "It is what it is..."
Boomers
This year is particularly unique because we have two Boomers running for office.
Since Boomers make up about 78 million of the US population of about 348 million this is causing quite a controversy because almost 275 million people who are not Boomers think this is wrong... the candidates are too old is a segment often heard.
It has been described as the tyranny of the elders.
When young people are interviewed about what they feel about societies problems, they often remark, it's not a problem for us, but it's a problem for the Boomers!
What?
When you ask them what they mean. They explain that things that the Boomers are hung up on like issues with homosexuality, Race, and Religion, are Boomer Problems, and they claim that Boomers make these issues more of a problem then they really are... and when the Boomers die, these problems will die with them.
The younger generations also Boomers caused or perpetuate problems like inflation, corporate corruption, low wages, and devaluation of the currency, which non-Boomers could solve if given the chance. In fact they say that the Boomers preserve some of these problems because they benefit from them, hmmm... some truth in all folk tales.
Boomer values or Western Civilization Values
Boomers or the elderly are suppose to carry on traditions which make our society great. Things like promoting hardwork, respecting monogamy, caring for your family, love of country, belief in God, Democracy and Capitalism are supposed to be the Great American Values or Western Civilization Values are the ideas which made us the great society, and the envy of the rest of the world.
Our elderly teach the young to carry on these values, as concepts and belief systems which made our country great.
Boomer Vallues or Western Civilization Values
Non-Boomers think that Boomers bring the good and the bad. Boomers are sometimes accused as promoting or preserving negative values like being homophobic, sexist, racist, etc...Think of any negative value associated with Western Civilization and it is blamed on Boomers.
What do I think?
In terms of race, religion and sexual preference...
I think such comments are generalizations, but all generalizations like folk tales contain some truths and some falsehoods. I think as societies we tend to build with people who look like us, speak like us, and share our values. We coalesce with these people to build communities supported by shared values. I think on a superficial basis we start with people who look like us, and overtime we include others who think like us also. That's called assimilation. One group absorbs or accepts another group which may not look like them because they share the same language and values. Now they coalesce, interbreed and become one group. Historically speaking I can think of the Anglo Saxons, who we now think of as one group, but originally were two discrete or separate groups, with clear differences, who decided to merge due to shared values, thinking and goals. Now we think of them as a homogenous group, but they weren't always.
I think Western Civilizations are similar to this. They start as homogenous looking groups of people who look the same, and share the same values, language and thinking. They slowly absorb other groups who wish to learn the same language and share the same values and thinking thus becoming larger homogeneous groups by mixing the shared values with new values acceptable to both groups, soon they become one group.
In America we are a melting pot and in some ways I think of Europe, Asia and Africa in similar terms. Different groups which slowly absorb each other over time, as we figure out our shared values and ideas, sort through our differences, discard the ones we can't agree to jointly adopt, and integrate the new ideas we both agree are in a alignment with our shared values. In this way cultures merge, and evolve. And if we can't perform this process we stay separate, as countries, linguistic groups and over time different in appearance, as we intermarry only with our group, or mainly within our group. There are always exceptions and cross cultural unions based on love.
I think this process occurs naturally in societies as younger generations mature, decide to embrace most of the ideas and values of their parents, but add new ideas, new values or perhaps new interpretations of their parents ideas or values which are reflective of the new generation. Some values are discarded, some are modified and some are replaced with new ones.
In terms of inflation, devaluation of the currency and artificially low wages which don't keep up with inflation... there are Boomers who benefit from these things and their actions do in fact perpetuate them. There are also Boomers who suffer from these things, probably the majority, and they are not benefiting, so they and the subsequent generations are all in the same boat.
So what do you think?