Who are the great, enduring political thinkers of the baby boom generation?

[Radical Activist]

A couple threads about Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky got me thinking about political writers, philosophers and activists. I realized that the political writers I take most inspiration from were born before the baby boom. I've read plenty of good political books by boomers but none of them were the kind of "big picture" books that changed the way I think about politics like Zinn, Chomsky, Alinsky or much earlier authors.

I'm not trying to make a criticism of boomers (That's for a different thread). I expect that a poster will bring up someone that's slipping my mind this late at night.

Right now, the influential American political minds of the boomer generation I can think of either had little impact beyond the 70's, were narrowly focused on one issue area, or are conservatives. Who am I forgetting?

Even the newer writers I enjoy most, like Naomi Klein, are post-boomers. I'm left wondering if it's because my political viewpoints don't mesh well with that generation, if there are some names I don't know about who I should be reading, or if there's really something about boomer politics that didn't produce the kind of enduring, ground breaking thinkers as much as past ones.

The closest I can think of is Michael Moore because his use of the documentary film format was groundbreaking and widely influential. But, he made his first major impact well after the zenith of the boomer political revolution.

Thoughts? Reading suggestions?

[saracat]

1. Paul Krugman. Janes Carville whether you like him or not.

Richard Clarke. Sidney Blumenthal. Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstien, Zbigniew Brezinski, David Gergen, and Steve Coll as well as Seymour Hersh. I don't agree with all of them but they are worth reading

[Radical Activist]

3. Few of those are particularly liberal.

Which creates an interesting question about why many of the currently most influential minds of a supposedly left wing hippie generation are people like Grover Norquist and a list of centrists.

It's hard for me to think of journalists who write on specific topics as influential "big thinkers" but maybe I'm being too narrow. I liked reading Carville's books but I doubt anyone will be reading them ten years from now. I like Hersh, but he was born before the baby boom, as was Brezinski.

I'll do some more reading of your suggestions. Thanks.

[RoyGBiv]

27. Question ...

Why do you characterize boomers as a "left wing hippie generation"?

I realize you said "supposedly," but why is it supposed?

I'm really just curious where this perception comes from individually. I know where it comes from broadly, but I'm interested in individual experience.

[Radical Activist]

28. The cliche portrayal

of the baby boom generation is one of political protest, of the peace, civil rights and feminist movements, etc. For younger people who grew up on TV like I did, that is the political picture pointed of boomers. I don't remember ever seeing critical discussion of whether that ever really represented the politics of a majority of boomers or how many actually participated in those movements. I tend to think that's a collective nostalgic experience of the time period rather than something a large majority actually participated in.

Part of my impression is what I've seen from the boomers politically in the last two decades. But more so its election results. Only half of young voters showed up for McGovern and a majority of those voted for Nixon. Obama is probably the most liberal President we've elected since LBJ so you could argue that the boomer generation never elected a liberal President. So I don't think the collective political image that's portrayed of the baby boom generation is an accurate one outside of the liberal minority who were active participants.

[saracat]

38. You could add Tom Hayden as well as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright

[FarCenter]

41. Madeline Albright born 1937, Tom Hayden 1939

Not Baby Boomers. Jimmy is even older.

[saracat]

40. You can also add Barack Obama to that list! And John Kerry.

[Chan790]

138. Is Obama really a boomer?

Obama is post-boom by any valid sociological measurement...he only barely makes the "bright-line" cut-off of being a boomer if one uses hard-chronological lines (ie. that being born in a certain year makes him a boomer.) This isn't the Chinese Zodiac... it's bad social science. Sociology does not use hard chronological definitions...when you see them, they're being imposed by people who want there to be a hard delineating standard where one cannot exist due to the fuzziness of the subject being studied.

I don't care how many times people cite the time-line definitions and say that anybody born before 1964 is a boomer and anybody born after 1964 is post-boom, it's still wrong. One's generation is defined by cultural and social touchstones, not DOB.

[FarCenter]

42. Carville 1944, Woodward 1943, Bernstein 1944, Zbig 1928, Gergen 1942, Hersh 1937 ar not Baby Boomers

[Radical Activist]

52. nevermind.

delete

[yardwork]

62. I thought that the baby boom generation started in 1943 or a little earlier.

Now it's been shortened to 1960, I notice. At this rate the "baby boom" generation will be defined by the ten years between 1950 and 1060 - getting to be a pretty narrow window.

[annabanana]

78. It was the post WWII batch of babies that had been "put on hold"

while the young men were all at war.. I think '46 - '57 is a closer match.

[sandnsea]

2. It Takes A Village

I think boomers are doers, not philosophers. Hillary did write that book though and I think it sums up the boomer philosophy as well as anything.

[Radical Activist]

4. I've never heard the book described that way.

I may have to read it now.

[TexasObserver]

5. More anti Boomer bullshit from you.

What is your deal with whining about boomers? It would be comical if you weren't so obsessive about it. Do you ever start a thread anything BUT boomers?

Your comments always contain some snotty remark about boomers.

What is your major malfunction, Private Pyle?

[Radical Activist]

6. Talk about defensive.

Skip your meds today?
I asked for constructive suggestions. I wrote some positive things about boomers too. I'm actually interested in what names people will give.

[TexasObserver]

8. No, it's simply that I've seen you play this silly game before.

You have at least learned to try to cloak your disdain in some superficial ruse of a topic.

The boomer generation is a great one. It has no reason to be defensive, except perhaps for raising too many spoiled brats, but then you know that.

[sandnsea]

9. Boomers' kids just elected Obama

and are on track to be the greatest generation since the greatest generation. For my money, the Korean War generation is the most obnoxious one out there. Man talk about a chip on the shoulder.

[TexasObserver]

13. Yes, the good ones did.

[saracat]

39. Funny how no one mentions Obama is a "boomer" himself!

[Odin2005]

47. He's Generation X, He said himself he considers himself a "post-boomer"

The sociocultural Boom Generation is people born from 1943 to 1960, it's skewed back from the demographic boom.

Gen-X is 1961 to 1981
my Millennial Generation is 1982 to 2001.

At least according to a social history book on US generations I've read.

[saracat]

49. How convienent for him.AFAIK, he is a late generation boomer.

[Odin2005]

50. As I said the Boom as defined sociocultural is different them the demographic baby-boom

Obama was part of the baby boom but he's not a member of the Boom Generation. And his life story is so stereotypically early Gen-X it's funny.

[saracat]

54. I still find all thia sociocultural definition a bit of a stretch and an over rationalization.

Over precise definitions of generations are absurd. Is someone born in 1944 truly different from one born in 1945? The differentiation is moot.And would someone with a life experience similar to Obama's in 1064 or 1960 be incredibly different? I think not but we must agree to disagree.

[Chan790]

139. would someone with a life experience similar to Obama's in 1964 or 1960 be incredibly different?

Yes...and that's kind of the point. While chronological dating of generations is a pile of garbage, the very thing that defines generations sociologically is that people of different generations have vastly different life experiences, often based on different generational interpretations of the same events. I can give the perfect example.

The difference between my cousin Marissa and I is less than 3 years...we're clearly of different generations. I don't remember a time before the AIDS epidemic, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the personal computer. I barely remember a time before the internet. I have no recollection of the Reagan years. I never lived in fear of the looming-shadow of the Cold War.

She has...and that has made all the difference in the world in our worldviews. She's much more cynical, world-weary and technophobic than I am.

My youngest brother is seven years younger than I and has no real idea what a VCR is. Really. He's been computer literate as long as he's been able to talk. He doesn't remember a time before Bill Clinton (Lucky Bastard!) was President.

[dysfunctional press]

61. nope- people born after 1960 have very little in common with the true baby-boomers.

Obama and i were both born in the same year- we're 'generation jones', and most of us identify much more readily with gen-x.

[Radical Activist]

74. And clearly

Gen X & Y voters identified with Obama much more closely than the boomer candidates in the primary or general elections.

[Odin2005]

46. It was the Korean War generation that organized and lead the movements manned by Boomers.

RFK, MLK jr., Gene McCarthy, etc...

[Radical Activist]

57. I think a lot of it was also lead

or heavily influenced by radicals and other assorted leftists who were young during the new deal era movements, like the people I mentioned in my OP, Zinn, Chomsky and Alinsky.

[Radical Activist]

11. The only one insulting a generation in this post

is you. And you're coming off like a complete psycho. I can't even remember the last time I wrote a post about boomers. Are you holding an old grudge against me over something? Get over it.
I freely admitted in my post that it may be for no reason other than me being unaware of some great writers I should be reading. If you don't have a constructive reply to my post then try to act your age and let it go.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

44. You're right about the raising spoiled brats part.

As a Gen Xer, I am aghast at how lazy and entitled so many young people seem to be.

[DutchLiberal]

130. Grow up or get the fuck out.

[sohndrsmith]

7. Walt Kelly. n/t

[Radical Activist]

16. Interesting.

I had to look him up. For the Pogo comic strip? I've never heard of it.

[sohndrsmith]

26. there is nothing on the internet that will give you even a fraction of an idea

... do yourself a favor and order a few copies of his books. They're usually well-worn and inexpensive. But you can't get a sense of how good he really is from the few strips you might find online. He was far more than "We have met the enemy and he is us", but that's mostly what you'll run into.

I started reading Pogo when I was - well, before I could understand it but I recognized the words. Kelly is a genius in my estimation. I couldn't live without reading his books. What amazes me now is how timeless the bigger messages were... and apropos to politics even today.

Plus, it's just funny as h*ll....

[eowyn_of_rohan]

117. Walt Kelly?? He is way older! I used to think this was SO funny...

When I was a kid (and I am a boomer), Kelly's comic strip "Pogo" , had this version of "Deck the Halls" one Christmas...

Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
Walla Walla, Wash., an' Kalamazoo!
Nora's freezin' on the trolley,
Swaller dollar cauliflower alley-garoo!

Don't we know archaic barrel
Lullaby Lilla Boy, Louisville Lou?
Trolley Molly don't love Harold,
Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo!

Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Polly wolly cracker 'n' too-da-loo!
Donkey Bonny brays a carol,
Antelope Cantaloupe, 'lope with you!

Hunky Dory's pop is lolly gaggin' on the wagon,
Willy, folly go through!
Chollie's collie barks at Barrow,
Harum scarum five alarm bung-a-loo!

Dunk us all in bowls of barley,
Hinky dinky dink an' polly voo!
Chilly Filly's name is Chollie,
Chollie Filly's jolly chilly view halloo!

Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Double-bubble, toyland trouble! Woof, woof, woof!
Tizzy seas on melon collie!
Dibble-dabble, scribble-scrabble! Goof, goof, goof!

Fractured Christmas carols were a regular feature of Kelly's

[elleng]

10. Maybe we're the DOERS!

(dunno, joking, but what are the rules? Years? When may we have been born???)

[Radical Activist]

14. I don't get anal about years

but wikipedia lists 1946-1964.

And "boomers were doers" is a fine response. My favorite political writers were all activists first and philosophers second.

[elleng]

17. I think I'll get 'what you said,'

as I was '45, and was in one of the early 'women enter law school' years. And have broken a few other 'barriers' along the way. My 'philosophy' is not written, just lived.

[Radical Activist]

20. But since you mention

your experience in law school... I think some of the most interesting new ideas that came out of the boomer generation were from feminists. I haven't read much by feminist writers but any day now I'll get around to reading the new Bella Abzug biography I have on my night stand.

[elleng]

21. Funny you mention Bella!

My Dad's a lawyer, too (whole family!) AND Bella rented an office from him in Manhattan.

Check out Liz Holtzman.

[Radical Activist]

25. Nice!

She sounds like an interesting woman. Thanks for the recommendation.

[sohndrsmith]

32. Huh... I have always thought I was a "post-boomer" - I thought "boomers"

meant those born in the "baby boom" as a result of WWII... but I was born in 62, which is a bit of a stretch using my definition. Interesting... I never did really have a good sense of how baby boomers are defined, but now I'm curious again, so I have to investigate yet again... :).

I always felt a bit cheated because I was (or so I thought) too young to be a "boomer" my parents were the hippies (well, one was) I was just a kid in the 60's.... I wasn't a "yuppie" or anything else - I've never thought there was a defining movement for my age group/generation. Wikipedia's inclusion of my age group is surprising (to me), but that may be due to nothing more than my own ignorance which isn't surprising (or interesting).

[pnwmom]

34. Baby boom generation, 1946-1964. That's only 18 years, barely a generation.

You definitely are a boomer.

[sohndrsmith]

36. cool! Who knew? (well... apparently everyone but me - no surprise) :)

But wasn't the term "baby boomer" a reference to the baby boom following WWII? I'm asking that rhetorically, since it's rude of me to expect the answer from you when I have Google at hand not 30 seconds away...

It's all good stuff to think about - I'm rather excited.

[pnwmom]

37. We're both right. It does refer to the post WWII generation. Meaning,

a generation's worth (18 years) of babies after the vets came home.

[dysfunctional press]

63. post-1960 people don't have much in common with true baby-boomers. see- "generation jones"...

http://generationjones.com/2008election.html

[pnwmom]

143. And neither did late 50's people. Why draw the line at 1960?

I was late 50's, my brother a few years older. Neither of us was old enough for Woodstock, etc. I disagree with you about the meaning of "true baby-boomers." True baby-boomers were born during the 18 year stretch of the baby boom. That's it. The ones at the beginning had different life experiences than the ones at the end. That would happen over the course of any generation.

[dysfunctional press]

147. the people i know born in the late 1950's are all very baby-boomerish...

as far as their values. outlooks, and lifestyles are considered.

[yardwork]

64. I notice in this thread it's being shortened further - 1950-1960, only ten years.

I call b.s.

[saracat]

68. Me too. This is just crap by folks who either weren't born or didn't participate.

[Radical Activist]

51. That's based

on when there were a large number of babies born. But you're right that someone born in your year didn't have the same generational experience as someone born in the 40's or early 50's who we normally association with the boomer generation. I remember having this discussion about Obama and my argument was that, in terms of generational experience, he isn't a baby boomer.

[pnwmom]

142. There's always going to be this argument related to people on the cusp.

I was born in the late 50's, my brother a few years later. Neither of us were old enough for Woodstock, etc. It's silly to say that I am a boomer and he isn't, but that's what some here appear to be arguing.

The demographics show that the boom in births took place over the course of the 18 years from 1946-1964. Yes, people born in 1963 had different experiences than those born in 1946, but that's not what defines them as part of the generation.

[Radical Activist]

151. The fact that Obama

was born in the second phase of the baby boom, yet his life experience has much in common with Gen X, is probably another one of those things that makes him able to appeal to so many people across generational lines.

I don't think defining generations is much more than a marketing gimmick anyway.

[yardwork]

148. I was born a year earlier than Obama, and somehow we are completely different generations?

That doesn't make any sense. Now you're reducing the "baby boomer" generation even more - to someone born in the mid-40s to early-50s. You've gotten it down to a five-year window. No wonder you can't find any significant figures.

[Radical Activist]

150. sigh

The only times I objected to any names on this thread were those born well before the baby boom. Other people have been worried about defining the years. For purposes of this discussion, I really don't give a shit. Give any names you'd like.

[Blue_In_AK]

12. Me.

(Just kidding.)

[ColbertWatcher]

30. Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A.

(I'm not kidding.)

[ColbertWatcher]

15. Whoever can defeat the following GOP dogmas destroying our courts and schools ...

... the Federalist Society, Creationism/Intelligent Design, privatization, vouchers, etc.

[elleng]

18. Don't mean to pick a fight,

but public schools were (largely) destroyed BEFORE anyone mentioned vouchers.

[ColbertWatcher]

19. Public schools had problems, but ...

... any form of privatization (including vouchers) doesn't help fix them.

[elleng]

23. 'Fix' may or may not occur.

Vouchers provide options, which are necessary for all of us. My family was fortunate to have 'option' of sending daughters to 'private/'parochial' schools; we're STILL PAYING.

[ColbertWatcher]

24. Fix needs to occur.

I'm sorry you were forced into having to support private schools.

But vouchers is not a solution just as vouchers for healthcare would not be.

[pork medley]

22. Slavoj Zizek? Christopher Hitchens? I don't know...

The baby boomers' strength always lied more in developing marketing strategies than politics or theory I guess...

[Floyd B Olson]

29. Political Revolution? We had a political revolution? Far out!

Wow Dude! With all the sex, drugs and rock n roll, I totally zoned on the reign of terror. Was the restoration televised?

[pnwmom]

31. Obama is a baby boomer. Did you forget him?

Baby boomer generation, born 1946-1964.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-World_War_II_baby_boom

There are many liberal feminist writers among the baby boomer generation. How about women like Catherine MacKinnon and bell hooks?

And how do you know who's going to be enduring? Isn't it a little early to know which thinkers of this generation are going to prove to be the most enduring?

Other than Obama, of course.

:)

[Odin2005]

48. Don't confuse the sociological generation with the dates of the demographic "generation"

The Boom Generation as defined by social historians is people born from 1943 to 1960, making Obama a Gen-Xer.

The term "Generation X" was actually invented by writers born in the early 60s that rejected the Boomer label.

[pnwmom]

137. So those writers didn't want the label. Too bad. They're still Boomers. n/t

[silverojo]

33. Why not just "great, enduring thinkers"?

Why is it always "baby boomer" this, and "baby boomer" that?

Did the Silent generation always drop their generation's name at every opportunity? Gen X'ers? Millennials?

This ageism is stupid. People of ANY age are important. It's not just about one generation. We're ALL in this together. Quit being so separatist.

[Radical Activist]

55. Because I already know many great enduring thinkers

from other generations, especially before the boomers. I feel there's a gap in my knowledge and I know there are boomers on this board who will have an opinion or reading suggestions.

[old mark]

35. GW Bush? Bill Clinton? I can't think of any offhand.

"Our" presidents were these two, one a sociopathic addicted jerk, one a man if intelligence and charm who was nowhere nearly as effective as he could have been partly due to his own personality.

Only a partial success at best, IMO.

Glad to be passing out of the center of power.

Better luck to the next bunch.

[librechik]

43. you mean the ones who aren't dead before 30 or blacklisted?

Dirty Fucking Hippies have gotten exactly nowhere with The Man's civilization. Nor do they want to.

They could be as brilliant as Morrison and Lennon, or as awesome as Baba Ram Dass. Doesn't matter, you only heard about a very few of the good ones (Hunter Thompson) because the conservative aristocrats who run the media don't like crazy Leary types they can't control. And the best of us are more like Leary than the PTB care to deal with. Or buried happily in academia or some other opiatelike remedy.

After you discover the cards are stacked against you, do you continue to scream and yell? or do you , hippielike, shrug and say whatever man, i have my zen happiness, you've got nothing.

[Greyhound]

53. I think you nailed it. n/t

:kick:

The replies are very interesting ("but stupid" - Artie Shaw :rofl:) and quite telling.

[Radical Activist]

58. That gives the personal side of my opinion

that there was a kind of clamp down on ideas after WW2 and again in the 60's. The first half of the 20th century was a time of big ideologies that became big movements like communism and fascism. In America, the press and political establishment decided to limit the terms of acceptable debate and this continues today.

How much of it was self censorship? How much of the talented boomer generation took a red scare mentality where they always kept very left wing views to themselves and their friends instead of writing books and doing speaking tours?

[saracat]

59. I have a theory about that as well. The Baby Boom generation was among the best educated in the

world. For the first time college was the "norm" more often than not. The parents of the fifties had the prosperity to send their kids to college. This is where the mantra of not allowing the next generation to be less prosperous than the previous one came from.The idea had always existed but the 60's and 70's gave voice to it in a big way.

As the result of this education, kids began to question. Education makes folks do that. They weren't sheep who blindly accepted authority. I have always suspected the Vietnam War was partially engineered to keep a bright generation in place as were certain programs experimenting with drugs. But :tinfoilhat: in any event, few can deny that the Boomer Generation asked questions and stood up to the government in a manner never seen since. And that somehow, they were, in fact, silenced. Education became one dimensional and degrees in philosophy or liberal arts were discouraged. The generations that came after were quiet and entrenched in materialism and hence, the decades of republicanism and greed.

[Radical Activist]

90. acadamia

Yours and the other post make me think about the professors in college who felt they had to make a "balanced" or "unbiased" presentation of history and politics, at least one that seemed unbiased on the surface. One professor who had a big influence on me gave me a copy of Saul Alinsky's book but that was only after I was no longer a student. I never heard about the liberal names I like to read most in classes during college. I had to discover them elsewhere.

[saracat]

95. My college in NY in the late 70's had quite a few Marxist Proffs. My Poi Sci teacher

was a Marxist . We were encougaged to read Trotsky!

[Radical Activist]

98. I really can't imagine

any professor at any college I attended encouraging people to read Trotsky without negative repercussions from somewhere. At least from talk radio students complaining about academic "liberal elites." Who was that asshat writer who had the book about listing the liberal professors in America? This is obviously why and why neo-cons attack academia.

[bread_and_roses]

113. Interesting thoughts

As a prime Boomer myself, I've spent some time wondering what happened to most of us? In other words, how did we get HERE from THERE? Of course, those of us from whom the cultural image of the Boomers was drawn (protesters, feminists, etc.) were always a small minority of our generation - but still. How was it so many went on to be stockbrokers and Republicans?

One thing for sure, the powers that be saw what happened when a large number of poor and working-class kids went to college, and made sure THAT would never happen again.

[Waiting For Everyman]

126. Blackballed and anonymous, persecuted ever since...

kept busy putting out fires of crisis in personal lives, which somehow pop up as soon as one ends. Hmm... I wonder why that is?

The brightest hippies/boomers went "black" just like the storm troopers, and at the same time... when pot dealers suddenly started carrying automatic weapons it was time to go, and live to "fight" another day.

Success is "allowed" you know. IF it serves the purpose. The top of ANY career or discipline is sycophants and B-Teamers, who took the empty seats, and are paid for promoting the agenda du jour.

We've been locked out ever since, and accepted it. The zen thing, as stated. It shouldn't take a "success label" to be taken seriously. If it does with some people, well fuck it.

Our story is in our music (certain songs, if you know what you're listening to) because it still can't be written.

[Odin2005]

45. Can't think of any. Methinks they were too busy with Culture War crap to...

...think of anything productive, grand, and long-lasting.

[saracat]

56. And this isn't boomer bashing? What is your definition of "culture war crap"

The Women's Rights Movement? The Civil Rights Movement? The Human Rights Movement? The anti War Movement?

[Odin2005]

65. Culture war crap = Newt Gingrich & Co.

The Modern Women's Rights movement? Started and lead by WW2 and Silent Generation folks. Ditto with Civil Rights and the anti-Vietnam war movements.

[saracat]

66. And you know this how? BS. Many ,many boomers were involved in those movements

that is why the generational divide isn't so easy to assess. It was the Boomers who went to Vietnam and came home and protested. We took up the mantle of our older brothers and sisters. It was the Boomer generation that stared down the barrel of a gun at Kent State. It was the Boomer generation that put music icons to the forefront.

[Mari333]

69. oh hell yes!!

if boomers hadnt come along the little snots who question now would still be wearing girdles, using coca cola for birth control, popping babies out til their uterus prolapsed, dying by the droves in trenches because they have been DRAFTED, being sexually harassed at every job they work at, be blamed for their own rapes, would be attending segregated schools and be drinking out of colored only water fountains, would all be wearing buzz cuts and Maidenform bras whilst pledging allegiance to the flag and swearing they dont belong to the Communist Party.
they should count themselves lucky that boomers said NO to all this. and did something about it.

[saracat]

72. And most of these folks cound't even get up off their butts to march against the Iraq War, which I

also marched against. The overwhelming numbers of Iraq war protesteors were from the Boomer Era as well, just as most of the women still fighting to protect Roe are still Boomers and the younger ones ask what the signifigance of the hanger is. Culture wars my ass!

[Mari333]

75. yes I havent stopped either

we need a time machine . let them go live in the 50s for one day. they would freak out.

[Odin2005]

100. Us Millennials worked out ass off for Obama.

And there were plenty of us (myself included) protesting the damn Iraq War. So don;t you dare say were aren't "getting out buts off". Just because my generation's form of activism is different then what the Boomers did doesn't mean it isn't "real" activism. Sheesh.

[saracat]

109. Odd the increase in the youth vote wasn't even 1 percent and the most reliable voting block

continues to be the maligned Boomers. And other thing about the so called Millenials, the vast majority who did vote, didn't bother to vote down ticket. They couldn't be bothered with their state and local races. They couldn't grasp that "all poltiocs is local". Many volunteers refused to volunteer except for Obama. That was what we experienced at our local offices. But then most of those don't even know who Tip o'Neill was anyway.

There are many fine young voters and volunteers and I respect the heck out of them, unlike those who apparently do little except complain about a generation not their own.

[Radical Activist]

112. If only young voters had counted this election:

Maybe they only wanted to vote for Obama because he's one of the few leaders who really speaks to young people, unlike most of the party that completely ignores them. No one is entitled to support from young people they ignore just because of their party label.


Boomers never voted for a liberal President by the margins people under 30 just did.



I appreciate all that boomers did but don't get self righteous about one generation being better. The generation coming of age now is poised to do what liberal boomers only dreamed of and that's something everyone should be happy about.

[Odin2005]

114. Damn, my generation is looking more and more like the WW2 Generation

The 80% of the WW2 generation who were of voting age voted for FDR, that went up to 86% 4 years later. It was the WW2 Generation that turned the ideals of the Social Gospel of the Muckraker Generation into reality. It will be up to us Millennials to make the ideals of the 60s an 70s into reality.

[Radical Activist]

120. Part of my thinking

when I wrote this thread is that maybe the current Gen Y/Millennials/whatever have more in common politically with the WW2/New Deal generation than with boomers. Maybe Obama is starting the next New Deal era and it would be a good idea for more people to start reading what that generation left us.

Have you ever noticed how a lot of Obama's and other new political graphic art resembles the more dramatic look of ww2 era political art? Or how what we need to do to stop global warming is similar to the way conservation was emphasized during ww2?

[Odin2005]

128. There actually a theory suggesting a cyclical pattern to this.

http://www.fourthturning.com/forum

This is a message board I frequent that talks about a version of this cyclical model created by social historian Neil Howe and the recently deceased historian, humorist, and political insider Bill Strauss (both Boomers). One of the posters there is a very well respected historian and history professor, David Kaiser. I'm the poster Odin.

And I agree with your comparison between stuff from the 30s and 40s and the Obama campaign art and what-not, it's very interesting!

[Waiting For Everyman]

129. They probably do because the WW2 gen wouldn't even stop the pigs

from shooting down their own kids in the streets, where they should've been too. They didn't want to get involved enough to protect their own kids or stop a war b/c the boss might not like it. They were sheep.

They let kids do the heavy lifting, and then wanted them criminalized for it. Or dead. Yeah, they were great alright. They were the big promoters of the war machine we have now, and the surveillance mentality.

If the shoe fits.

[Odin2005]

145. If you are in a union you better thank that WW2 Generation.

Read up on labor radicalism in the 30s before you start spewing hate against them.

[saracat]

116. I didn't start this. And it isn't right for either generation to be self rightous.

and I don't appreciate being condecended to by any generation.
And anyone who thinks Obama is the only one paying attention to youing people has't been listening. And using that as a defense for young folks who refuse to support the local candidates who have a real impact on their lives is absurd.
And BTW, Plenty of committed and intelligent young folks are running for office and it is a shame their peers wouldn't vote for them.

[Blue_In_AK]

118. Good luck with that.

[ContinentalOp]

135. Yeah, it's embarassing how young people sat on their asses and did nothing to stop the Iraq war

while Boomers marched and protested and succeeded in ending the war and bringing the troops home....oh wait.

[Radical Activist]

136. Or how the lessons of Vietnam

were passed on to younger generations so that a majority were skeptical about Bush's lies from the start...oh wait.
Or how a majority of boomer US Senators voted against the Iraq War resolution...oh wait.

[atimetocome]

111. time to educate yourself about the 'movements' and what they did for YOU>

[Mari333]

67. I guess that all the marching I did in the 60s and 70s

and the years afterwards, the times I was hit with tear gas and photographed by the Red Squad, the pamphlets we printed out for womens rights and civil rights and antiwar , the time I was chased down the street and pummeled , my work with the housing assoc in chicago for tenants rights, the hundreds of Womens Liberation conciousness raising groups I attended, the artwork and writings I had published in womens liberation newspapers and antiwar underground news, I guess all of that was a misnomer according to some posters on here.
they have NO idea what it was like back then.

[saracat]

70. No kidding. This is REALLY beginning to piss me off.

They are attempting to marginalize and discredit an entire generation because some must have "issues" with their parents. JMHO.

[Mari333]

77. hey we all have issues with parents

I did, but there were people in my moms generation that I liked and many that I didnt like. I liked Eleanor Roosevelt. I didnt like Joe McCarthy.
again..let some of these kids go live in the 50s for a while..a little state repression might do them some good.

[Odin2005]

82. Read what I posted, I said "STARTED AND LEAD"

I didn't say you guys weren't in them, I'm saying you guys need to quit ignoring the importance of the Silent Generation in starting and leading those movements you guys were in. Calm the fuck down.

[Radical Activist]

87. lol

Seeing the responses to this thread might be the answer to my question...just not in the way I expected.

[saracat]

88. As long as you continue to dismiss one of the best and brightest generation s this nation ever had I

will not "calm the fuck down." I have had it with the dismissiveness and contempt displayed by some folks for this generation, without whom many of the rights we have today would not be possible.

This is attempt to marginalize the Boomers is on par with the Bush Doctrine of everything "Up is Down" like the "Clean Air Initiative" and promoting "anti choice as choice."

[Odin2005]

99. You boomers need to quit with hagiographies that steal the Silents' achevements as your own.

[saracat]

106. The arrogance and ignorance displayed by such a comment is breathtaking.

But I suppose when one lives in a vacuum one is subject to erroneous interpretation of fact.

[Mari333]

125. someones mad at mama. n/t

[Waiting For Everyman]

131. "Silent" says it all.

[Mari333]

92. no one in the 60s ignored the generations before them

and most of us realized it was an ongoing process. I knew quite well back then who Jane Addams and Emma Goldman were. I worked with many people who were much older then me back then who had been involved in the labour movement for decades. I even worked with the Wobblies back then, and they were reaaaaaaallly old.
Most of us knew it was an ongoing process.

[dysfunctional press]

60. not me- i'm a generation joneser...or the vangaurd of gen-x...whichever you prefer.

people born after 1960 have very little in common with the true baby-boomers.

[carlyhippy]

76. as one born on the last year of the boomer age

I can barely remember the protests, riots, etc of the 60's, as I was a small child. The ones born in the mid to late 40's to mid 50's are the ones who were in the streets protesting and trying to make change. When I think baby boomer, I think of these souls.

I guess I was too young, but what about the political activists of the 60's? MLK? I guess he was too old to be a baby boomer.

[Radical Activist]

80. I never see this mentioned much...

Many of the leaders and writers who influenced 60's activists were people who cut their teeth in new deal era movements, especially the labor movement. I often read about 60's movements as though it was a unique phenomenon but it really wasn't. I wonder if the red scare made people want to downplay those connections to older movements to avoid red baiting charges?

[carlyhippy]

81. good point, probably so n/t

Carly

[Mari333]

84. it was an ongoing process

we all knew about emma goldman in the 60s and we all knew about labor riots of the 30s. it was an ongoing process, but by the 60s the McCarthy era had come to a close and no one I knew, including me, were concerned about being labelled as 'Red', it wasnt an issue. Underground newspapers and articles flourished. The Andy Warhol, Erica Jong, Malcolm X, Eldridge Cleaver, Huey Long, Gloria Steinem, et al rennaisance of ideas was in flower. It was like we had been constipated for YEARS during the McCarthy era, and suddenly everything let loose. Ideas, ideas, ideas poured out of people.
again , it was just a taking up of a torch that had been lit long ago.

[saracat]

89. The point is, we took up the torch, which was more than any other generation did.

[Mari333]

91. yes, and it had to be done

the war in Vietnam was taking our peers to their deaths, and the civil rights issues were imperative. The womens movement evolved from the antiwar movement, and it was as tho every oppressed group in existence was suddenly finding a voice.
and rebelling against the status quo.
and its ongoing, even now.
i guess it never ends.

[CanSocDem]

93. You'll remember these...

Angela Davis, William Kunstler, Paul Krassner and all the great writers who put the message to music.

Remember when Lesley Gore sang "You don't own me..."???

.

[Radical Activist]

96. No, I don't.

I once heard Angela Davis speak but I don't know how influential she has been for the last 30 years. I don't know who any of those other people are.
I'm not sure people realize that the neo-conservatives and corporate America have systematically been passing down a whitewashed, one sided, cliche view of the 60's with a lot more effort than liberals have been.

[Mari333]

97. yeah i met paul

at a Yippie convention. I used to hang out with Robert A Wilson and his wife Arlen back in the day...way back.
I am dropping names, but there were so many people doing so many things back then, it was a whirl.
I think angela davis is a university prof now in CA.

[CanSocDem]

104. You made me think of...

...Robert Crumb, Art Speigelman, Gilbert Shelton, just to name a few of the great writers of the time whose medium was the comic book. I recommended a Robert Crumb collection to a gen-x friend who was suffering some familiar-sounding angst....

I'm sure he thinks Crumb is a pervert. But back then, there was always a comic book, a poster, a song or a book that could alleviate angst.

If I wasn't an old hippie sympathizer I would probably envy the Xers and their video games. :smoke:

.

[EFerrari]

71. Omg. Fabio, Reagan and Cheech Marin!

:scared:

Is there somewhere I can submit a resignation?!

lol

[ColbertWatcher]

73. Richard Melon-Scaife, Walt Disney and Bob Jones (of Bob Jones University fame). n/t

[saracat]

79. Sorry. Not Boomers.

[EFerrari]

83. It's funny because all the people I think of -- from Joan Didion to Hunter Thompson

are not boomers. They were born some years before us.

[Radical Activist]

86. Same here.

That's why I started this thread hoping people would throw out some names.

[EFerrari]

94. Maybe part of the problem is that we don't see our peers as leaders

but as peers? If I think of anyone, I'll be back. :)

[Odin2005]

101. LOL,!

:-)

[ColbertWatcher]

85. Damn. They influenced them, though! n/t

[all.of.me]

102. William Kunstler & the Berrigans - too old?

Or am I dating myself? :D

[TexasObserver]

103. Labeling generations and ascribing traits to them is misguided.

The reality is that people born five years apart belong to different generations. Each of us is only a part of a very narrow range of years for "our" generation. Peg the couple years before and after we graduate high school, and you'll have a meaningful group which can offer some opportunity for generalizations. But even then, it's a misguided practice.

In any time, there are people very young to very old in every movement. Those who were coming of age in the late 1960s were guided by people many years their senior - professors, writers, thinkers, song writers, and artists.

One might as well generalize about cars built between 1946 and 1964, or about computers built between 1968 and 1986, or cell phones built between 1987 and 2005.

There are liberal people in every generation, and conservative people in every generation. The movements in the country involve people of every age. The meme that young people elected Obama is not true. Young people were essential to electing Obama, but so were old people, who turned out in higher percentages than younger people.

Anyone who knows anything about history knows that praising or lambasting any generation is sheer nonsense. Older generations have been saying the same things about younger generations, for example, for thousands of years.

Most generations are moved by philosophers and writers who are older than them, if not already dead. It would be smarter to ask "what thinkers most influenced Americans born between 1946 and 1964?" If you really want to know.

[Trailrider1951]

105. Damn, y'all are looking in the wrong places. My list?

How about Willie Nelson? George Carlin! Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell. Barbara Jordan. Joan Baez. Leonard Peltier. They spoke for me. Some of them still do.

[saracat]

107. Johm Lennon, Melanie, and Jim Morrison and not to forget

the Beatles!( as a group) For some the birth year may be a year or two off , but they were boomers never the less.

[CanSocDem]

108. And Lenny Bruce,,,,(eom)

[saracat]

110. I thought of him too but the obsession some have with birth years

made me wonder if he would be too old. But he was an influence.

[Odin2005]

115. Carlin and Dylan were/are of the Silent Generation, pre-Boomer.

[Blue_In_AK]

119. Not so silent, though, were they?

[Odin2005]

127. LOL, I didn't name their generation that!

IIRC the name comes from how some of the more activist folks in the WW2 generation mocked the Silents' conformity in the late 40s and early 50s. It wasn't until the late 50s and the Civil Rights Movement that the activist side of the generation started showing up.

[Mari333]

132. I had never heard the term 'silent generation' until here

and I never mocked everyone older then me, nor did my peers. we were appalled at the racism, warmongering, and sexism that existed at the time...and embraced many people of the generation before us who were just as appalled.
so you are way off.
conformity without question in the 50s was something that had to be addressed. to never question the status quo, to allow segregation, to keep women in the kitchen and out of the workplace, to force people to go to war, that all had to be addressed. and thank god it was.

[Luminous Animal]

121. Cornell West... Barbara Ehrenreich... (n/t)

[Luminous Animal]

122. bell hooks... Glenn Greenwald... (n/t)

[Luminous Animal]

123. Arundhati Roy... Manning Marable

Just looking through my library.

[Mari333]

124. alice walker, rita mae brown, fannie flagg n/t

[Radical Activist]

133. I did like Nickel & Dimed.

I wasn't surprised or challenged by anything in it but it's a good read.

I've always liked Cornell West's commentary but I've never read his books. Maybe its time I do. Thanks!

[Radical Activist]

134. Eric Schlosser

I'll answer my own question after looking up Eric Schlosser and seeing that he was born in 1959. Fast Food Nation is on my list of top ten books that had the biggest impact/influence on my thinking and Reefer Madness is excellent as well.

Although some will argue that a person who was only 10 years old in 1969 is culturally part of another generation.

[saracat]

140. BTW, RFK Jr. is a Boomer!

[Odin2005]

146. He's also an anti-vaccine nut-job. Not a good example.

Then again, such woo-woo-ism is typical for Boomers, given their like for New Age BS.

[saracat]

149. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs too. Gee funny you put Kennedy down. He is one of the most

respectedfolks on DU! :hi:

[blindpig]

141. There are none.

There is no left.

This guy made it so.

[pnwmom]

144. That might be true,

if you ignore all the feminist thinkers of the generation.