A Short Stay for the Boomers at the Top

I have been wondering lately if Hillary's run for the White House will mark the last great attempt by her generation to secure the White House. If so, the Boomers succeeded in electing only two presidents and were summarily rejected for another go. Have the ideals of that generation, the quest for personal freedom and, for some- glory, reached their conclusion in our current economic and political situation? Has civilization found, again, the limits to the expression of individualism? And if so, can we really argue it's all been bad? I don't think so. I believe the legacy of the Boomers is a mixed bag of triumph and defeat on a scale rarely seen before.

Barak Obama's presidency heralds in the maturation of the successors to the Boomers and oh the work to be done. With the help of the Boomers and even the few remaining of the WWII generation, our legacy is one of breathtaking challenges and opportunities unimaginable to previous generations. Though the Bush administration represented a tremendous push back against the devotion to personal liberties precious to the Boomers via Cheney's proxy, we still have in front of us a nation ready to tolerate and accept personal expression on a level never before seen. In Portland, Oregon, their mayor is openly gay, in a smaller Oregon community, the new mayor is transgendered, and closer to my home, U.S. House Representative Keith Ellison out of Minneapolis, a practicing Muslim, became the first U.S. rep to do the Hajj pilgrimage. During his election campaign there was a story reported that he was confronted by one of the more traditional Muslim constituents about Ellison's support for Gay rights. Reportedly, Ellison explained to him that just as he was determined to protect this man and his community from prejudice and discrimination because of their race and religion, so he planned to support the protection of Gays from prejudice as well.

This is great stuff!! These are stories that should make us very proud to be Americans. And that's not even touching on the Obama story. But the shadows cast against these gleaming examples is dark indeed. The exhaustion of our medical, financial and social security systems can also be tied in the ideals of personal pursuits before community considerations. The fall of real wages, exponential rise in the prices of homes and education, and the dissolution of over half of U.S. families has led to huge jumps in poverty, drug addiction, and neglect of one another. This has been a high price indeed.

For myself (and because I'm the child of Boomers, I consider this point very important) I hope to integrate the beliefs and values of my grandparent's generation with those of my parent's generation. I hope to find in myself and in my life a middle ground where I feel free to explore and wonder at my experience of being alive, even when this experience varies from what I was taught was "normal," while working diligently in my community to promote social justice and economic stability.