Comments on: Barone & the Ideal Climate for Baby-boomers

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:48:50 +0000

Elliot: Surely not golf pros!

;)

By: Elliot

Elliot — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:02:44 +0000

I suppose many folks have a distaste for some other group. Some have a distaste for blacks, some for Muslims, some for gays, women, or golf pros. Some even have a distaste for generation X, Y or Z. For those who think in generalzed terms, perhaps their distaste is a personal comfort. Good for them.

By: Sgt. Mom

Sgt. Mom — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 16:51:38 +0000

And I am supposed to be a boomer also, but I’ve always felt like I was at the very tail end, after the parade had gone buy. All the things that the boomers recollect so well were tired and worn-out and and grubby by the time I was in my late teens and in college.
I’ve often felt like I’ve done nothing but clean up after the Boomers and try and repair the damage, for all my adult life.

By: Ginny

Ginny — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 16:16:29 +0000

Then again there are a lot of us and few generalizations hold completely. For instance, I’m at the tip of the baby boomers & Barone graduated from high school a year before I did – people like us speak from the margin.

By: Steven Plunk

Steven Plunk — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 15:53:06 +0000

I share Baron’s distaste for the Boomers. Gore represents this generation and all it’s faults very well.

Raised believing they were the new hope for the world reality has broken them into the people they are today. From meddling city councils and school boards to national players like Gore they still want to tell us what to do while no one has a right to tell them what to do. The “do as I say, not as I do” generation has a real sickness.

By: Elliot

Elliot — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 15:00:44 +0000

Barone writes about Gore for 90% of his essay. Then he lapses into the following rather puzzling comment.

“This is just another example of the solipsism of the baby boom generation, the pampered and much-praised age cohort that believes the world revolves around them and that all past history has become irrelevant.”

It doesn’t seem he likes the generation very much. Perhaps there is evidence for that, but he presents nothing but Al Gore in this essay. Does that justify judging an entire generation on the basis of Al Gore?

By: Bruce G Charlton

Bruce G Charlton — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 12:58:59 +0000

Nice, thoughtful posting.

Assuming an elected political leader is not actively wicked and corrupt (eg. declaring themselves a dictator), the best that can be hoped – realistically – is one really big contribution per term of office.

This usually involves ‘solving’ an outstanding national problem for which (implicitly) they were elected. For example, in the UK Margaret Thatcher solved the major British problem of long term economic decline, which makes her one of the greatest Prime Ministers; even though she made all kinds of terrible errors in smaller things (eg. hugely increasing the power of the managerial central state – especially in the public sector).

One significant contribution is far more than most leaders manage. Other than that, the little bits of benefit and harm tend to cancel-out.