03-25-2017, 07:29 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-25-2017, 08:02 PM by Eric the Green.)
This paragraph I especially take issue with:
"But the boomers must have done some good things, right?
Toward the end of the book, there’s a chapter called, “The Myth of Boomer Goodness.” Some of the pushback I’ve gotten on the book is people saying, well, didn’t boomers do all these wonderful things, like fighting for civil rights? But there’s no way that chronology works out. The Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act were 1964 and 1965, and only the very oldest boomers could have voted for the congressmen who pushed through that act. So they played no part in those foundational victories. What we have seen instead is the Voting Rights Act gutted.
Or you can take the environment, which is going to affect everybody. This has just not been a serious item for the boomers ... They can’t take credit for these enormous civil rights and environmental victories that we saw in the ‘60s and the early 1970s. "
Who gutted the voting rights act? It's true there was no pressure on the Republican congress to restore voting rights, but it was not congress who gutted it either. It had been extended many times by congress. It was the Supreme Court.
So who were the conservatives who gutted it? (party refers to the party of the president who appointed them)
Scalia Silent Republican
Kennedy Silent Republican
Roberts Boomer Republican
Thomas Boomer Republican
Alito Boomer Republican
Who were the liberals who opposed the gutting?
Breyer Silent Democrat
Ginsberg Silent Democrat
Sotomayor, Boomer, Democrat
Kagan, Boomer, Democrat
So what's the common ground here? Generation? or Party? The answer is: Party, and not Generation.
And it's true Boomers were not in congress to pass the civil rights and voting rights act. But they were marching in Selma. It's true they were not the majority in congress that passed the clean air and water acts. But they were the ones who demonstrated on Earth Day in the largest demonstration in history. And by the early 70s, they were voting, and were voting for change, and for these movements and the politicians who supported them. Those who marched with me against the war in Vietnam were my fellow boomers, and without us McGovern would not have been nominated either.
Gorsuch would be the first Xer, even though he looks like a boomer. He was born in 1967. He would replace Scalia, if confirmed. He is a Republican like most Xer politicians. Gen Xer politicians are a much worse crop than boomers, from an idealistic perspective, and the perspective of Gibney. Although Xers are pretty balanced and neutral, if leaning Republican, those Xers who have been inspired to become leaders are reactionary Republicans like Scott Walker, Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Naturally there are more liberal Democratic ones too, like Obama, O'Malley, Kirsten Gillibrand and Tammy Baldwin, but (except for Obama) they don't seem to be going very far yet (and they tend to be Jonesers anyway, meaning demographic boomers). There's Cory Booker; he's pretty good, but maybe the best Xer politicians will be black or mixed race like Obama; we'll see. Likely there's a few more liberal Xers on the horizon.
"But the boomers must have done some good things, right?
Toward the end of the book, there’s a chapter called, “The Myth of Boomer Goodness.” Some of the pushback I’ve gotten on the book is people saying, well, didn’t boomers do all these wonderful things, like fighting for civil rights? But there’s no way that chronology works out. The Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act were 1964 and 1965, and only the very oldest boomers could have voted for the congressmen who pushed through that act. So they played no part in those foundational victories. What we have seen instead is the Voting Rights Act gutted.
Or you can take the environment, which is going to affect everybody. This has just not been a serious item for the boomers ... They can’t take credit for these enormous civil rights and environmental victories that we saw in the ‘60s and the early 1970s. "
Who gutted the voting rights act? It's true there was no pressure on the Republican congress to restore voting rights, but it was not congress who gutted it either. It had been extended many times by congress. It was the Supreme Court.
So who were the conservatives who gutted it? (party refers to the party of the president who appointed them)
Scalia Silent Republican
Kennedy Silent Republican
Roberts Boomer Republican
Thomas Boomer Republican
Alito Boomer Republican
Who were the liberals who opposed the gutting?
Breyer Silent Democrat
Ginsberg Silent Democrat
Sotomayor, Boomer, Democrat
Kagan, Boomer, Democrat
So what's the common ground here? Generation? or Party? The answer is: Party, and not Generation.
And it's true Boomers were not in congress to pass the civil rights and voting rights act. But they were marching in Selma. It's true they were not the majority in congress that passed the clean air and water acts. But they were the ones who demonstrated on Earth Day in the largest demonstration in history. And by the early 70s, they were voting, and were voting for change, and for these movements and the politicians who supported them. Those who marched with me against the war in Vietnam were my fellow boomers, and without us McGovern would not have been nominated either.
Gorsuch would be the first Xer, even though he looks like a boomer. He was born in 1967. He would replace Scalia, if confirmed. He is a Republican like most Xer politicians. Gen Xer politicians are a much worse crop than boomers, from an idealistic perspective, and the perspective of Gibney. Although Xers are pretty balanced and neutral, if leaning Republican, those Xers who have been inspired to become leaders are reactionary Republicans like Scott Walker, Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Naturally there are more liberal Democratic ones too, like Obama, O'Malley, Kirsten Gillibrand and Tammy Baldwin, but (except for Obama) they don't seem to be going very far yet (and they tend to be Jonesers anyway, meaning demographic boomers). There's Cory Booker; he's pretty good, but maybe the best Xer politicians will be black or mixed race like Obama; we'll see. Likely there's a few more liberal Xers on the horizon.
