08-19-2016, 09:00 AM
According to Howe and Strauss, America never had a true Civic generation between the Republican generation of Thomas Jefferson, DeWitt ("Do-IT") Clinton, and James Madison (the definitive institution-builders where and when those institutions barely existed and had to be created anew) and the GI Generation. The Gilded Generation ended up with the role after the American Civil War but handled it badly because they were not brought up as a Civic generation. They were too cynical, and their camaraderie rarely went beyond shared danger or a shared quest for gain. The generation being groomed to be a Civic Generation, the Progressive Generation of Thomas Edison and Theodore Roosevelt found the doors slamming shut on childhood discovery as the Civil War made such too risky for children.
The Millennial Generation is the first to have any contact with an earlier Civic generation since Jefferson's "Republicans". The Gilded may have acted in someways like a Civic generation, but it was too cut-throat in its competition and personal rivalries to express Civic values of cooperation and community.
Can the Millennial Generation be fully like GIs? Probably not. The Second Gulf War most likely inculcated some cynicism in Millennial young adults who participated in it about the trustworthiness of authority figures in the political and economic elites. Boomer Presidents have included the forgettable Bill Clinton and the awful George W. Bush.
Add to this, Boomer elites have displayed the most exploitative and dehumanizing expressions of narcissism that any generational leadership could ever show. Cultural elites among Boomers have generally been poor examples, too. The elder Idealist generation can not lead effectively in a Crisis Era unless it shows itself capable of some sacrifices of indulgence and gain. The Republican nominee for President exemplifies one of the worst tendencies in the Idealist generations: the ability to exploit and abuse people that he demands see him as a benefactor or protector.
Maybe Hillary Clinton will push some major reforms that gut the power of economic elites for the needs of the time. But that is asking for much. Boomer executives are the worst ever.
The Millennial Generation is the first to have any contact with an earlier Civic generation since Jefferson's "Republicans". The Gilded may have acted in someways like a Civic generation, but it was too cut-throat in its competition and personal rivalries to express Civic values of cooperation and community.
Can the Millennial Generation be fully like GIs? Probably not. The Second Gulf War most likely inculcated some cynicism in Millennial young adults who participated in it about the trustworthiness of authority figures in the political and economic elites. Boomer Presidents have included the forgettable Bill Clinton and the awful George W. Bush.
Add to this, Boomer elites have displayed the most exploitative and dehumanizing expressions of narcissism that any generational leadership could ever show. Cultural elites among Boomers have generally been poor examples, too. The elder Idealist generation can not lead effectively in a Crisis Era unless it shows itself capable of some sacrifices of indulgence and gain. The Republican nominee for President exemplifies one of the worst tendencies in the Idealist generations: the ability to exploit and abuse people that he demands see him as a benefactor or protector.
Maybe Hillary Clinton will push some major reforms that gut the power of economic elites for the needs of the time. But that is asking for much. Boomer executives are the worst ever.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
