If the Baby Boomers, now most of us being seasoned citizens, had been active in politics - I think we'd have a different political dynamic.

1.  Clinton would not be a household name in politics.   Bill Clinton might have gone from the AR governer's mansion directly to jail.

2.  George HW Bush (Bush #1), would not have become Reagan's VP.  Our objections would have been loud enough for Ronald Reagan to forge a clear path without an establishment VP.

The possibilities go on and on.  We have these twisted policies because of political expediency, actually because we conservative baby Boomers have been a silent majority...  how could we have been so wrong to think the political machine would be OK with our hands-off approach?  Now we're nearing the -end- of our political influence, minority political status awaits us.

No, we are not the problem. This all started with the so called 'Greatest Generation'.
The very term makes me want to bust something, even my father who was born in 1916 said it was all their fault for the rise of socialism, and he actually apologized to me for it.
What one generation doesn't fight, the next willingly accepts as normal.

We baby boomers were given a govt number the moment we start producing taxable income (SSN#).
We knew no different, we saw it as a coming of age, for we weren't afforded any historical reference, but our parents were and should have stopped it, instead they nurtured it.
They had a chance to kick progressives out of the GOP, could have elected one of the 20th century's greatest Conservatives, instead they helped usher in LBJ.
At this point baby boomers were given the reigns/key to a collapsing nation.
We attempted to stem the leftist movement by electing, arguably the best Conservative since the Founding Fathers, Reagan.

But it was decades of previous damage perpetrated by the greatest generation...blech...that created the mess we're in today, yes, they allowed the left to seize the GOP, leaving the country the option of voting for socialists or socialists lite, and as of today, the actual socialist party is now clearly in the image of Marxism.
what the new generation is saddled with is the mess created by our parents.
At least the new generation is taking the reigns with a new appreciation for the importance of Conservatism, a distinct difference in right and wrong, where the enemy is no longer hiding behind an (D), no, they also wear an (R) and have been exposed by the baby boomers, giving the millennial a fighting chance for the future.
If not for us BB's creating TEA, the Millennial wouldn't know where the enemy was hiding.

Quote from: Solar on May 26, 2016, 06:29:53 AM
No, we are not the problem. This all started with the so called 'Greatest Generation'.
The very term makes me want to bust something, even my father who was born in 1916 said it was all their fault for the rise of socialism, and he actually apologized to me for it.
What one generation doesn't fight, the next willingly accepts as normal.

We baby boomers were given a govt number the moment we start producing taxable income (SSN#).
We knew no different, we saw it as a coming of age, for we weren't afforded any historical reference, but our parents were and should have stopped it, instead they nurtured it.
They had a chance to kick progressives out of the GOP, could have elected one of the 20th century's greatest Conservatives, instead they helped usher in LBJ.
At this point baby boomers were given the reigns/key to a collapsing nation.
We attempted to stem the leftist movement by electing, arguably the best Conservative since the Founding Fathers, Reagan.

But it was decades of previous damage perpetrated by the greatest generation...blech...that created the mess we're in today, yes, they allowed the left to seize the GOP, leaving the country the option of voting for socialists or socialists lite, and as of today, the actual socialist party is now clearly in the image of Marxism.
what the new generation is saddled with is the mess created by our parents.
At least the new generation is taking the reigns with a new appreciation for the importance of Conservatism, a distinct difference in right and wrong, where the enemy is no longer hiding behind an (D), no, they also wear an (R) and have been exposed by the baby boomers, giving the millennial a fighting chance for the future.
If not for us BB's creating TEA, the Millennial wouldn't know where the enemy was hiding.

So, in part, after winning the war, the "greatest generation" essentially SAT DOWN and the huge vacuum was filled with socialism....?

After weathering the Great Depression, they awoke to an age of plenty, and decided to share the new found wealth with all - but, socialists came along and mandated what was once just good will.

I believe you have a valid point - but, I'd rather not let those currently in positions of political power off-the-hook so easily.

Quote from: Hoofer on May 26, 2016, 12:28:10 PM
So, in part, after winning the war, the "greatest generation" essentially SAT DOWN and the huge vacuum was filled with socialism....?

After weathering the Great Depression, they awoke to an age of plenty, and decided to share the new found wealth with all - but, socialists came along and mandated what was once just good will.

I believe you have a valid point - but, I'd rather not let those currently in positions of political power off-the-hook so easily.

Keep in mind that many of those in power today were the "flower children" of the sixties.

Quote from: Hoofer on May 26, 2016, 05:40:43 AM
If the Baby Boomers, now most of us being seasoned citizens, had been active in politics - I think we'd have a different political dynamic.

1.  Clinton would not be a household name in politics.   Bill Clinton might have gone from the AR governer's mansion directly to jail.

2.  George HW Bush (Bush #1), would not have become Reagan's VP.  Our objections would have been loud enough for Ronald Reagan to forge a clear path without an establishment VP.

The possibilities go on and on.  We have these twisted policies because of political expediency, actually because we conservative baby Boomers have been a silent majority...  how could we have been so wrong to think the political machine would be OK with our hands-off approach?  Now we're nearing the -end- of our political influence, minority political status awaits us.

My parents generation sure has been apathetic, but it's not the sole cause of why our nation is well where it's at today.

The sheer and utter lunacy people displayed by electing Obozo not once but twice, has really contributed.

Quote from: Hoofer on May 26, 2016, 12:28:10 PM
So, in part, after winning the war, the "greatest generation" essentially SAT DOWN and the huge vacuum was filled with socialism....?

After weathering the Great Depression, they awoke to an age of plenty, and decided to share the new found wealth with all - but, socialists came along and mandated what was once just good will.

I believe you have a valid point - but, I'd rather not let those currently in positions of political power off-the-hook so easily.

I agree with what you are saying. What I do not understand is how many of the greatest generation were very conservative, understood the evils of socialism, were willing to risk it all for this great country, yet voted for Roosevelt four times. My parents saw Roosevelt as the greatest president not as a socialist and that was a topic we could not discuss. 

Quote from: Hoofer on May 26, 2016, 12:28:10 PM
So, in part, after winning the war, the "greatest generation" essentially SAT DOWN and the huge vacuum was filled with socialism....?

After weathering the Great Depression, they awoke to an age of plenty, and decided to share the new found wealth with all - but, socialists came along and mandated what was once just good will.

I believe you have a valid point - but, I'd rather not let those currently in positions of political power off-the-hook so easily.

That's kind of the point. It was the previous generation that saddled us with the current GOP'e Progressive party. We were not allowed to vote for Goldwater, and by the time we (Bay Boomers) were allowed to vote, the choice was the same as it's been ever since and it started with Nixon a Progressive vs a known socialist, so in truth we were left without options after the 60s and it all thanks to the WWII generation.

s3779m gives a perfect example of their voting in the first true socialist, and enabled him to stack SCOTUS with the Warren debacle.
Sure, we deserve a lot of blame, but truth is, they left top us a Progressive GOP. We proved we could elect a Conservative, but the party proved they hold the cards after he left office.
The country never recovered.

Boomers are a problem for the marxists. Remember, most of us we taught in school what communism really is....this was during the cold war when we had "Atomic bomb attacks by Russia" drills and had to hide under our desks or file into the air raid shelter in the the school basement. Especially around the time when they parked missles in Cuba.

The way I see it is that boomers were the real last generation en mass to receive real education, now kids are indoctrinated in school. So to me the problem is the millenials who have been brainwashed by the teachers in public schools and of course any and all college's.

Look at Bernie Sanders, twenty years ago they would have run this guy out of town throwing tomatoes and eggs at him. Now these idiot kids think he is "The answer".

Quote from: Billy's bayonet on May 26, 2016, 07:15:55 PM
Boomers are a problem for the marxists. Remember, most of us we taught in school what communism really is....this was during the cold war when we had "Atomic bomb attacks by Russia" drills and had to hide under our desks or file into the air raid shelter in the the school basement. Especially around the time when they parked missles in Cuba.

The way I see it is that boomers were the real last generation en mass to receive real education, now kids are indoctrinated in school. So to me the problem is the millenials who have been brainwashed by the teachers in public schools and of course any and all college's.

Look at Bernie Sanders, twenty years ago they would have run this guy out of town throwing tomatoes and eggs at him. Now these idiot kids think he is "The answer".

True Billy, now these sponges are being taught globalism, as if no evil exists in the world, that open borders prove we just want hugs from the globe to prove we're just living in Mr Roger's neighborhood fantasy land.

Quote from: s3779m on May 26, 2016, 01:41:26 PM
I agree with what you are saying. What I do not understand is how many of the greatest generation were very conservative, understood the evils of socialism, were willing to risk it all for this great country, yet voted for Roosevelt four times. My parents saw Roosevelt as the greatest president not as a socialist and that was a topic we could not discuss.

My dad (God rest him), went from school right into the Army Signal Corps.   Fought in the Philippines, saw many die, and killed several in hand-to-hand combat (almost killed my mom, a bad nightmare), and lost one of his best friends when a direct hit mortar vaporized him.

To Solar's point, he came back a completely different man for the 3 years he was gone.   He rarely ever talked about it, but the few times he did, we could tell it deeply troubled him - and it sounded horrifying to us.   Barak Obama is an Idiot not to see what the GOOD the Atomic Bomb did.   So, I -think- my dad probably did nothing, might have been incapable of doing much of anything political... giving way to the Beatnik generation, who were totally disconnected.

BUT......  That doesn't mean the Boomers (like me) are exempt - maybe I should say we followed the example of our parents, and figured the nation was on "auto-pilot"...?

Quote from: Hoofer on May 27, 2016, 08:07:55 AM
My dad (God rest him), went from school right into the Army Signal Corps.   Fought in the Philippines, saw many die, and killed several in hand-to-hand combat (almost killed my mom, a bad nightmare), and lost one of his best friends when a direct hit mortar vaporized him.

To Solar's point, he came back a completely different man for the 3 years he was gone.   He rarely ever talked about it, but the few times he did, we could tell it deeply troubled him - and it sounded horrifying to us.   Barak Obama is an Idiot not to see what the GOOD the Atomic Bomb did.   So, I -think- my dad probably did nothing, might have been incapable of doing much of anything political... giving way to the Beatnik generation, who were totally disconnected.

BUT......  That doesn't mean the Boomers (like me) are exempt - maybe I should say we followed the example of our parents, and figured the nation was on "auto-pilot"...?

If I may ask, how did your Dad view Roosevelt? My parents also went thru the depression and the war, Dad was in the Marines, were very conservative and religious, never accepted anything they did not earn, loved their country and saw Roosevelt in a total different light as I see him. And like I stated before that subject was off limits, Dad could never see Roosevelt as a socialist or as someone who was willing to break the Constitution, he saw him as saving the country. I guess you could say he saw Roosevelt in the same light I see Reagan. And I agree 100% on the fact we boomers should have seen what was coming and reacted. Don't get me wrong, I am not placing blame on my parents generation for anything, just never understood the roosevelt thing.

Quote from: s3779m on May 27, 2016, 11:46:03 AM
If I may ask, how did your Dad view Roosevelt? My parents also went thru the depression and the war, Dad was in the Marines, were very conservative and religious, never accepted anything they did not earn, loved their country and saw Roosevelt in a total different light as I see him. And like I stated before that subject was off limits, Dad could never see Roosevelt as a socialist or as someone who was willing to break the Constitution, he saw him as saving the country. I guess you could say he saw Roosevelt in the same light I see Reagan. And I agree 100% on the fact we boomers should have seen what was coming and reacted. Don't get me wrong, I am not placing blame on my parents generation for anything, just never understood the roosevelt thing.

I asked my dad about that very thing. He said people wanted to forget the war and all things attached, they wanted distractions, the country was experiencing a boom like never before, they trusted govt would do the right thing and went about their lives, earning money, planning for the future.
Politics was not something people weren't all that concerned about, simply because both party's had, at the time, America's best interests at heart, so they thought.

He said what FDR did was extremely underhanded, that people didn't realize the damage till it was too late, he said we were drunk on fun, TV, new cars, suburbia, never once suspecting the very evil they just fought, was actually laying the foundation for a takeover right under their noses.
He said it was his generation that let the fox in the hen house, and it was our generation that never knew any different and accepted govt intrusion as a part of life.

What one generation doesn't fight, the next accepts as the norm.
I think we can accept responsibility for cultural degradation for allowing the leftist message via media to set the narrative of the day.
Sad isn't it? The latest generation is being brainwashed into accepting sexual perversions as the norm.
How sad is it, when a leftist network like FOX is seen as the Conservative alternative?

Quote from: Hoofer on May 27, 2016, 08:07:55 AM
My dad (God rest him), went from school right into the Army Signal Corps.   Fought in the Philippines, saw many die, and killed several in hand-to-hand combat (almost killed my mom, a bad nightmare), and lost one of his best friends when a direct hit mortar vaporized him.

To Solar's point, he came back a completely different man for the 3 years he was gone.   He rarely ever talked about it, but the few times he did, we could tell it deeply troubled him - and it sounded horrifying to us.   Barak Obama is an Idiot not to see what the GOOD the Atomic Bomb did.   So, I -think- my dad probably did nothing, might have been incapable of doing much of anything political... giving way to the Beatnik generation, who were totally disconnected.

BUT......  That doesn't mean the Boomers (like me) are exempt - maybe I should say we followed the example of our parents, and figured the nation was on "auto-pilot"...?

Even worse, the so called greatest gen was teaching us Marxist policy. Yeah, we suckered right into it as a way of life, but with the beauty of hindsight, we can now see just how devious the left was and still is.
Scroll down to page 25 and read the article, 'We need a flood of new laws', quite chilling indeed, how we, the baby boomers were duped into destroying our own economy under the guise of saving the planet and the commie "GREEN MOVEMENT".
Link was too long so I distorted it a bit, but it's clickable, just mouse over, you'll see it.



https://books.google.com/books?id=bFAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=Scientists+have+solid+experimental+and+theoretical+evidence+to+support%E2%80%A6the+following+predictions:+In+a+decade,+urban+dwellers+will+have+to+wear+gas+masks+to+survive+air+pollution%E2%80%A6by+1985+air+pollution+will+have+reduced+the+amount+of+sunlight+reaching+earth+by+one+half%E2%80%A6.%E2%80%9D+%E2%80%A2+Life+Magazine,+January+1970&source=bl&ots=J1kfluMukK&sig=_tiBaR2dQXnpvQumo1ODo1bW-4c&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjzkZ7J_vrMAhUU0GMKHSGXAQgQ6AEIRjAG#v=onepage&q=Scientists%20have%20solid%20experimental%20and%20theoretical%20evidence%20to%20support%E2%80%A6the%20following%20predictions%3A%20In%20a%20decade%2C%20urban%20dwellers%20will%20have%20to%20wear%20gas%20masks%20to%20survive%20air%20pollution%E2%80%A6by%201985%20air%20pollution%20will%20have%20reduced%20the%20amount%20of%20sunlight%20reaching%20earth%20by%20one%20half%E2%80%A6.%E2%80%9D%20%E2%80%A2%20Life%20Magazine%2C%20January%201970&f=false

...

Quote from: s3779m on May 27, 2016, 11:46:03 AM
If I may ask, how did your Dad view Roosevelt? My parents also went thru the depression and the war, Dad was in the Marines, were very conservative and religious, never accepted anything they did not earn, loved their country and saw Roosevelt in a total different light as I see him. And like I stated before that subject was off limits, Dad could never see Roosevelt as a socialist or as someone who was willing to break the Constitution, he saw him as saving the country. I guess you could say he saw Roosevelt in the same light I see Reagan. And I agree 100% on the fact we boomers should have seen what was coming and reacted. Don't get me wrong, I am not placing blame on my parents generation for anything, just never understood the roosevelt thing.

My Dad was a southern democrat and totally dedicated to FDR. He became working age during the depression and experienced all the pain. He saw FDR as the guy who got America back on track. So many thought the CCC and other socialist programs were a God send from FDR. They did not realize the freedoms that were taken away by FDR. I had several conversations with my Dad about how the Japanese ended the depression, not FDR's programs. The military/industrial buildup ended the depression.,and he never accepted that. Fortunately, when the democrat party lurched to the left he finally came around in the sixties and abandoned the democrat party.

From my last post - I neglected to finish the thought, sorry!

When my dad came home from the war, he got married, almost immediately, and started raising a family.  What I don't know for sure, but shortly after the war, I'm guessing he wanted NOTHING to do with any government - he had just got done, "paying his dues" and now it was someone else's turn.  I think, just a guess, he MISSED those 4-5 years of just growing up and being a "regular guy" - he might have been in the mode of, "It's -MY- time to live now... get the hell outta my life!"   Sort of a Miller-Time philosophy, "You only go around ONCE in life, time to grab all the gusto you can."  and in effect, didn't get involved in the political scene, until my mom started reminding him of "what's best for the kids".

In effect, he missed those years of wandering minds, trying to figure out 'what to do' - replaced with 'do-or-die' in the military field of battle. He loved MacArthur - and later Goldwater, actually worked in his campaign locally - which definitely was the influence of his dad, a successful businessman.

Nixon ended up a big disappointment/embarrassment - from there on, neither of my parents did anything politically, that comes to mind.   Come to think of it, if Donald Trump is elected, I suspect most of his supporters will become likewise disenchanted - Trump has set the bar, very high - his presidency would be a huge disappointment.  My dad pretty much quit, and died before he could really see what Reagan would do, early 1981.

If my "political responsibility" begins around 1980, other than Ronald Reagan.... Ted Cruz is the only other guy I could get excited about.  GW Bush during the campaign looked like a guy to "plug the dike" and restrain liberalism - I'll say, he wasn't quite as bad as the MSM tried to paint him, fiscal conservative NOT!

As a voting bloc, (I think) we Boomers have not really been engaged to get what we WANT.   It's been one, "lessor of evils" and settling for RINOs instead of advancing a positive cause - like Reagan.   When I replay those Mondale & Carter debates today, I realize he was forging a trail from Liberalism back to Conservatism - for -US- to follow.  Often, Ronald Reagan bypassed the press, and spoke to US, with pride and a clear vision in his speeches.  Consider Reagan's leadership - ah, ahem... we kinda dropped the ball, because we actually did have a good start with Ronald...!

Which brings me back to the question:  "Are Baby Boomers the Political Problem?" 

Didn't we have a GREAT example, a good start and proven, winning plan, under Ronald Reagan?
Looking back to the following years of Bush - he really screwed us Conservatives, and made a lot of GOPe folk happy again.  And incremental liberalism marched on.