ubernoir wrote:

Decius wrote:

My own generation is almost completely ignored by this article, other than the typical mention of our cynicism and alienation. One suspects that is because we're of little political utility as a group to the Democrats, mostly for demographic reasons, but also because we're more likely than the younger ones to vote for a Republican...

what i was more thinking was that your attitude to the current state of the system is more typical of this supposed new generation -- thus you might be seen as ahead of the curve -- you are totally alienated by idealogy, civic minded and desire a center consensus and oppose the partisan politics of the establishment (or so I gather -- apologies if that is a bit general and/or inaccurate)

Well, the line between millenials and Xers is 1980, and I was born in 1976, so I'm likely to be closer to milenials than someone born in 1970. But I'm still cynical about public institutions.

My election day in 2000 was three hours long, because I got on a plane heading toward Asia. I spent the next month there reassuring business associates that the United States would, inevitably, select a President, while neither paying close attention to the recounting process nor being very concerned about its result. I guess in retrospect given the amount of attention I pay now, it's amazing that I didn't follow Bush V. Gore. But really, I didn't care until 9/11. First to try to determine what had happened and why, but also since 9/11 we've violated fundamental philisophical underpinnings of our institutions, such as the system of checks and balances, and the notion that you don't engage in wars of choice. These are missteps that risk collapse of our society. I think you have to pay attention to that, so you don't get blind sided if collapse actually begins. The bubble economy presents similar concerns...

In 2000 I was confident that the government did not really serve my interests but I was also confident that it was operated by smart professionals who wouldn't allow it to fail. 9/11 demonstrated that massive failure was possible and the post 9/11 government has shown why. Perhaps it takes the naivety of a civic minded generation like the milennials to repair public institutions that are so broken. Of course you have to beleive that its possible. But my generation has a different destiny. We grew up dealing with the bad consiquences of boomer idealism in our personal lives. Our job is to apply our well earned cynicism and fail to follow the baby boomers off a cliff in their pursuit of some idealistic agenda. That process is only starting as we've entered adulthood. Civic minded millenials won't be rebuilding social institutions for another 20 years...

RE: The Boomers Had Their Day. Make Way for the Millennials. - washingtonpost.com