The late, great United States
Those of you old enough to remember the debut of Sputnik, the 1955 Ford Thunderbird, or the introduction of commercial jet air travel may experience a communion of sorts while reading what follows. Those of you, that is, who truly appreciate the miracle that is the Constitution and who live your lives guided by independent thought, moral conviction, and the principle of individual choice.
However, those of you who insist upon or hope for governmental nannying in any capacity, artificial societal encumbrances, or nurturing by entitlement should stop reading now — You will not understand nor appreciate the concepts behind the words. Your time will be better spent demanding a $30-per-hour minimum wage or enabling the conduct of functionally illiterate, irresponsible single teen mothers with fatherless children.
Once upon a time
If you are still reading, chances are that you remember when the United States was synonymous with individual freedom, a time when that very essence of freedom was precious to every citizen and love of country was not something to be derided as it is today. Opportunity abounded for rugged individuals with the courage, will, and energy to determine their own destinies — without bureaucratic or wrong-headed special interest interference or impediment.
Those who came before my generation comprised what many of today's philosophically-minded have labeled America's Greatest Generation; I happen to agree, save for that remarkable generation of our Founding Fathers and the few fearless millions of their colonial countrymen.
My parents and their generational peers were the ones who scraped, clawed, and bludgeoned their way through the worst global economic collapse in the history of modern civilization; who for several long years paid dearly in blood and treasure but ultimately annihilated that era's fascist tyrants; who by their sweat and toil built the United States of America into the greatest economic marvel ever experienced by mankind; and whose efforts ensured that the vast majority of Americans were firmly ensconced in what is now known as the Middle Class — a feat then unheard of or attainable by any nation on Earth.
This very same Greatest Generation took us to the Moon and beyond, broke the back of the despotic Soviet Empire, pioneered medical and technological advances of breathtaking proportions, developed and improved the agricultural mechanisms that still today feed most of the world, corrected social injustices that were once historically considered the norm, and who through their empathy and magnanimity rebuilt two continents ravaged by a decade of planet-wide war. And as they suffered, labored, and sacrificed — they did so without whining, without petulance, and with an eye on better days to come.
Of course, there were (and still are) those of the Greatest Generation who could not or would not answer the call to defeat fascism or perish, possessed no self-reliance, applauded when wealth-redistribution schemes and government-controlled handouts were imposed, and approved of an ever-burgeoning central government intrusion into the lives of individuals.
But by and large the Americans of the '20s, '30s, and '40s were prideful, hard-working, freedom-loving, independent, and not possessed of such lesser qualities. Each in his or her own way achieved greatness for their nation, families and more ... much more.
Yet in one sense they failed.
The Greatest Generation failed to pass along their wisdom and fully instruct their progeny in the importance of individual freedom, the requirement of personal sacrifice to maintain that freedom, and the necessity of spirituality to harmonically meld conscience and ethos into everyday life. They also failed to hold their children accountable for their actions and to accept responsibility for and the consequences of such actions.
They failed my generation. They failed to imprint the tenor of their legacy onto the soul of my generation, the Baby Boomer Generation, the Worst Generation. They spoiled us, and who can blame them? They did not want their children to suffer as they did, to contend with one hard time after another as they did, to feel the pangs of hunger as they did. Well-meaning, they nevertheless weakened us with pampering and scarred us with permissiveness.
The worst generation
Since coming of age in the 1960s, my generation (those of us born between 1946 and 1955) have repeatedly illustrated for any unbiased observer to plainly see that we are not made of that sterner stuff as was the Greatest Generation. The status of our national pride, societal values, collective honor and commitment to keep our word, acceptance of responsibility, personal integrity and dignity, and national willingness to stay the course during difficult times has been repeatedly tested and found wanting.
Most of us in the Worst Generation have proven ourselves to be soft and spoiled, lazy and lachrymose, weak and whiny, but most of all self-centered and greedy. We demand that everything be given us without cost, without sacrifice — and we want it now. We forcefully intrude in the lives and social circumstances of others without caring enough to indulge in the same when it comes to raising our own children. We see nothing wrong with stealing from the wealthy in the form of oppressive taxation in order to placate the unworthy and those who do not care enough about themselves to care for themselves.
Most of us in the Worst Generation give only briefest, merest nod to the ideas and ideals of freedom, individualism, and independent thought. We condone special-interest groups or the government choosing our holidays and how we must act, where we work and how we must act, what and where we eat, what and where we smoke, what and where we drink, how we dress and what we are allowed to wear, what we say and where we say it, and when, how, and where we worship.
Most of us in the Worst Generation stand idly by as agenda-driven bureaucrats and nefarious special-interest toadies determine what is taught or not taught to our children in public schools and universities, what we earn for our labor, which doctors our mandated health plans allow us to see and how much we must pay for our regulated medical care, and how much we are allowed for our retirement income. We think nothing of inhumanely killing millions of our babies each year but express outrage at the inhumanity of executing a convicted murderer.
Most of us in the Worst Generation either don't care or do not comprehend that the vast majority of today's print and electronic media, including Hollywood, are controlled by those who wish to set the agenda for the socialization of America. We now are conditioned to obediently genuflect before the altars of their false Gods and graven images we know as preferential quotas, multiculturalism, conformity, political correctness, diversity — and calculated race, wealth, spiritual, and class warfare.
Most of us in the Worst Generation either don't care or do not comprehend that the millions of illegal aliens we insanely allow to squat on our sovereign soil each year have absolutely no comprehension of true republican government, and do not possess nor care to integrate into their lives our national pride, love of country, and willingness to sacrifice for the common good. The allegiances of most illegals lie elsewhere and will remain so.
Most of us in the Worst Generation have either forgotten or never experienced the quality time of a daily family supper at table, without distraction. We make time for inane reality television programming but have no time to walk with or read to our children. We can't be bothered to independently research contentious issues and instead rely by default on biased media's 20-second sound bites and video clips to instruct us in how to think, what to think, who to vote for, who to like, who to hate. We want everything soon, now, this instant. If ignored or unappeased, we throw tantrums — only now our grown-up tantrums are harmful to our families and our nation.
It is a disgraceful reality that most of us in the Worst Generation are either indifferent or oblivious to the fact that we can no longer live our lives and raise our families within the moral bounds of time-honored and time-tested tradition, or even as we see fit. We who allow all of this deserve nothing more.
Falling stars, fading stripes
One of America's great presidents, Ronald Reagan, observed these developments and the slow decline of the nation he loved. Under his guidance and through the sheer power of his heartfelt convictions, Americans — young and old, liberal and conservative, wealthy and poor — were imbued with the spirit and energy of the Greatest Generation. All things were possible, no adversary too powerful to vanquish, and no problem too difficult to overcome. America was resurrected, if only for a brief, shining moment.
Short of reincarnation, the Worst Generation will probably not be blessed with a facsimile of Reagan, Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, or Benjamin Franklin to rekindle the smoldering remains of what was once the Spirit of America. Which is why we must have grave doubts about the future.
It is a bitter dose to swallow, based upon a careful reflection of our degradation over the past forty years, that we may have experienced the very best that our beloved United States of America will ever be. By malevolent, premeditated design, our national fabric is now tattered and frayed, and the homogenous tincture of rugged individualism, free will, appreciation of and devotion to country, strength of character, and conscience that bound us together has been horribly polluted and so defiled as to be undrinkable.
We are too petulant, too lazy, too hedonistic, too pampered. We no longer possess the will, the pride, or the courage to take care of ourselves, let alone our children, and plead with and pray for a bureaucratic nanny state to mother us and change our diapers, kiss our boo-boos, warm our bottles, and give us shiny but worthless trinkets with which to play. We are good for nothing else.
We have been conditioned to mistrust and disparage those few remaining among us who strive for and celebrate individual accomplishment. Our feelings were hurt when we were not picked for the neighborhood team so we did away with all forms of healthy competition for our own children. We shield our children from the temporary disappointment of bad grades or failing at something — anything — by simply doing away with all measures of achievement. We play make-believe and pretend as though pain, suffering, and failure were not common realities of life. Yet we unnaturally emasculate our boys and deny the natural physiological limitations of our girls, thereby harming and penalizing them more with falsely conceived notions than the rigors of life ever could.
We have already enabled or are in the process of enabling the generations that follow to mock authority, ridicule American values, debase our common heritage, and abuse what little freedoms are left to us. We will not hold our children accountable for their actions, then perpetually dose them with drugs because they misbehave. We punish initiative because we have no initiative — we have grown content to be cared for and in the sordid process have lost our once-envied American fighting spirit, our can-do essence, our pride, and our national soul.
Astray in the wilderness
Those few of us in the Worst Generation, raised by members of the Greatest Generation and who were not recipients of spoiling, pampering, nor insulation, discern with knowing nods all that has been written here. Some may feel sadness as today's shallow caricature of what was once the America of our youth is weighed and found to be hollow and without substance.
Because we respected and listened to our elders, we instinctively recognized the significant impacts that honor, reverence, loyalty, responsibility, charity, and humility had on our nation's identity and well-being. We now perceive these essential qualities to be waning in today's America.
We were alternately disciplined and loved, deprived and rewarded, instructed and listened to, and then encouraged to scrape our knees, test our wings, and to develop physically, emotionally, and spiritually. This can no longer be said of our children.
We were raised to accept failure as a part of life, yet not to accept failure as an end. We were taught to get up, shake it off, and try again. We were taught to reach for the stars, but in order to reach them prices had to be paid. Today, the most basic concepts of consequence and sacrifice are foreign to our youth.
We were infused with the notion that any bad experiences in our past could be used as motivation to succeed, and had no lasting relevance on our future. We learned that using such negatives to justify failure or social abnormality was anathema to a productive and fulfilling life. Excuses, mental crutches, enabling, and medication are now routinely prescribed and encouraged.
I cannot fathom the salvation of freedom in America, cannot imagine that free will, individual courage, self-sufficiency, inner strength to endure no matter the obstacle or duration of the struggle, responsibility for one's actions, and honest contrition for transgressions will ever again be woven into the American fabric.
Each day until I am no more, I will humbly ask in my prayers to be proven wrong.