It seems that the two major presidential candidates of the Republican and Democratic parties are limping to the finish line.
Loaded down with baggage produced by their generation and its accumulated “trash,” they find themselves pushing and pulling the burden with four months still to go to the election.
After decades of public service, President Joe Biden, as a standard bearer of the Democratic Party, appears to be running low on energy. The tiredness he exhibits on the political trail reflects the last gasps of a generation that is in the process of completing its course.
Former President Donald Trump not only carries the increasing autocratic and undemocratic characteristics of a once highly respected Republican Party but also adds to it his own divisive character that may have led to an assassination attempt.
The weight of his baggage is unprecedented as it is represented by both a web of lies that make up a media-driven alternative world and the trappings of what, in Star Wars language, would be considered the dark side.
The Greatest Generation that experienced the worst economic downturn in history, survived two World Wars and built the strongest economic and military power in the globe, left as a gift to their children an aspiring middle class life and the notion that it was the responsibility of the succeeding generations to get their own offspring to a greater place domestically and in the world.
The Boomer Generation that followed has had mixed results in improving on that legacy.
World War II left two military giants in place: the United States and the Soviet Union. The post World War competition by these two nuclear superpowers created four decades of great tension at the same time that the Boomer Generation was growing up and coming into its own.
That tension did little to affect the Boomer’s focus themselves, their play, their music and counterculture tendencies. When they did take on serious issues like the War in Vietnam, it was to oppose it to the point of dividing the country and causing a sitting President to forgo his candidacy for reelection.
The Boomer Generation took the reins of power in the 1990s at the height of a successful Neo-liberal market and world trade economy personified by President Clinton (born in 1946) and the policies best advanced by President Reagan. The last 31 years however, has seen a general and gradual decline as divisive change in political discourse features an emphasis on redefining the nature of America and what is an American.
The issue combined with the notions of democracy versus autocracy is playing out before our eyes. It has created a schism that violates the very essence of our Constitution and the unity it offers to our people.
“We the people of the United States,” says the Preamble to the Constitution, “in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty for ourselves and our Posterity…” The Boomer Generation in its last days of political power appear to threaten that legacy and its lasting meaning.
One can say that the Boomer Generation began as somewhat spoiled children of well meaning parents who had suffered and sacrificed a lot. They wanted the best for their kids and expected a greater country as a result.
Although the last chapter has not been written, it appears that the Generation has not held the country together. It is limping to the finish line.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of laVozColorado. Comments and responses may be directed to news@lavozcolorado.com.
