Lessons learned; the Tea Party and Hippies

The Baby Boomer generation; a time the social sciences start in 1946 that continues to the end of the 1950s, to describe the people born during that time. A generation that transformed America in almost every way. A generation that has always been a study in contradictions. The generation that brought us bra-burning also brought us the Wonder Bra. The War on Drugs was started by the same generation that spent two decades stone out of their minds. People that once advocated "free luvvv" have come to oppose premarital sex.

This is a generation that has been proud of their distrust for decades. "Dont trust anyone over 30!" Well, that was back when they were teens and early twenties. Now they joke "Dont trust anyone under 60." Dont trust corporations, dont trust the government, dont trust religion, dont trust your parents; the list goes on forever of who we werent supposed to trust. And when it was just them, it wasnt such a problem. But then they started having kids.

What happens when your kids see you throw grandpa in a nursing home and deliberately forget he exists? What lesson do you think they learn? What are they learning when they hear "old folks cant understand"? When you suggest that age makes one incompetent, even when there isnt a disease, dont be surprised when your kids do the same. They are just acting as you taught them.

For decades, Generations X and Y were told we couldnt trust our government. It was evil, it lied, and was guilty of every wrong you'd care to name. We were told this by liberals and conservatives, republicans and democrats, hippies and beatniks as well as the blue collar republicans and the war vets. We were told the media is the enemy of the public, lying for the rich and the powerful. We were told that our history, indeed most our education, was distorted lies. That corporations were giant faceless entities cheerfully poisoning us and utterly indifferent as long as they made a profit. The unions were accused of being no better than organized crime, if not actually taken over and ran by organized crime.

So, now that "The Greatest Generation" is mostly died, and the Baby Boomers are the main power in our government, they are wondering why there is a large contingent shouting "We cant trust you!" Those
same hippies that protested against the corporation rhey now govern cant understand why their children and grandchildren see the company as the cancer on society the Boomers always taught it was. They cant understand how or why a large percentage of the population is repeating and believing the rhetoric the Boomers shouted for more than 2 decades.

Where did Rand Paul, Rubio, and the rest of the Tea Party come from? Look at what Hillary, Pelosi, and the other liberal Democrats were chanting and carrying on about in the 60s and 70s. To misquote the old drug commercials, "parents who distrust the government will have kids who distrust the government."