Main problem: Democrats are afraid of the Department of Defense and equally
afraid of the intelligence apparatus, period. The idea that we have a tri-partite
government is an illusion. Defense and Intelligence and their bankrollers are in the
drivers seat and will remain so till there comes a staggering collapse, the likes of
which the world has never and will never again see.

What do you call someone who takes comfort in “free trade” agreements, deregulation, drug prohibition, drug use, Israel, mass incarceration, religion, tax revolts, torture, union-busting, and war; and is frightened of atheists, drug kingpins, gays, international law, habeas corpus, illegal immigrants, liberals, peace activists, secular humanism, terrorists, the UN, third parties, and trade unions?

If you answered “The Me Generation,” you are correct!

@JDmysticDJ !!
The Who was my first thought after reading Reeves piece for the first time.

Sidebar:
Note the stuttering in music; a constant across cultures (eg. Mel Tillis, rap stutter edits) and generations (“K-K-K-Katy,” 1917).

“People try to put us d-down (Talkin’ ‘bout my generation)
Just because we get around (Talkin’ ‘bout my generation)
Things they do look awful c-c-cold (Talkin’ ‘bout my generation)
I hope I die before I get old (Talkin’ ‘bout my generation)

This is my generation
This is my generation, baby

Why don’t you all f-fade away (Talkin’ ‘bout my generation)
And don’t try to dig what we all s-s-say (Talkin’ ‘bout my generation)
I’m not trying to cause a big s-s-sensation (Talkin’ ‘bout my generation)
I’m just talkin’ ‘bout my g-g-g-generation (Talkin’ ‘bout my generation)

This is my generation
This is my generation, baby

Why don’t you all f-fade away (Talkin’ ‘bout my generation)
And don’t try to d-dig what we all s-s-say (Talkin’ ‘bout my generation)
I’m not trying to cause a b-big s-s-sensation (Talkin’ ‘bout my generation)
I’m just talkin’ ‘bout my g-g-generation (Talkin’ ‘bout my generation)

This is my generation
This is my generation, baby

People try to put us d-down (Talkin’ ‘bout my generation)
Just because we g-g-get around (Talkin’ ‘bout my generation)
Things they do look awful c-c-cold (Talkin’ ‘bout my generation)
Yeah, I hope I die before I get old (Talkin’ ‘bout my generation)

This is my generation
This is my generation, baby”

The Who

There is no context here. I just thought I’d throw it in because I have nothing at all, even in the remotest way, profound to write. I will proffer that social mores’ change with time and those changes are often associated with specific identified “generations,” e.g. “The Lost Generation” ( American expatriates in France between the two World Wars), “The Beat Generation,” “Generation-X,” “Baby Boomers,” “The Greatest Generation,” etc. ad nausea. Eras and Ages are also associated with changing mores’ and philosophies e.g. “The Renaissance, “The Age of Enlightenment,” “The Elizabethan Period,” “The Victorian Age,” “The Roaring Twenties,” etc. etc. I suppose referring to Eras, Ages, Generations, etc. is just a kind of mnemonic convenience used to identify social attitudes and whatnot, stereotyping would be a flaw in this kind of identification; anomalies and contradictions being evident, but such identifications may be valuable in identifying trends.
 
In my humble opinion the trend over the last decades has been towards decadence and a recycling of previous economic inequality. Future historians might refer to our current era as the age of iniquity or possibly as an era of re-awakening, I suppose future identifications by historians will be dependent upon the people of this “Generation,” “Era,” “Age” “Timeframe,” whatever.

blame is irrelevant. what is done is done, time to move on. make a decision, vote for the things you want done and support the persons getting it done. the past is just that the past let it go and get moving on a better way or you just stay on that pitty pot and cry the rest of your miserable life. punishment accomplishes nothing but going backwards, revenge is for suckers

“When you are 18, you’re a man.  You live on your on and struggle like we did.”  “I’m afraid you are not college material.”  “Can’t help you there.  Was never much good at math.”  “Little c*&ksucker; won’t get a haircut.”  All these quotes from the old man and his buddies falling down drunk, killing the family in the car with their cigarettes while the windows were rolled up.  Alcohol abuse was endemic.  Abuse from these unpleasant and very limited jackasses was endemic.  What would you expect from the ‘generation’ to come? A crock of shit, the ‘Greatest Generation’.

if tom brokaw does not like this country he should leave. our government system will change,we will change it at the polls. i’m proud to be an american and have no regrets for the good things this country has done and tried to do for others. i served my country for 36 years in the military and did nothing i am ashamed of nor should we be ashamed of anything as we always tried to do the right thing for all people. if your unhappy with what is going then vote to change it.

A lot of blame lies in that Depression era generation. I happened to be talking with one of them a few months ago. He was making a case like the one Reeves makes here. Finally, he said without prompting, “Well, I guess it’s our fault, we raised ‘em.”

Here’s something that makes an interesting argument:

http://deadreckoning1.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/a-generation-to-end-all-generations/

10s of thousands? Try millions. Civilian casualties from Iraq are at 1.5 mil. alone. Leaving out Afghanistan, Panama, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos and all the other places we have either killed people in, out right or payed mercenaries (remember the Contras?)to kill for us.

@Justin Weleski, you wrote:
“We’re now like the kid who was born on third base and thought he hit a triple.”

Yes, and hats off for such a timely metaphor.

Put another way, if class warfare goes global, we’re all the 1%-ers.

Whichever of Mr Brokaw’s several “Generation” er, books featured a cover photo of the young Tom wearing a high school baseball team’s uniform, bright, clear eyes gazing into future, & a dewy–fresh smile said it all. Daddy issues much?

When we isolate & eliminate the genetic basis of psychopathy like we did smallpox, & make the attitude socially unacceptable as fast as we did tobacco smoking, we might begin to have a chance.

@Will Comment, you write:
“Republicans…are loyal to their donors, just as Democrats are.”

Right, of course. 
If those donors are people, i.e. breathing legal US citizens, then more power to them.
But political donations by non-breathing entities (corporations, unions, PACs) should be outlawed.

the right of a small % of people [of ancient times say, 0001 to 02%, now ab. 10%e] to
utterly control and by any means [in modern times also thru ‘laws’] may have by now
gone geneticly to 99.99999% of all earthlings.

this means we can get rid of this enorm evil only via time [millennia? and giving
genetics a chance to save us] and hopeful the desire for peace, equality [not in
utopian sense] among people and peoples wld have been cut into our genes once
again.

for only thus we can live in peace; be interdependent; cooperate [never ever again
compete or engage in any sport; least of all for money/prestige/glory/etc.

or goddevil may finally have enough of us and all the evil we do and do s’mthing?
like restructure our nervous system to save herhis world?

let’s, therefor pray to goddevil to embark on just such a mission possible. i do every
day and my peace grows exponentially. tnx, bozhidar balkas vancouver,
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

As the joke goes: “what do you mean we, white man”. I demonstrated against the Viet Nam thing first in 1965 in Chicago—the winos in the flophouses on Clark Street threw their empty bottles down on our gaggle of young people, priests and nuns, saying we should go back to Russia where we belong. Some weeks I make it down to our town square for the Wednesday peace vigil, protesting America’s seemingly endless wars. My step-son has a pup-tent at the local Occupy Wall Street emcampment—I took a big bowl of vegetarian chili down there a week or two ago, and they were grateful. I never voted for a Democrat or Republican until 2004, where fear made me vote for the Demos. I am typical of most of my old friends. I guess we don’t count, the beatniks and dissidents, especially the blue-collar kind. Only those graduated from the right schools who get bought off by the system or become clever pundits on alternative blogs like this one. The good points in the article get lost in the elitist guilty-white-liberal hogwash. Brokaw’s greatest generation of the rich and powerful never let the Baby Boomers take over(look at Bill Clinton’s persecutions), unless they were mindless puppets like George Bush II. Mr. Reeves, where did you go to school again? And how’s that stock portfolio?

Any kind of ancestor worship (or blame) is an illusion.  Humanity has been pretty
consistent for our time here on earth.  If you look through the classics you will see
that they dealt with the same range of human characteristics: love, hope, betrayal,
courage, lust, greed, etc.  It’s wrong to say that the bigoted and brainwashed
infantrymen of WWII were any greater than our slacker generation, a generation
who probably shows more empathy and concern for a much wider range of life on
earth.  And Paul_GA, let’s not get all chocked up about our founding father
nonsense.  They fought for the same selfish interests that motivates anyone who
goes to war.  They were absolutely no different than any other marching pawn of
empire.  There are no good guys and bad guys in this show.

The true “Greatest Generation”, as I see it, was the generation which won the American Revolution on the battlefields. Compared to them, with the odds they faced, their courage, their endurance, the WWII generation pales to insignificance. I say that knowing my own father (Heaven rest his soul) and many other male members of my family served in WWII.

Tom Brokaw will go down in history as a solid gold corporate hack.

prisnersdilema, you really hit the nail on the head.  We’ve been heading in the
wrong direction for such a long time that the rot is now endemic.  A piddly
“green investment” here or “balanced budget” there won’t change the
fundamental picture.  We’re now like the kid who was born on third base and
thought he hit a triple.  We’re living on post-WWII prosperity and it’s quickly
running out.

It won’t be long before the average American realizes that the next generation
of Chinese and Indians really ARE that much smarter than American children,
and that these countries HAVE out-competed us in many ways.

Honestly, I think folks like McConnell and Boehner and Reid and Schumer (and
practically each and every member of the Establishment) have become so
deluded by the fact that “We’re America!”, that they haven’t even considered
that their little political games are doing real, permanent, structural damage to
our country.  They take our position in the world for granted.  And if, by
chance, they realize how destructive their behavior really is, then they will just
look at their bank statement and sleep a bit easier at night.

I can only imagine what the Roman leaders thought towards the end.  Probably
something along the lines of, “We’re Rome!  The greatest nation in the history of
the world!  Nothing can touch us!”

You don’t have to look very far to see that same sort of attitude today.

It’s one thing to face systemic crises.  It’s a completely different thing to face
systemic crises with an utterly dysfunctional government.  They just don’t
represent us.  Period.

Far more than 50% of Americans want to raise taxes on the rich, end the wars, and
preserve Social Security.  But Washington is doing the exact opposite with regard
to each issue.  The EXACT opposite of what the vast majority wants.

We’ve literally lost control of our government.  Literally.

If the plutocracy believes that they can maintain a police state of serfs, while at the
same time compete with the rest of the world for dominace they are mistaken.

But that’s just what its come to.. Like Stalin they must think their reign of terror induced
passivity will go on for ever.

Over time the Amount of resources used to command and control will eventually
preclude the continued existence of one or the other..

Right now they simply don’t know what to do, so everything continues to move
sideways, or circles arround the drain, take your pick.

We are slowly creeping to the end of the line…It doesn’t really matter what Obama
says…without fundamental structural change it’s over…..tthe body is already dead, the
head just doesn’t realize it yet….

So Richard it’s not about the failure of Obama to get his message across, he succeeded
doing that once before and look what happened…..Once burned twice shy..

“they are loyal to their donors, just as Democrats are…”

This is not really true, the politicians, especially at the National level, and many of the appointees they anoint, are loyal only to themselves. As long as the money funnels into their bank accounts, the perqs are awarded frequently enough, and they are recognized as celebrities by the Media and other power players, then they are loyal. If any of those things aren’t given often enough, the players find new backers. Loyalty is an old fashioned concept, like duty.

Read the papers, these people change loyalties oftener than most of us change our undies!

Thank you Gerard, btw. You made many of the points that I would have, and made them very well.

The massive amounts of money injected into politics are the most significant attack on democracy. Pointing out recent Republican behavior focuses attention in the wrong area. Even saying the Republicans are loyal to party over country is misleading; they are loyal to their donors, just as Democrats are. Partisan finger-pointing does not help solve the problem, but instead helps ensure the status quo, which, as you correctly point out, is a continued downhill slide for the poor and middle class.

‘Generations’, starting with the ‘Lost Generation’, have largely been a marketing concept.  They might have had some validity for professional hucksters forty years ago, but the concept has long since lost its meaning and needs to be retired.

Look, Reeves, it isn’t all bad.  First, “generation” is a more or less meaningless word, since mathematically speaking there is no such thing. People get born, and die, every minute, not every thirty years.  Many of us still living worked our heads off, full-time and spare time, helping as much as we could to corral nuclear weapons and power, to push through the civil rights and the scorned peace movement, to work on a thousand committees and causes to try to promote the general welfare and provide sons and daughters for the “common defense”—(so-called)—to pick up the pieces of thousaands of Japanese-American lives when they were forcefully excommunicated. We marched with Dr. King or worked against “restrictive covenants” in our neighborhoods, volunteered to help improve education, to hold communities together, to clean up local messes, and to learn as much as we could as fast as we could during 70 years of the most rapid expansion of knowledge and change in hundreds of years.  We pulled against many drags not of our own making.
  Much destruction was done behind our backs as we found access to the halls of power increasingly closed. When you boil it all down, responsibility for the failures falls very largely on capitalism and its short-sighted view that money is more important than democracy and that to buy a preponderant influence on politics, information and military profiteering is “good business.” Power became essentially unreachable short of constant protest that demanded taking time off, risking jobs and reputations, being pilloried by the press etc. etc. Not even half of us were “couch potatoes”. Some of us went to jail. Through it all we raised kids and grandkids most of whom know enough to accurately diagnose what is still wrong now and are having their try to restore the liveability of life.
  Unless government supports the majority of the people, all the time, it is difficult to maintain any semblance of democracy.  The rich will win every round.  That’s what’s still wrong, and weeping in our hankies, flagellating ourselves or committing hara kiri isn’t very balanced and creates a mood not of penance but of self-disgust which is itself disgusting.  At least that’s my take, as one who like many millions of others, did as much as we could short of violent uprising and adding more rage and dead bodies to the wars, starvation and destitution that unregulated capitalism and remote-controlled government produces and condones.

What wars?  I was watching NBC news the other night and heard nothing about wars - they concluded the
broadcast with a segment that Beyonce was pregnant.
Perhaps I’ve been watching the wrong network?

I couldn’t agree more. My generation has abandoned our responsibilities as
citizens and it has been a bipartisan effort. We Democrats bear our share of the
responsibility for where we are as a nation today.

We have accepted the benefits of the increasing debt and not paid our way. We
have little to be proud of when measured against the Greatest Generation with the
exception of those relative few who have served and sacrificed for our nation in
our volunteer military.

“History might record that we brought our troops home from far places to control their fellow citizens—shoot them.”

We’re not there yet.  And, in the meantime, there are vets here that are getting arrested (Boston) and shot (Oakland, with a tear gas canister) by the police for participating in #Occupy actions.  That’s kind of the opposite of your hypothesis.