Rise up, Baby Boomers!

By Richard Roberts

“The times are right for kind of disruptive, disrespectful, counter-culture, mind-expanding, very cool thinking we’re famous for.”

Hey gang, I’ve got a great idea.
How about a bunch of us run the country?
Not liberals or conservatives, but Baby Boomers.

I can hear you asking: Why Boomers?

Ask yourself: Is America better off now than it was 40 years ago?

Boomers have always been better when we acted together.

We understood that back in the Sixties.

We learned then that we were in the right place and the right time and there were enough of us to make a difference. Well, there are still 76 million of us and when we feel a need, or cop a notion, or decide to act, there’s just no ignoring us. Plus, these days we’ve got real power, not just flower power.

And we’re battle tested. Six million of us risked life, limb and our social security cards protesting another war 40 years ago. We changed this country for the good. We transformed race relations, sex relations, women’s rights, students’ rights, workers’ rights, civil rights, the rights of the poor, the homeless and the disenfranchised. We raised standards for public discourse and dismissed condescending institutions. We broadened acceptance and tolerance of others, redefining what it means to be alive and together on this planet. We put prejudice and ignorance on the run and lying politicians out of office. We saw things for what they were; we stood apart and shoulder-to-shoulder.

More importantly we changed forever how Americans would regard their relationship with government.

This is our wake-up call, fellow Boomers.

It’s becoming a terrific year for conspiracy theories. Big business, big media and big government could very easily turn into Big Brother. In a recent movie, Jack asked a real question: Can we handle the truth?

Better say yes, fellow Boomers. I say it’s time to finish what we started. Not merely criticize pretenders but drive them off the national stage. Not only expose corrupt institutions, but also bankrupt them. Not just trim the size of government, but dismantle huge sections of it. We need to frame America’s future in the bold terms of social revolution or societal collapse. Nothing less will work.

As we turn 50 and 55, we’re nearer so-called old age than we’d care to admit, but luck has often been on our side. And as luck would have it, the task at hand is perfect for the kind of disruptive, disrespectful, counter-culture, mind-expanding, very cool thinking we’re famous for.

It’s time for every Boomer to dig down deep inside his or her heart and ask another big question that remains unanswered: What will history remember of our generation?”

Are we destined to go down as the Biggest Generation, or the best?

Our time is now

“Those are bell bottoms, peasant blouses and white bucks back on store shelves. The VW Bug and Microbus are rolling off assembly lines. The Thunderbird designed as a roadster, not an aircraft carrier, is back. Don McClean’s “American Pie” is backing up the latest TV ad for Chevy Cavalier and that’s Led Zeppelin’s music in a Cadillac spot. Last Thanksgiving they ran an Elvis special in prime time, a programming decision usually reserved for his birthday in January. Simon & Garfunkel are back on tour! Those are Rock-at-50 and Folk-Rock specials raising money on PBS.” We Boomers are the targets, and it’s not the National Guard shooting at us.

It’s our time again. <<

Richard Roberts is the author of “I Was Much Happier When Everything I Owned was In the Back Seat Of My Volkswagen: A Wake-up Call for the Biggest Generation.”