America's New Aristocracy

Hawkeye10 · May 20, 2018

THE BIRTH OF AMERICA'S NEW ARISTOCRACY

The 9.9 Percent Is the New American Aristocracy
The class divide is already toxic, and is fast becoming unbridgeable. You’re probably part of the problem.

The End:

Well-meaning meritocrats have proposed new and better tests for admitting people into their jewel-encrusted classrooms. Fine—but we aren’t going to beat back the Gatsby Curve by tweaking the formulas for excluding people from fancy universities. Policy wonks have taken aim at the more-egregious tax-code handouts, such as the mortgage-interest deduction and college-savings plans. Good—and then what? Conservatives continue to recycle the characterological solutions, like celebrating traditional marriage or bringing back that old-time religion. Sure—reforging familial and community bonds is a worthy goal. But talking up those virtues won’t save any families from the withering pressures of a rigged economy. Meanwhile, coffee-shop radicals say they want a revolution. They don’t seem to appreciate that the only simple solutions are the incredibly violent and destructive ones.

The American idea has always been a guide star, not a policy program, much less a reality. The rights of human beings never have been and never could be permanently established in a handful of phrases or old declarations. They are always rushing to catch up to the world that we inhabit. In our world, now, we need to understand that access to the means of sustaining good health, the opportunity to learn from the wisdom accumulated in our culture, and the expectation that one may do so in a decent home and neighborhood are not privileges to be reserved for the few who have learned to game the system. They are rights that follow from the same source as those that an earlier generation called life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Yes, the kind of change that really matters is going to require action from the federal government. That which creates monopoly power can also destroy it; that which allows money into politics can also take it out; that which has transferred power from labor to capital can transfer it back. Change also needs to happen at the state and local levels. How else are we going to open up our neighborhoods and restore the public character of education?

It’s going to take something from each of us, too, and perhaps especially from those who happen to be the momentary winners of this cycle in the game. We need to peel our eyes away from the mirror of our own success and think about what we can do in our everyday lives for the people who aren’t our neighbors. We should be fighting for opportunities for other people’s children as if the future of our own children depended on it. It probably does.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/the-birth-of-a-new-american-aristocracy/559130/

This is the best yet of the Post Trump examination of the case of the Rebellion. He goes wrong at several points, for instance not understanding that America is falling apart not on our own but as the entire Western Civilization is getting shredded by mismanagement. He claims that Trump supporters are resentful because we are on the whole losers when in fact we are pissed off that the game of gaining privilege has been rigged to freeze out the vast majority of Americans...we never had much of a chance of winning no matter how good we play....and we are pissed off at the dishonesty of the winners claiming that we are petty whining losers after such unfair and unamerican treatment....and as well he seems to not fully understand that even the best of the best Universities have failed (he understands that the lower ones have).

But on the whole he gets it right on how our post war program of meritocracy based upon the credentialing by the University has turned cancerous.

Well worth the read.

Hawkeye10 · May 20, 2018

A companion piece:

$330,000 in financial aid bought me a slot in the American meritocracy. Now I see its flaws.
We’re creating the new American aristocracy

We need to be more honest about what is happening here. At Middlesex and at Stanford, I have been astonished by what I can generously describe as innocent unawareness. Many people whose parents pay the full tuition of $50,000 to $60,000 per year have, without any hint of irony or discrepancy, described themselves to me as “middle class.” Talking with other students on heavy financial aid, I’ve heard many of them describe similar situations.

Such incidents are not born of malice or foolishness; they are born of the fact that in America today, there is a pipeline of “meritocratic” excellence that has created a class that lives in a parallel world to the one in which the vast majority of the country lives. Opportunity has been sealing off into smaller geographic areas and narrower segments of the population, leading to greater and greater economic and cultural stratification.

I grew up in a town that has genuine socioeconomic diversity, but it is also quickly gentrifying and becoming unaffordable to newcomers who do not have substantial wealth. It is natural for people to benchmark their sense of the world by their personal experience of it, so as America becomes more socioeconomically separated, people will have an increasingly skewed view of America’s actual diversity and their place in it.

https://www.vox.com/first-person/20...cation-meritocracy-income-economic-inequality

camlok · May 20, 2018

Hawkeye10 said:
THE BIRTH OF AMERICA'S NEW ARISTOCRACY

.

You haven't even made your point clear. WTH are you talking about?

Y'all did it to yourselves, what with your childish adoration of the Founding Terrorists.

Hawkeye10 · May 20, 2018

camlok said:
You haven't even made your point clear. WTH are you talking about?

Y'all did it to yourselves, what with your childish adoration of the Founding Terrorists.

Could you possibly stay coherent...in the forst two sentences you claim that you cant understand my point, but in the third you claim that you do.

MAKE UP YOUR MIND!

PirateMk1 · May 20, 2018

Hawkeye10 said:
THE BIRTH OF AMERICA'S NEW ARISTOCRACY

The 9.9 Percent Is the New American Aristocracy
The class divide is already toxic, and is fast becoming unbridgeable. You’re probably part of the problem.

The End:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/the-birth-of-a-new-american-aristocracy/559130/

This is the best yet of the Post Trump examination of the case of the Rebellion. He goes wrong at several points, for instance not understanding that America is falling apart not on our own but as the entire Western Civilization is getting shredded by mismanagement. He claims that Trump supporters are resentful because we are on the whole losers when in fact we are pissed off that the game of gaining privilege has been rigged to freeze out the vast majority of Americans...we never had much of a chance of winning no matter how good we play....and we are pissed off at the dishonesty of the winners claiming that we are petty whining losers after such unfair and unamerican treatment....and as well he seems to not fully understand that even the best of the best Universities have failed (he understands that the lower ones have).

But on the whole he gets it right on how our post war program of meritocracy based upon the credentialing by the University has turned cancerous.

Well worth the read.

Dude the divide isn't because rich people are getting richer, its because people buy into the BS they cant make it in this country, which is utter and complete horse****. The rich get rich because they know how to get rich, and heres a dirty little secret, it aint that ****ing hard. If you cant make it in this country you cant make it anywhere. Its simply a matter of the choices and priorities you make. Making money is a choice, having a life is a choice. Depending on your circumstance you can have one or the other but not both, unless you sacrifice at first and play the long game.

I will tell you how to make it in this country its not hard just tedious.

1.) Bust your ass. 40 hours a week is for losers. You aint doing **** till you bust out 80+ for a good period of time. While you are busting your ass learn something about the business's you are in.
2.) Spend less than you make. A lot less than you make.
3.) Save the money you DONT spend. The less you spend the more you save.
4.) Educate yourself in business and investing.
5.) Take the education you gave yourself and leverage it and the money you saved and go into business for yourself and or invest your money. Make your money work for YOU. You work hard for your money, make your money work hard for you.
6.) Success as Albert E said is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. By the way, success for YOU, is how YOU define it, not some jackass's definition of it.

By the way, the entire United States population is in the top 1% of income and wealth, right down to our poorest citizens. Chew on that one.

Old Trapper · May 20, 2018

Hawkeye10 said:
THE BIRTH OF AMERICA'S NEW ARISTOCRACY

The 9.9 Percent Is the New American Aristocracy
The class divide is already toxic, and is fast becoming unbridgeable. You’re probably part of the problem.

The End:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/the-birth-of-a-new-american-aristocracy/559130/

This is the best yet of the Post Trump examination of the case of the Rebellion. He goes wrong at several points, for instance not understanding that America is falling apart not on our own but as the entire Western Civilization is getting shredded by mismanagement. He claims that Trump supporters are resentful because we are on the whole losers when in fact we are pissed off that the game of gaining privilege has been rigged to freeze out the vast majority of Americans...we never had much of a chance of winning no matter how good we play....and we are pissed off at the dishonesty of the winners claiming that we are petty whining losers after such unfair and unamerican treatment....and as well he seems to not fully understand that even the best of the best Universities have failed (he understands that the lower ones have).

But on the whole he gets it right on how our post war program of meritocracy based upon the credentialing by the University has turned cancerous.

Well worth the read.

Blame it on the baby boomers:

Steven Brill'''s "Tailspin": How My Generation Broke America | Time

Hawkeye10 · May 20, 2018

Old Trapper said:
Blame it on the baby boomers:

Steven Brill'''s "Tailspin": How My Generation Broke America | Time

I do.....the MEMEMEMEMEME GENERATION....the one that wanted everything they wanted and did not much care to work for it...did not much care about paying their own way through life....did not care about living with-in their means....only cared that they got it all.....because gosh darn it they deserved it all.....they in their fantasies being the bestest humans to ever walk this planet.

Hawkeye10 · May 20, 2018

PirateMk1 said:
Dude the divide isn't because rich people are getting richer, its because people buy into the BS they cant make it in this country, which is utter and complete horse****. The rich get rich because they know how to get rich, and heres a dirty little secret, it aint that ****ing hard. If you cant make it in this country you cant make it anywhere. Its simply a matter of the choices and priorities you make. Making money is a choice, having a life is a choice. Depending on your circumstance you can have one or the other but not both, unless you sacrifice at first and play the long game.

I will tell you how to make it in this country its not hard just tedious.

1.) Bust your ass. 40 hours a week is for losers. You aint doing **** till you bust out 80+ for a good period of time. While you are busting your ass learn something about the business's you are in.
2.) Spend less than you make. A lot less than you make.
3.) Save the money you DONT spend. The less you spend the more you save.
4.) Educate yourself in business and investing.
5.) Take the education you gave yourself and leverage it and the money you saved and go into business for yourself and or invest your money. Make your money work for YOU. You work hard for your money, make your money work hard for you.
6.) Success as Albert E said is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. By the way, success for YOU, is how YOU define it, not some jackass's definition of it.

By the way, the entire United States population is in the top 1% of income and wealth, right down to our poorest citizens. Chew on that one.

That works till you remember that it has been the elites and their training grounds the University who have been pushing this Victim Culture that you are complaining about...this Victim Culture that has caused so much devastation.

*SEE SIG*

Chomsky · May 20, 2018

PirateMk1 said:
Dude the divide isn't because rich people are getting richer, its because people buy into the BS they cant make it in this country, which is utter and complete horse****. The rich get rich because they know how to get rich, and heres a dirty little secret, it aint that ****ing hard. If you cant make it in this country you cant make it anywhere. Its simply a matter of the choices and priorities you make. Making money is a choice, having a life is a choice. Depending on your circumstance you can have one or the other but not both, unless you sacrifice at first and play the long game.

I will tell you how to make it in this country its not hard just tedious.

1.) Bust your ass. 40 hours a week is for losers. You aint doing **** till you bust out 80+ for a good period of time. While you are busting your ass learn something about the business's you are in.
2.) Spend less than you make. A lot less than you make.
3.) Save the money you DONT spend. The less you spend the more you save.
4.) Educate yourself in business and investing.
5.) Take the education you gave yourself and leverage it and the money you saved and go into business for yourself and or invest your money. Make your money work for YOU. You work hard for your money, make your money work hard for you.
6.) Success as Albert E said is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. By the way, success for YOU, is how YOU define it, not some jackass's definition of it.

By the way, the entire United States population is in the top 1% of income and wealth, right down to our poorest citizens. Chew on that one.

I agree with the bulk of this post. I grew-up in an immigrant family, in an immigrant neighborhood, surrounded by immigrants. You want to see a group jump several social & economic classes in a quick generation or two? Go check-out your nearest newly arrived hard-working immigrant family! And it's done exactly as you enumerated, though I must also point-out education can be a critical component for many.

But the article, and others like it, are fair in pointing-out there's been some skewing in the ease of jumping economic classes over the past decades. Particularly in attaining a quality education as a path to climb the economic ladder. A quality education's cost today is many multiples of income higher, than back in the 40/50/60/70's. And that's a problem, because for most education is their ticket to success.

Also, housing is much more expensive in relation to income as well. So this puts additional pressure on economic success.

But I surely won't deny your basic economic axioms here, because I agree in spades. One of the best pieces of advice my pops ever gave me, was to take 10% of every income I ever received - whatever the source - and sock it away separate from everything else to never be spent. He told me that at 10 years old when I got my first paper-route. I followed it the best I could throughout my life.

PirateMk1 · May 20, 2018

Hawkeye10 said:
That works till you remember that it has been the elites and their training grounds the University who have been pushing this Victim Culture that you are complaining about...this Victim Culture that has caused so much devastation.

*SEE SIG*

Sonny that formula works quite well even now. Here's a thought stop listening to the assholes in the ivory towers. There are days I were I wonder if this nation was taken over by a bunch of whiny bitchy little girls.

Xelor · May 20, 2018

From the rubric article (I haven't yet read any more of it than appears in this thread's OP):

In our world, now, we need to understand that access to the means of sustaining good health, the opportunity to learn from the wisdom accumulated in our culture, and the expectation that one may do so in a decent home and neighborhood are not privileges to be reserved for the few who have learned to game the system. They are rights that follow from the same source as those that an earlier generation called life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

I don't at all buy that the noted qualities, to the extent that refer to a middle-class or better lifestyle, are rights. In my mind, those things, the quality of life they imply, are achievements.

It’s going to take something from each of us, too, and perhaps especially from those who happen to be the momentary winners of this cycle in the game.

I accept the principle and burden of noblesse oblige.

Op-er's remarks:

Hawkeye10 said:
He claims that Trump supporters are resentful because we are on the whole losers when in fact we are pissed off that the game of gaining privilege has been rigged to freeze out the vast majority of Americans...we never had much of a chance of winning no matter how good we play....

I don't at all concur that:

"The game" is "rigged freeze out the vast majority of Americans."
Trumpkins "never had much of a chance of winning no matter how good [they] play."

I can expound on those two remarks, but as I'm penning this, something came up that will prohibit my doing so before tomorrow.

PirateMk1 · May 20, 2018

Chomsky said:
I agree with the bulk of this post. I grew-up in an immigrant family, in an immigrant neighborhood, surrounded by immigrants. You want to see a group jump several social & economic classes in a quick generation or two? Go check-out your nearest newly arrived hard-working immigrant family! And it's done exactly as you enumerated, though I must also point-out education can be a critical component for many.

But the article, and others like it, are fair in pointing-out there's been some skewing in the ease of jumping economic classes over the past decades. Particularly in attaining a quality education as a path to climb the economic ladder. A quality education's cost today is many multiples of income higher, than back in the 40/50/60/70's. And that's a problem, because for most education is their ticket to success.

Also, housing is much more expensive in relation to income as well. So this puts additional pressure on economic success.

But I surely won't deny your basic economic axioms here, because I agree in spades. One of the best pieces of advice my pops ever gave me, was to take 10% of every income I ever received - whatever the source - and sock it away separate from everything else to never be spent. He told me that at 10 years old when I got my first paper-route. I followed it the best I could throughout my life.

Oh I don't deny that it is harder than it used to be to achieve financial independence, that said the basic formula still works and well.

On the topic of housing, that can be a bitch especially if you don't want to live in a dump for a long time. I go by the 25% rule. A MAX of 25% is what I will spend of my monthly income on housing. Sometimes that means settling for less than what you would prefer. Sometimes a lot less. That said its best to settle for less now to gain more later.

Education is very useful IF you get the RIGHT education and look at it as both an investment and utility. This means a particular curriculum must be evaluated for its utility and cost effectiveness. What do you learn? How much time does it require? What is the cost? What is the potential return on investment? Is the degree necessary and or how flexible is its use? Can you acquire the same education or degree elsewhere for less, is it equivalent? Do you have the temperament to do a formal education?

What I find sad about this country is, an immigrant family should be at a severe disadvantage in this country as compared to its natives in taking advantage of what our nation has to offer which is STILL despite a lot peoples attempts to **** it up the best place on earth to get ahead. Natives of our nation should know the in and outs of how to get ahead like fish swim, yet that is simply not the case, as immigrants have proven that more often than not they have more drive and intestinal fortitude than the natives. Its a shame really. This country if people would just stop listening to all the people who tell them they cant would be so much better off by listening to those that say they can, and understand that its busting your ass for MORE than 40hrs a week and living well within your means is what allows them to get ahead and earn their financial independence. That its NOT rocket science and there is NO real quick way to the top, not really. That road is tedious and boring and PITA, with lots of assholes trying to take what you have earned, or throw roadblocks in your way. In the end its perseverance, bullheaded stubbornness that eventually wins the day. They should listen to the sports stars for a change and understand that it takes a ****load of work to get were they are, not just luck and natural talent. Same goes for making something of yourself in this country.

trixare4kids · May 20, 2018

PirateMk1 said:
Dude the divide isn't because rich people are getting richer, its because people buy into the BS they cant make it in this country, which is utter and complete horse****. The rich get rich because they know how to get rich, and heres a dirty little secret, it aint that ****ing hard. If you cant make it in this country you cant make it anywhere. Its simply a matter of the choices and priorities you make. Making money is a choice, having a life is a choice. Depending on your circumstance you can have one or the other but not both, unless you sacrifice at first and play the long game.

I will tell you how to make it in this country its not hard just tedious.

1.) Bust your ass. 40 hours a week is for losers. You aint doing **** till you bust out 80+ for a good period of time. While you are busting your ass learn something about the business's you are in.
2.) Spend less than you make. A lot less than you make.
3.) Save the money you DONT spend. The less you spend the more you save.
4.) Educate yourself in business and investing.
5.) Take the education you gave yourself and leverage it and the money you saved and go into business for yourself and or invest your money. Make your money work for YOU. You work hard for your money, make your money work hard for you.
6.) Success as Albert E said is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. By the way, success for YOU, is how YOU define it, not some jackass's definition of it.

By the way, the entire United States population is in the top 1% of income and wealth, right down to our poorest citizens. Chew on that one.

Wonderful post... and every word is true.

Hawkeye10 · May 20, 2018

Xelor said:
From the rubric article (I haven't yet read any more of it than appears in this thread's OP):

I don't at all buy that the noted qualities, to the extent that refer to a middle-class or better lifestyle, are rights. In my mind, those things, the quality of life they imply, are achievements.

I accept the principle and burden of noblesse oblige.

Op-er's remarks:

I don't at all concur that:

"The game" is "rigged freeze out the vast majority of Americans."

Trumpkins "never had much of a chance of winning no matter how good [they] play."

I can expound on those two remarks, but as I'm penning this, something came up that will prohibit my doing so before tomorrow.

I agree with the first part, I approve of cliffs, we need motivation because humans tend to be lazy, the possibility of failing and thus earning either BIG PAIN or death is essential to a good outcome. I also insist emphatically that medical care must be rationed, and I also insist emphatically that those who refuse to even try to take care of themselves, those who reject the very idea of helping to pull this community/nation/species/whatever can be the first to go.

Those who refuse to even try deserve nothing.

As we say in Zen "NO WORK = NO EATS".

Hawkeye10 · May 20, 2018

trixare4kids said:
Wonderful post... and every word is true.

He loses once you get to why people are that way...that they have been long trained to act that way, by the elites.

At the end of the day this ****ed up place we are at is mostly the elites fault.

They brought us here, and even now they dont wise up.

Nor will they even now tell the truth.

GENERALLY

But you are right, that is a very fine post.

:thumbs:

trixare4kids · May 20, 2018

Hawkeye10 said:
He loses once you get to why people are that way...that they have been long trained to act that way, by the elites.

At the end of the day this ****ed up place we are at is mostly the elites fault.

They brought us here, and even now they dont wise up.

Nor will they even now tell the truth.

GENERALLY

But you are right, that is a very fine post.

:thumbs:

:yt I agree with you that his post is a very fine post and will remind some just in case they forgot a basic tenet of what makes us different from other countries. In our country we offer equal opportunity but equal opportunity does not guarantee an equal outcome nor should it.

Hawkeye10 · May 20, 2018

And important part about how we went so wrong:

This dynamic is precisely why meritocracy can exacerbate inequality—because being committed to meritocratic principles makes people think that they actually are making correct evaluations and behaving fairly. Organizations that emphasize meritocratic ideals serve to reinforce an employee’s belief that they are impartial, which creates the exact conditions under which implicit and explicit biases are unleashed.

“The pursuit of meritocracy is more difficult than it appears,” Castilla said at a recent conference hosted by the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford, “but that doesn’t mean the pursuit is futile. My research provides a cautionary lesson that practices implemented to increase fairness and equity need to be carefully thought through so that potential opportunities for bias are addressed.” While companies may want to hire and promote the best and brightest, it’s easier said than done.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/the-birth-of-a-new-american-aristocracy/559130/

Over indulgence in fantasy, not enough interest in knowing where reality is.

Hawkeye10 · May 20, 2018

trixare4kids said:
:yt I agree with you that his post is a very fine post and will remind some just in case they forgot a basic tenet of what makes us different from other countries. In our country we offer equal opportunity but equal opportunity does not guarantee an equal outcome nor should it.

I am a socialist but I do not agree with the progressive left that lack of equal outcome proves lack of opportunity thus proving that we need to hand over yet more attention and money/services to the failures in life.

I am and have long been hostile to most all of the main tenets of Victim Culture such as this one.

polgara · May 20, 2018

Hawkeye10 said:
THE BIRTH OF AMERICA'S NEW ARISTOCRACY

The 9.9 Percent Is the New American Aristocracy
The class divide is already toxic, and is fast becoming unbridgeable. You’re probably part of the problem.

The End:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/the-birth-of-a-new-american-aristocracy/559130/

This is the best yet of the Post Trump examination of the case of the Rebellion. He goes wrong at several points, for instance not understanding that America is falling apart not on our own but as the entire Western Civilization is getting shredded by mismanagement. He claims that Trump supporters are resentful because we are on the whole losers when in fact we are pissed off that the game of gaining privilege has been rigged to freeze out the vast majority of Americans...we never had much of a chance of winning no matter how good we play....and we are pissed off at the dishonesty of the winners claiming that we are petty whining losers after such unfair and unamerican treatment....and as well he seems to not fully understand that even the best of the best Universities have failed (he understands that the lower ones have).

But on the whole he gets it right on how our post war program of meritocracy based upon the credentialing by the University has turned cancerous.

Well worth the read.

Greetings, Hawkeye10. :2wave:

Very Well Said, Sir! :thumbs: Every paragraph had a thought that was well stated, and it was easy to agree with you. If we don't handle our problems and correct the wrongs that have accumulated, it will be done for us whether we like it or not!

Hawkeye10 · May 20, 2018

polgara said:
Greetings, Hawkeye10. :2wave:

Very Well Said, Sir! :thumbs: Every paragraph had a thought that was well stated, and it was easy to agree with you. If we don't handle our problems and correct the wrongs that have accumulated, it will be done for us whether we like it or not!

You and I agree on so much... it's almost scary!

:2wave:

Old Trapper · May 21, 2018

Hawkeye10 said:
I do.....the MEMEMEMEMEME GENERATION....the one that wanted everything they wanted and did not much care to work for it...did not much care about paying their own way through life....did not care about living with-in their means....only cared that they got it all.....because gosh darn it they deserved it all.....they in their fantasies being the bestest humans to ever walk this planet.

Sounds more like you are describing the 1-10%. Many of those died fighting useless wars people of the older generation started.

Abbazorkzog · May 21, 2018

camlok said:
Y'all did it to yourselves, what with your childish adoration of the Founding Terrorists.

Founding terrorists? Don't expect to be taken seriously from me or many others posting this kind of crap.

Hawkeye10 · May 21, 2018

Old Trapper said:
Sounds more like you are describing the 1-10%. Many of those died fighting useless wars people of the older generation started.

I feel confident that historically (USA) speaking the military death rate for the Boomers is extremely low.

Maybe that last toke sent me over the edge because I dont see where you are trying to go here.

Old Trapper · May 21, 2018

Hawkeye10 said:
I feel confident that historically (USA) speaking the military death rate for the Boomers is extremely low.

Maybe that last toke sent me over the edge because I dont see where you are trying to go here.

When you speak of the "me, me, me" generations you are referring to the likes of Trump, and his family, not the average American, the ones that died in Vietnam, or Iraq, etc., because of the likes of Trump, Clinton, and others. There are problems within the baby boomer generation, however, the need for welfare, etc., was not created by them.

Irwin Corey · May 21, 2018

Hawkeye10 said:
I do.....the MEMEMEMEMEME GENERATION....the one that wanted everything they wanted and did not much care to work for it...did not much care about paying their own way through life....did not care about living with-in their means....only cared that they got it all.....because gosh darn it they deserved it all.....they in their fantasies being the bestest humans to ever walk this planet.

I don't know what "generation" you are but I AM A BOOMER, and proud of it. We are the generation that fought in Viet Nam, help get to the moon, developed the technology you're using to make your posts, built the interstate highway system, died at Kent State, built sub divisions, dams and raised ?you? or at least this generation that is dissing everything we supposedly did and didn't do. We demonstrated against war but went to war, we championed the common man while the 1% worked in the shadows to changed the game and shipped our (and your) good paying jobs that had benefits overseas. We paid our way and your way and often worked two jobs to do it or at least had two incomes to do it; one during the day and one at night because we couldn't afford day care, for you, but really we didn't want "YOU" to be left with someone that didn't love you and wasn't invested in your future. In the following poem add "AND MOTHER" every place you see Dad; and remember they gave you, or your parents, life.

Only a Dad
By Edgar Albert Guest

Only a dad, with a tired face,
Coming home from the daily race,
Bringing little of gold or fame,
To show how well he has played the game,
But glad in his heart that his own rejoice
To see him come, and to hear his voice.

Only a dad, with a brood of four,
One of ten million men or more.
Plodding along in the daily strife,
Bearing the whips and the scorns of life,
With never a whimper of pain or hate,
For the sake of those who at home await.

Only a dad, neither rich nor proud,
Merely one of the surging crowd
Toiling, striving from day to day,
Facing whatever may come his way,
Silent, whenever the harsh condemn,
And bearing it all for the love of them.

Only a dad, but he gives his all
To smooth the way for his children small,
Doing, with courage stern and grim,
The deeds that his father did for him.
This is the line that for him I pen,
Only a dad, but the best of men.

I am a boomer and a PROUD AmeriCAN!

America's New Aristocracy

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Well-known member

Buttermilk Man

Buttermilk Man

Social Democrat

Trix has reentered the building.

Buttermilk Man

Buttermilk Man

Trix has reentered the building.

Buttermilk Man

Buttermilk Man

Buttermilk Man

Well-known member

Zapatista Libertarian

Buttermilk Man

Well-known member

Proud AmeriCAN