Artwork by Michael DiMilo
By Geoff Carter
Traditional wisdom used to have it that every generation should be better off than that of their parents. On the surface, that idea seems to make perfect sense. Historically, advances in technology, medicine, communication, and transportation have translated into healthier and more prosperous lifestyles for subsequent generations. This adage proved to be especially true for the baby boomers, born in the decade or so following World War II, who enjoyed growing up in an unprecedented period of economic growth, unparalleled technological advancement, and heightened social awareness.
Vaccines against polio—the scourge of childhood—as well as measles and rubella, guaranteed healthier childhoods. New drugs like streptomycin and diagnostic tools—like magnetic resonance imaging—saved thousands of lives and increased the well-being of millions. And—thanks to the past efforts of our labor unions, the workplace became more hospitable for workers when eight-hour days, weekends off, child-labor laws, and guaranteed minimum wages translated into fair and equitable compensation for everyone.
After Russia surprised the world with Sputnik, the first man-made satellite to orbit the Earth, America launched a space program that eventually sent a man to the moon—and brought him back alive. Through NASA, the nation’s best and brightest built a space program that gave us technological breakthroughs like Velcro, memory foam, cochlear implants, and freeze-dried food (remember that horrible freeze-dried coffee?)
The emergence of a strong middle class led to a new age of prosperity in the United States. A college education was readily available and eminently affordable. Guaranteed leisure time meant growth in the tourism industry, transportation, and the auto industry. Television boomed. As children, boomers claimed their living rooms as their personal domain for Saturday morning cartoons. Bugs Bunny, Atom Ant, Secret Squirrel, Top Cat, and other cartoon icons—along with narrowly focused marketing—dominated children’s Saturday mornings. For grown-ups, programming that ranged from Gunsmoke to The Twilight Zone to The Man from U.N.C.L.E. to Perry Mason to Bewitched flooded the airwaves.Â
The baby boomers did have it better—much better—than their parents, but their good fortune did not seem to spoil them. Growing up in a world that seemed willing and able to gratify their every need did not create a generation of self-satisfied gluttons. In fact, as those kids grew into teens and then young adults, they recognized injustice and immorality around them and made their voices heard by protesting the Vietnam War and then throwing their energy behind the Civil Rights movement. This generation also created rock and roll, one of the most powerful and lasting musical movements the world has ever known.Â
Not everything was good, though. Racism, evidenced in segregation, redlining, and voter suppression was ubiquitous, especially in the South. Equal rights for women was—and is—only a dream.Â
It would stand to reason that the next generation, the sons and daughters of the boomers, would have it even better, but the unfortunate truth is that we’ve taken a step, or several steps, backwards. Generation X, the millennials, and the centennials do not have the same opportunities or privileges that had been available to their parents. They pay more for health care, exponentially more for their college educations, and have watched on the sidelines as such revered institutions as public education, the press, and our court systems have become eviscerated and corrupted by outside influences.
According to an article in Pew Trends magazine, (Pew) only thirty-six percent of Xers have greater wealth than their parents. And, mostly because of soaring college costs, Generation Xers and millennials carry a substantially higher debt load than their parents. Even though they enjoy a higher median income than their parents, they are not in a position to enjoy a secure retirement, According to Pew, they will only be able to replace fifty percent of their working income when retired, as opposed to the recommended seventy to eighty percent. Instead of a society that had instituted relatively fair tax policies—even for the wealthiest—post-boomers are now living in a society where the wealthiest among us can start their own space programs.Â
Aside from these financial hardships, the post-boomer generations have grown up with horrific incidents of school shootings, climate change, and can only watch as a broken political system does nothing. The problem of racism in this country is still endemic and has not been seriously addressed since Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty in 1964. Public schools are being defunded and dismantled by corporate interests, and the constitutional right of a woman to make her own life choices and for a citizen to vote have been jeopardized.  For all of the advances in medicine during the past few decades, our government didn’t recognize, or subsequently protect us from—a deadly virus which has only just recently claimed its millionth American victim. Of course, the misinformation and deliberate untruths about Covid didn’t help many citizens protect themselves from themselves.Â
In short, the post-boomer generations have inherited a massive shitshow. They work longer hours, pay more for everything, and watch in horror as their very planet is being poisoned by self-serving corporate interests. And the worst of it is no one seems to be able—or willing—to do anything about it.Â
One of the only aspects of life that has shown improvement across the generations has been in technology. Personal computers, smart phones, and streaming technologies have caused cascades of changes in all aspects of the economy, but even these advances have mixed results. While much of it is useful and enjoyable, much of social media has become a cesspool of misinformation, conspiracy theories, and deliberately malignant lying. Caught in their bubbles of selective reality, iPhone users tend to shut out the parts of the wide, wide world they don’t like.
I don’t know how things got this bad; everything seemed to go sour overnight, and I want to apologize to the post-boomer generations for the mess we’ve left them. The one bright spot I see is in these new generations themselves. They’ve taken it upon themselves to actively protest climate change (Greta Thunberg), gun violence (Parkland massacre victims), and racial inequities (BLM). I’m not sure if this is where they got it, but I think the boomers’ legacy of protest and rebellion has been passed on to the next generation(s).
God knows they’ll need it.
With all due respect, I don’t think boomers can claim to have created rock-n-roll. Most of the originators and foundational stylists were born in the 30’s or earlier: Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry. The baby boom generation is generally defined as starting in 1945. I would like to claim credit for my contemporaries for creating rock-n-roll but I think it would be stolen valor.
Point taken, Mark. I thought about that when i wrote it—and I should’ve clarified it—that musicians like Clapton, The Beatles, The Band, and all the other innovators took the raw elements of early rock and roll, R&B, and blues and transformed it into modern rock and roll. Townsend and Jagger were early boomers, and they molded early rock into something new, but you’re right. They didn’t create it.