As an aging boomer .

[blues90]

I am really rather quickly loosing hope that america will even be the place we had hoped it would be .

I never thought we would still be in wars / attacks on a defenseless country no less .

I watch as all of the great speakers vanish and the best influences leave this earth , lately in startling numbers .

I just don't see much in the way of leadership these days , not one of the candidates tossing their hats in the ring are much more than political whores .

The money spent on all this activity , refering to killing and campaigns is outragious and this is being kind .

Our economy has been thinned out and washed down and sent away at an alarming rate . Our dollar is a sick joke . Technical advancements have done more harm than good by and large .

Society as a hole is asleep , in a trance or dream state that possibly only a direct bomb blast will break through .

The personal guilt being an american and watching all the death continue on as some sort of state of normal activity let alone the feeling of being helpless to do much about any of this is almost unbearable and deafening .

I felt there should have been millions out protesting last weekend not ruling out the efforts of all who attended in good faith and position and intent .

I am concerned about all of the pressing of the 2008 presidential babble swooping in to over come any of the little news we may have on the dangerous events we now face such as the drum beating for the attacks on Iran as well as what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan .

We seem to have our priorities all bound up in a neat little sold for profit package and presented to the people as this is what we are to focus on , this unreality of a sick game being played out as our demise .

All I can say is hold onto your hats , this is going to be one hell of a rough ride where many fall out of the cart and are left to some un-foreseen fate and left behind .

[rurallib]

1. As another aging boomer

I cry about being the first generation to leave our children worse prospects than we had. The one in particular that makes me cry is the lack of a media as watchdog and a docile electorate allowing power to go unchecked. That plus very questionable elections.

[starroute]

21. But our actualities never lived up to our prospects

Prospects like we had in 1968 are nothing you'd want to leave to your children -- all they've ultimately been good for is to enable Bush and the other sleazeballs of our generation by making them think they deserve to have the world handed to them on a platter.

The best I hope for my own kids that even if their prospects are almost as low now as their grandparents' were in 1932, their actualities might also turn out more like their grandparents -- and far better than their parents'.

[gratefultobelib]

2. Ditto the aging boomer, but we can't quit trying. Giving up is NOT an option!

[Marr]

3. If you asked me, I'd say the entire mess has it's roots in *one* issue:

Media consolidation. If we just break up media conglomerates, everything else will be possible. If not, no improvement is possible.

Right now the media functions as a nearly monolithic propaganda organ. It's the world according to a few very specific corporate factions-- a sort of information monopoly.

[Greyhound]

15. But didn't the "greed is good" 80's make the corporate consolodation

of all of our essential industries possible? When will people generally realize that huge corporations are inefficient, moribund, and the biggest hindrance to progress in existence?

[Taverner]

4. As "your child" (gen X) I think things are just taking longer

I guess I'm an optimist, partially because our whole generation planned on dying in massive thermonuclear war. And although it could still happen, the chances have gone down.

But we were your students - the only generation to almost be exclusively taught and brought up by Boomers. You were our schoolteachers, our parents, our preachers and our leaders. We signed on board in the nineties and although we've had disagreements, we've always been dedicated to the "prime directive."

Be patient - its time for us to pass all of this on to the next generation.

God knows I am - and I'm using the materials you guys made :)

[blues90]

7. Trouble is .

Many of the boomers sold out and are now the control freaks of the country , their off spring are now taking their teachings on .

I wish many more boomers would have stuck to the ideals and dream . There are still many out there and I hope there are enough .

[BonnieJW]

5. Regarding the protests,

does anyone have any info about the defacing of the Capitol Building by some of the protestors? Any info about who they were? I can't imagine any of us doing such a thing.

And about everything else, it's only as bleak as you say if everyone goes along with it. WE ARE NOT GOING ALONG WITH IT. And there are still members of the press who are real investigative reporters and they will continue to report the truth. Sy Hersh, Keith Olberman and all the bloggers out there. There are hundreds of millions of us out here and we cannot be controlled or fooled or lied to.

Anyone who saw Americans after 9/11 know that when things are at their worst, Americans are at there best. The more these little pricks try to take over, the more we will resist, the more we will pressure our representatives. The problem is that we are so impatient. Even now, the House and Senate are conducting hearings that will eventually lead to impeachments or resignations. But we are so used to situations resolving withing a 30-minute period, counting commercials.

[endarkenment]

18. Sure some wild and reckless yutes tagged the building.

BFD. Kids will be kids. We were wild and reckless yutes once ourselves.

"Anyone who saw Americans after 9/11 know that when things are at their worst, Americans are at there best."

Well for about two or three days, sort of.

And then everyone and his brother went apeshit with jingoist mania and huge flags on their cars and ribbons and whatever and we all couldn't wait for the blood of foreigners to start flowing. And of course there was the spectacle of our congress singing god bless america on the steps of the capital, which as far as I am concerned did far more lasting damage than some wild and reckless yutes.

[CrispyQ]

6. My husband & I both comment on how fortunate we have been to live

during the best years of America & are absolutely sick to see what is happening to our country.

I've been reading "Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire" by Morris Berman. It's not a happy read & he does not offer any consolation or solutions. His take is that basically we are fucked & we can either go down with an awful crash or we can change policy & go down in a softer landing, but we are going down.

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Ages-America-Final-Empire/dp/0393058662/sr=8-1/qid=1170360415/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-3159725-6152769?ie=UTF8&s=books

I beleive there are many Americans who see our decline in their daily lives, but they are in denial, partly because they feel powerless to stop it, so it is easier to deny it.

[bdamomma]

8. I only wish that we the people are not powerless.

damn this is our country, do you think if the unthinkable happens going to Iran, that those people are just going to sit back, they will fight they are protecting their country, one difference between them and us they are not afraid to die.


http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013107G.shtml

I guess we have something in common with Iranians.

The Iranian population remains incapable of decoding the tenets and the thrust of the Bush-Ahmadinejad conflict, but they fear, in the end, finding themselves hostage to a war they don't want.

[blues90]

11. They are not afraid to die

We should not be either , however we have had a life of no wars on our soil and a fear based upbringing so we are easier to control this way .

Sad as it is , we are not willing to sacrifice .

[blues90]

10. That's the way I feel .

I am grateful I lived during that time and saw and felt the times . This is what makes me so very sad and disheartened . I watch the hope we had crushed and the world we hoped for and the hope we had destroyed .

Watching protests now makes it all come back and so many years later when I thought we were done with this sort of horror .

Now here we are again and with a so called president that is completely out of his mind and still retains control to continue with even more disaster and death .

I am just mind blown about this and now to fully realize our entire lives were just lied to all along .

[trof]

9. It ain't quite like they told us in high school American History, is it?

I become more disillusioned with this country every day.

[blues90]

12. No , it is not at all .

They certainly made it seem so wonderful with all the colorful photo's of peace and harmony and left out all the truth in text . Played us all the way to hell .

[trof]

16. Our founding fathers were all patriots and gods and without sin.

They were sure a pretty smart bunch, most of them.
But they had their quirks and dark sides too.
Boy DID they.
Howard Zinn, among others, is a real eye opener.

[Inkyfuzzbottom]

13. I consider myself fortunate

I was able to be a child in the 60's.

Be a teen and young adult in the fabulous 70's.

I made a conscious decision to refrain from having children so I don't have the guilt of leaving anyone I created behind in this fucked up mess.

I've reached middle age and will hopefully be dead before we completely destroy ourselves and the planet.

Optimism isn't pretty.

[blues90]

22. I hope to be gone too

I don't want to witness the earth in a nuclear war as my end .

It depends , it does not look to good right now , Iran could be the beginning of this and I don't think I will be out of here that soon .

I think this is what now worries me the most with all these freaks itching to push some button .

[Jeanette in FL]

14. I refuse to give up

I will not give in to a defeatist attitude. Yes, I have days when I wonder why I keep fighting, but one look at my Grandchildren and I know I don't have the luxury to sit back and let the neocons take our country away from them.

Being at the Protest in DC this past weekend, was just the recharge I needed. Seas of like minded people gathered to tell this president and his minions "Hell no, we are not going to take it."

So you do what you can, write and call congress members, write LTTE, talk with your neighbors and friends to educate them as to what is being done in their names.

But give up, Never.

[Nimrod2005]

17. How old is an aging boomer? 60s?

[trof]

19. Dunno. I'm a pre-boomer 'war baby' at 65.

If the boomers began post-war, then the oldest would be 62?

[Nimrod2005]

20. Ok, I will guess the OP is 54...lol.