We are the generation that changed everything. Of all the eras and epochs of Americans, ours is the one that made the biggest impression—on ourselves. That’s an important accomplishment, because we’re the generation that created the self, made the firmament of the self, divided the light of the self from the darkness of the self, and said, “Let there be self.” If you were born between 1946 and 1964, you may have noticed this yourself.
. . .
Because the truth is, if we hadn’t decided to be young forever, we’d be old.
. . .
Whenever anything happens anywhere, somebody over 50 signs the bill for it.
. . .
We are all alike in that each of us thinks we’re unusual.
. . .
We are the first generation to have too many answers.
. . .
Baby-boom-like places all seem to be engaged in bellicose national political deadlock the way we are in America. There’s much tut-tutting about bellicose national political deadlock. But it’s an improvement on bellicose national political purpose.
. . .
We’re not a generation who listens to anybody, God included. In our defense, I doubt God minds us not bothering about Him. Very few of the people we’ve bothered—parents, college deans, the police, LBJ, the psychiatrist at my draft physical, supervisors, bosses, attractive types in bars—have minded when we quit bothering them.
. . .
Baby boomers aren’t power hungry. Power comes with that kicker, responsibility. We’re greedy for love, happiness, experience, sensation, thrills, praise, fame, adulation, inner peace, and, as it turns out, money. Health and fitness too. But we’re not greedy for power. Observe the baby boomers who have climbed to its ascendancy in Washington. The best and the brightest? They’re over at Goldman Sachs.
. . .
There is no escape from happiness, attention, affection, freedom, irresponsibility, money, peace, opportunity and finding out that everything you were ever told is wrong.

Behold the baby boom, ye mighty, and despair.

The Boomer Bust: Here we are in the baby boom cosmos. What have we wrought?, by P.J. O’Rourke

“The Baby Boom: How It Got That Way. . . And It Wasn’t My Fault . . . And I’ll Never Do It Again,” by P.J. O’Rourke

P.J. O’Rourke: Official Web Site | Wikipedia | Brainy Quotes

I Have a Dream

Ozymandias.

Forward! (But You Can’t Fix Stupid)

Unfortunately, it seems that the future Aldous Huxley predicted in 1932, in Brave New World, is arriving early. Mockery, truculence, and minimalist living are best, then enjoy the decline.