An open letter to my parents' generation

I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for a number of things. First, thank you for the past, specifically the 60s. Sure, some of you were countercultural, did lots of drugs, had lots of free love, and some of you even worked to change the perceived evils of your time: racism, inequality, and war. And you know what? You never let us forget any of it. To this day, your music dominates much of the radio market, and any discussion of current events always makes reference to this mythic golden age. Too bad the very drugs you did are now a part of your war against drugs; too bad also that the sexual freedom you all took such advantage of is forbidden to us. Really, it's too bad that the majority of you lacked the strength of character to continue to oppose morally suspect policies and wars when it wasn't your lives on the line.

I'd like to also thank you for the future. The federal safety net put in place since the 40s is now going to be bankrupted by you all. As if it's not bad enough that my generation will work and contribute for your retirements, only to see none of it ourselves, you've also wrecked the economy for us. Your short sighted greed and selfishness destroyed any of the longterm thinking that used to characterize the investment market. Thanks very much for insuring that my generation will be the first since World War II to enjoy a lower standard of living than that of their parents; I'm sure I speak for most of us when I say we all really appreciate it.

Finally, thanks for the present. It's really nice to see that consistency and lack of hypocrisy don't mean much to those who hold themselves up as our role models. If current events are any indication, it's all well and good to be liberal when you're young, when it's your life and lifestyle that's at risk, and quite another when it's someone else's. Thanks to your craven desires for the illusion of safety at any cost, I can look forward to an increase in domestic terrorism as well as international distrust and hatred of my country. There's really nothing like declaring yourself a rogue state to instill trust and respect in other countries. Add some naked imperialistic aggression, and you can rest assured I and my generation will continue to pay the tab long after you've retired your gas guzzling SUVs to the great parking lot in the sky (where gas is always cheap!). Thanks to the overwhelming selfishness of the "generation of love", I will see a diminished future of limited economic opportunities and growth, of greater violence against US civilians and interests, of the diminishment of my quality of life and standard of living. Thanks, really.

Forgive me if I don't visit you much, if at all, in your substandard nursing homes; I wonder who's fault it is that there isn't money for better care?

Realization

Today, of all days, I came to a shocking personal realization; I'm actually pretty damned patriotic. That has to be so; otherwise, why would I be so saddened and depressed by the turn our country has just taken? Cynicism, pessimism, and elitism have not shielded me from the vulnerability of generally assuming the better, if not the best, of most people. For years, I have had friends talk about expatriation, but it never seemed a possibility to me, because my assumptions about the goodness of people, and the internal balances of the US system of government. Today, for the first time, I thought seriously about expatriation, and it made, and still makes, me very sad, as though I'm abandoning a loved one, in heart and mind if not in act, yet. But, I fear that that which I have just realized I love, is on its way out, to be replaced by an aggressive, dismissive, cold, and xenophobic country that has no room for dissent or difference.

Talk about timing, eh?