It is undeniable that each generation, including the baby boomers, has faced its share of trials and tribulations. Interestingly, it seems that the vice president, Kamala Harris, managed to sway a few more baby boomers towards her side than Donald Trump could. Yet, the appeal for Harris amongst millennials, who coined the term ‘OK Boomer,’ fell 1% short compared to the support they showed for Joe Biden in 2020. Essentially, a marginal 55% Gen Z voters favored Harris, though it was noteworthy to see a 6% surge in support for Trump among them.
There’s a pattern here: the support for Trump seems to have slightly risen among every generation but the baby boomers, where it dipped by 3%. What’s disturbing is the optics of this political divide. It seems to be more about criticizing the young and defending the aging boomers than it is about preserving our democracy. This incessant game of generational blame needs to end for the survival of meaningful, inclusive dialogue across generations and cultures.
Younger voters face numerous challenges that echo past struggles faced by generations like the Boomers. However, it is distressing to note that the sheer negligence of Boomers, and those that follow, in safeguarding democratic rights has led to our present circumstances. These shortcomings could very well be attributed to rampant economic inequality, a problem that has grown dramatically under the negligent watch of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Baby Boomers started off as the luckiest generation experiencing unprecedented economic prosperity. However, they merely rode the wave of protest movements like anti-war and civil rights, rather than leading them. It was surprising to note their conservative inclination in Oklahoma, even though there were a few who supported progressive causes like combatting global warming and resisting Central American genocide.
There was a period that truly shook the nation: the rise of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980, electorally bolstered by Boomers equivalently to Trump’s recent support. The shock continued to resonate in 1984 when voters between 25 and 34 leaned heavily towards Reagan, seemingly joined by a huge proportion of self-proclaimed young professionals.
Under the Reagan administration, there was a palpable sense of doom. There was an abrupt end to a large number of well-paying blue-collar jobs, and due to Reagan’s deregulatory policies, a financial collapse took many banks and saving-lending institutions with it. All these fiascos culminated in an alarming number of abandoned homes, with Black families disproportionately evicted and displaced.
After acquiring a doctorate, I found myself juggling multiple part-time jobs in this economic chaos. The mortgage rate for our house skyrocketed to 16%. However, none of this bogged down the Boomer generation. On the contrary, they were swept away by commercialism, setting aside communal values to indulge their sheer materialistic desires.
Boomers fell prey to the manipulative claws of television and the internet, allowing the spread of misinformation. Blinded by the dazzle of these new technologies, they allowed unchecked growth of ‘fake news epidemic’ which was tipped off by elite Boomers.
Allegedly, Reaganism paved the path for the emergence of Trumpism as baby boomers and subsequent generations failed to assess the aftermath of its tax policies. This failure came at a heavy price – soaring inflation and unemployment, millions of jobs lost, severe cuts in school funding, a massive budget deficit, and an erosion of the middle class. Biden and Harris, evidently, have done little to correct these wrongs.
The most enduring effect of these economic changes is the stark inequality which we continue to suffer from. Yet despite widespread criticism of their historical negligence, older generations fail to guide the young in understanding this history, contributing to a growing void in knowledge about profound socioeconomic shifts.
There were numerous important global incidents that unfolded over the years – 1920s and ’30s totalitarianism, causes of World War II, the Holocaust, origins of the Cold War, start of the United Nations, leading to post-war colonialism. But these were carelessly brushed over in school curriculums that were more focused on test preparation than meaningful instruction.
The younger generations are stumbling under the weight of social media’s detriments, an issue that was overlooked by their predecessors. Older generations fell short, failing to acquaint the youth with critical skills like digital literacy, critical thinking and ethics.
The dialogues that should’ve started in the 1990s regarding these issues have now become an urgent priority. We need to steer discourse away from the minutiae of political campaigns and acknowledge structural changes that have broadened inequality and promoted right-wing propaganda.
There is a pressing need to admit our complicity in allowing the democratic spirit to dwindle, a flame that has been carelessly extinguished through the years under the watch of Biden and Harris. Recognition is the first step, but it is a step that must entail members from all generations.
It’s a cataclysmic failure from both ends of the political spectrum that we have become so stuck on assigning blame that we overlook the real issues at hand. Nevertheless, it is essential to not lose hope, but continue to recognize meaningful dialogues and constructive work leading to the betterment of our shared democratic ideals.