Baby Boomers.....

I actually had to look up when baby boomers were born so that I could successfully make fun of them. My problem is that they are the product of the "greatest generation" and in my view a bit of a disappointment.

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Baby Boomer cohort #1 (born from 1946 to 1954)
Memorable events: assassinations of JFK, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr., political unrest, Vietnam War, anti-war protests, social experimentation, Sexual freedom, civil rights movement, environmental movement, Women's movement, protests and riots, experimentation with various intoxicating recreational substances

Key characteristics: experimental, individualism, free spirited, social cause oriented

Baby Boomer cohort #2 (born from 1955 to 1964)
Memorable events: Watergate,Nixon resigns, the Cold war, the Oil embargo, raging inflation, gasoline shortages

Key characteristics: less optimistic, distrust of government, general cynicism

Now this doesn't sound like my parents. Or many of their friends.

But this is how they were, not who they are.

Look at our leaders. Our Prime Ministers, our Presidents. They were part of this Baby Boomer crap? They must have been the geeks that all the cool kids wouldn't sit beside. Now they've gotten back at them by becoming a part of the government. In the USA you have to be over a certain age to be President, I think there should be a cap. I used to like John McCain, but there is no reason to think he has the interest of anyone under thirty at heart. He probably doesn't know anyone under thirty. Or forty for that matter. Stephen Harper isn't a guy you'd hang out with. So how did the Baby Boomers get so far off track? They were the ones marching for human right, but are now the conservatives. As young adults they saw first hand the injustice of race discrimination, but as leaders demonize people of middle eastern descent. Believed in the peace of the world, but have endorsed violence against others. They stood up for those that couldn't stand up for themselves, but now have turned their back on immigrants, the downtrodden, the poor.

The election in both countries (US and Canada) were about values, but I find little value in any of them. I don't think that a rich political leader, and I, have anything in common. And yet he speaks for me. (even if I don't vote for him). In the USA they have referred to Obama as an elitist. Of course he is. He's rich and running for president. To steal a line from Jon Stewart, "he'd better think he's better than the rest of us" The irony is that the people that are upset because he wants to reduce the tax cuts to the wealthy and give them to the middle class, are wealthy people. It's tough to find a solid opinion in the media when people like Bill O'Reilly are the people getting the tax cuts. That's what I call misrepresenting the facts. I would call it bad journalism, but that would suggest that there was good journalism going on. And I'm not sure of that.

Baby Boomers saw first hand what many regimes around the world were, and what they've become. Countries flourishing, others crumbling. Lets not forget the labelling. From the superpower seat, the American, baby boomer revolution, gave everyone on the planet a title. Friends, neighbours, enemy, axis of evil, ally, foe, terrorist, trading partner, communist, socialist, monarch, etc....

As a neighbour and friend, they accuse Canada as socialist. But did you know that the title Socialist, and socialist medicine, are two drastically different thing?

Our system admittedly isn't created for the rich and powerful that can afford to have tumour removed from their brain at no personal loss. It's created for those that can't afford it. It's so that new parents can feel comfort in the fact that their child gets just as sick as someone that doesn't have health insurance. It's so that we never have to rationalize the fact that someone died quickly so that they would never have to worry about the cost. And I think it's great. I'm on my way to have my newborn son's nuts ultra sounded to ensure that there isn't a concern with him. I'm not sure I would like to make the choice between feeding my family tonight, and having this procedure done. Because it would've had to be one or the other. The people that got the day off work so that they could attend a rally where the McCain campaign warns of the evils of a socialized medicine program does, maybe doesn't have to worry about it. Maybe they can yell out how damaging the system is, without ever have educated themselves with the benefits.

But they're not having babies anymore.

We are.