{"id":2774,"date":"2020-02-25T09:14:10","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T14:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=2774"},"modified":"2020-02-25T09:14:13","modified_gmt":"2020-02-25T14:14:13","slug":"ok-boomer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/25\/ok-boomer\/","title":{"rendered":"OK, Boomer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I was born in 1956, the third child of World War II veterans (yep, both Dad and Mom served).   That officially makes me a \u201cBaby Boomer,\u201d that explosive generation of children born after the war, created out of the joy of surviving world cataclysm.  There were so many of us that we created whole new schools, and towns, and traditions.  Now we are reaching the other end of our lives, and we are creating whole new problems.  Health care, eldercare and traditional retirement systems are stretched to the breaking point with our geriatric needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was a career public school teacher, serving students from sixth through twelfth grades.  I taught social studies:  history, government, geography, economics, and current events.  So I know well the differences between economic and governmental systems.  I can readily define capitalism, socialism and communism; and know they are not the same as democracies, dictatorships, monarchies and anarchies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernie\u2019s a Socialist<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I know when Bernie Sanders says he is a socialist, it absolutely is not the same thing as saying he is a Communist.\u00a0\u00a0Bernie isn\u2019t even a complete socialist. He wants the government to take over health care, just like the government took over the postal service, the highway systems, and public education.\u00a0\u00a0He sees health care as a basic human right that the government needs to guarantee.\u00a0\u00a0Sure that\u2019s a socialistic idea, just like the idea of Thomas Jefferson to provide public education in the Northwest Ordinance back in 1784.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Bernie doesn\u2019t want to take control of all industries.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s not advocating \u201cnationalization\u201d of the steel industry, or the banking industry, or the other pillars of the American capitalist tradition.\u00a0\u00a0He is demanding that we take more control of the impacts of those industries and regulate them, particularly when it comes to what they do to our workers, and our environment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corporate Welfare<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

He has a point.  Wal-Mart is only able to pay such low wages with government support.  Their \u201cliving wage\u201d only exists because their workers can turn to government assistance to supplement their salaries and their needs.  In essence, it is our government that supports Wal-Mart, and Amazon, and many other huge corporations that depend on minimum wage labor.  That\u2019s what Sanders means when he talks about America as a \u201ccorporate socialist\u201d state.  The corporations get the government breaks, instead of the workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And how can you argue with Bernie about the incredible disparity of wealth in our nation? 1% of Americans own 40% of the wealth (the Hill<\/a>). Warren Buffet, fourth wealthiest man in the world with a estimated worth of $85 Billion, paid a 17% tax rate, his secretary who makes $60000 paid 30% (Stanford<\/a>).  Mr. Buffet readily acknowledges that it\u2019s not fair, or right.  Bernie Sanders wants to do something about it.  Maybe that\u2019s \u201csocialistic\u201d but it\u2019s also common sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cold War<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

So why then are so many Boomers panicked by the possibility of a Bernie candidacy?  Why are there \u201cnever Trumpers\u201d reconsidering their stand, perhaps even swallowing their morals and convictions to re-elect the President?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBoomers\u201d grew up in the Cold War.\u00a0\u00a0We hid from nuclear attack in the Cuban Missile Crisis.\u00a0\u00a0I remember lining up in the hall in first grade, feet against the wall, head between our knees, waiting for the flash.\u00a0\u00a0We first graders knew we\u2019d be OK, we were \u201cin the position,\u201d but the teachers standing around behind us weren\u2019t going to make it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Boomers” watched Khrushchev pound his shoe on the table at the United Nations, and desperate Germans shot as they tried to climb the wall.\u00a0\u00a0We fought war after war against \u201cCommunism,\u201d in Korea, in Vietnam, and in countless \u201cinsurgencies\u201d throughout the world.\u00a0\u00a0And we were indoctrinated in school that \u201cCOMMUNISM\u201d was just an extension of \u201cSOCIALISM\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0So it should be no surprise that a Socialist running for President brings up all sorts of vague memories of Civil Defense Shelters and Bert the Turtle of \u201cDuck and Cover<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conflation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It probably doesn\u2019t help that Senator Sanders seems willing to see the \u201cgood\u201d in Communist regimes.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s talked about the increase in literacy under Castro in Cuba, and the intelligence and sincerity of the Nicaraguan revolutionaries.\u00a0\u00a0But Sanders isn\u2019t looking to make the United States a Cuba, or a Venezuela.\u00a0\u00a0Sanders looks to models like Denmark, or Sweden, or the healthcare plan of that den of socialist inequities, Canada.\u00a0\u00a0He sees solutions to American problems that are \u201csocialistic\u201d without embracing all-encompassing SOCIALISM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not surprising that Sanders finds his greatest base of support in young people.\u00a0\u00a0The post-Cold War generation hasn\u2019t spent their lives being indoctrinated into the \u201cevils\u201d of \u201cISM\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Communism was an historic relic when they went to school.\u00a0\u00a0They didn\u2019t even learn about Communism, educators changed it to a \u201cCommand Economy\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0That paranoia is left to us Boomers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a left a legacy of government debt and environmental catastrophe.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s hope our last spasm of \u201cpower\u201d, driven by our elementary school indoctrination, won\u2019t be to re-elect Donald Trump in the White House out of outdated fear.\u00a0\u00a0Bernie shouldn\u2019t make us \u201cduck and cover\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was born in 1956, the third child of World War II veterans (yep, both Dad and Mom served).   That officially makes me a \u201cBaby Boomer,\u201d that explosive generation of children born after the war, created out of the joy of surviving world cataclysm.  There were so many of us that we created whole new schools, and … Continue reading “OK, Boomer”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOK, Boomer : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bernie Sanders is the oldest candidate in the field, but older Americans aren't supporting him. 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