I was puzzled in my first semester of college by a prophetic English professor who said, "Your generation may be the first to have a worse life than the one before it." I generally expect such doomsday prophets to be standing on a street corner accosting bystanders with this sort of preaching. Hearing it from a respectable professor was indeed a reality check. Since the baffling prophecy, every class, newspaper, book, evening news and blog I have experienced have presented a new problem to support the case.
The aging of the baby boomer generation is an unprecedented challenge to our social programs. The public education system is poorly funded and letting our generation down. The sapped resources of our planet will confront our ingenuity. Our modern representative democracy is willing to disregard anything we value in the name of fear. It seems these problems are being ignored.
There is a lot of anxiety one could find in the retirement of the baby boomer generation. According to the 2003 annual baby boomer opinion study conducted by Del Webb, 76 percent of today's Baby Boomers are not confident they will have enough money for retirement and 43 percent say they plan on continuing to work. Our current social welfare programs, relics of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal, will not be able to support the 81 million baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964. Their continuance of work will put up a "no vacancy" sign at employment agencies. We ought to be appalled at the burden this generation will leave on us.
This generation doesn't seem to realize how poor the education they are providing is. In fact, our education system is so great that "Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?" George W. Bush's profound campaign inquiry should have been the single argument needed for the No Child Left Behind Act, if quoted directly. There are, of course, other great arguments. Our public schools are shot up by students and searched by police dogs. Our teachers are overworked and underpaid. Our textbooks are expensive, antiquated and inaccurate. Students with special needs are ignored because they cost too much. Tragically, the program has been underfunded and children are being left behind. Apparently there are better places to spend money than on the children and their future.
Oil subsidies seem to be a good place to start. Every year the oil industry soaks up billions in tax breaks, government funding and subsidized gas. Shouldn't it be a warning sign of dark days to come that the first cars ever made ran on basically the same fuel of today's cars? Certainly, and we should be ashamed that the 2004 Ford Explorer gets 15 miles per gallon in the city. The Ford Model-T, almost 100 years its junior, got 25. Estimates vary on when the world's oil reserves will be depleted, but it is definitely a problem we will face in our lifetime. The market for vehicles that are more fuel-efficient isn't strong. These vehicles ought to be subsidized like oil is subsidized to be fair to the environment and the next generation.
Today, more than ever, the political culture of the United States is dominated by fear. Recently, war and political profiteering has flourished on this culture of fear. We are living in a political culture where former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland can be called "unpatriotic" in a campaign. Cleland is a decorated Vietnam veteran, where he lost both legs and part of an arm.
Currently only 39 states require a government or civics course in high school. The lack of participation in politics leads to unaccountability and irresponsible behavior by our elected representatives.
Our insufficiently educated generation will not be able to handle the stresses alone. Humanity is possessed with a fetish for a quick fix and an easy profit. We ignore the long term consequences of legislation, special interests and individual actions for the benefit of the present. The time for our generation to wake up and smell the veritable doom. In light of the tests of the future, those currently with political power need to have a little foresight and guarantee their children a healthy cultural, economic and political inheritance. Do it for the children.
