Yeah, I know, not all Boomers. But still...

I don't know if I found this interesting just because it's an insight into everything wrong with everything or because it reinforces a narrative that makes everything wrong with everything not my fault. Maybe both? Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Pictured: The (self-proclaimed) greatest generation,
seen here winning World War II and setting an impossibly
high bar for their kids. The result? Baby Boomers.

Finally, someone willing to stand up
for straight couples who have kids.

I read this article I read called, get this: "The Boomers Ruined Everything" from The Atlantic...the magazine, not the ocean. And it's written by Lyman Stone whose-and further get this: a Research Fellow with the Institute for Family Studies. And if that sounds like a super-gross conservative think tank, that's because it's a super-gross conservative think tank. You know the kind of group that sits goes around railing about how gay parents adopting children will lead to social upheaval and possibly dancing?

A rational conservative willing to
to cast a critical eye on America.

But I guess that doesn't necessarily mean that Lyman Stone is a right-wing nut job, right?  Like, he could be, and I know this is an increasingly rare phenomenon, a rational conservative whose willing to cast a critical eye upon America? I don't know, and I'm not going to do like, research, but let's just hope he's never written any articles about the upsides of slavery or how Hitler had some good ideas or something. Anyway, in the article Stone argues that Boomers both through their actions and inaction, have made America the low-wage, high-rent plutocratic hellscape that it is.

"I mean how much can a four year
university cost? Five? Six grand?"

-Boomers

Which, yeah, they have and it is. Even if we can't put our fingers on exactly how, I think we all kinda feel that Boomers, that is people born between the end of World War II and the mid-sixties, have basically made America unlivable for for everyone who isn't them. And I think we're all a little sick of them complaining about how kids these days are lazy and super entitled. I mean, it's a little like, 'hey, could you put down that living wage and home ownership before you start harping on millennials?' But is that too easy an answer? Like, is it fair or even accurate to blame an entire generation for another's problems?

I mean, it's not like there's a council of elders somewhere, cackling manically while they pass laws and make policies designed to enrich themselves at the expense not only of succeeding generation but the planet itself.

I...oh, right.

Also, I think it's kind of dumb.

Anyway, I should probably take this opportunity to explain that I myself am not technically a millennial. I mean, I think I was once. It used to be people who came of age around the new millennium, but then they bumped the cut off date into the mid-eighties and now I like to think of myself as some kind of proto-millennial. Like, I don't know how to use Snapchat, but I'll also never be able to afford a house, so I can relate. Anyway, doesn't matter. The important thing to bear in mind is that we've all been screwed over by the baby boomers.

Which might also say something
about the Cornhusker State.*

Of course, like any good conservative Stone links the generational wealth disparity to government regulations. Regulations Boomers didn't do anything about, but still, regulations. Things like zoning laws and having to have certifications for certain jobs are to blame rather than the lack of rent control and affordable education. But he also points to the fact that America has more people in prison than live in Nebraska as a gross and racially motivated policy designed to make white boomers feel safe. And he calls out American debt as a form of bondage...uh, the social kind, not the kink.

I think regardless of where we fall on the political spectrum-well not regardless, there's are some serious lunatics out there, but most of us let's say, can get behind what Stone's talking about. So I don't know, could this be the beginning of some kind of common ground between left and right? Like, can we all agree that this sucks and that something must be done?

"What are you talking about? Things are super and we're awesome!"

-People who will be able to retire someday

*That's my analogy, not Stone's. Didn't want you to think he was the one being a dick to the State of Nebraska. Speaking of, sorry Nebraska!