The American Dream...is largely gone. Those with the energy and determination to really hustle can sometimes still find it. But many of the paths to securing a middle-class life that were still being sold to my generation (Gen-X), ended up being dead ends in the wilderness. In many cases, the paths had been shut down because of the way t…
The American Dream...is largely gone. Those with the energy and determination to really hustle can sometimes still find it. But many of the paths to securing a middle-class life that were still being sold to my generation (Gen-X), ended up being dead ends in the wilderness. In many cases, the paths had been shut down because of the way the Boomers abused them.
Nor does it help that inflation (particularly real estate inflation) has made it more and more difficult for young people to find housing they can afford. My husband and I managed to avoid this largely by moving where the real estate was affordable. But that is becoming less and less of an option.
But the central premise of the American Dream--the part where our founding principals are the key to being free to seek the life we want for ourselves--has been destroyed by the Left's utter denigration of America. They hate our history. They hate our Constitution. They hate the Western values that allowed us to become a bastion of freedom. When America is a place that can only be hated, what room is there for an American Dream?
Celia, the American dream for 90% of people, is rarely attainable, but for the 10% who run The Present Day capitalistic system, the American dream is doing just fine!
I feel the same way, TxFrog! The streets in our little town get worse and worse, while the wealthy idiots who run the show spend money on their own pet projects.
No, not at all. For me it was always about freedom to be myself and to live my life the way I want and not how my socialist government planned it. It took me long and hard years to get out. Thank G-d I was young and happy to start my life from scratch, from the very bottom. Ours is a rich country, so with success comes a level of comfort in life, no doubt, but it was never about “streets paved with gold”, and I know many who feel the same. This is a perilous time for the western culture. And yea, many roads need to be paved and bridges repaired. We got distracted by culture wars!
Well, I’d say its less about gold (immigrants generally aren’t looking for an easy life) and more about being able to have a go at starting something new. Entrepreneurial ideas and innovation have oozed out of America in abundance for decades, and the world has benefited. In Europe we have an attitude when something’s broken or needs improving you’ll hear, “The government should get on that”. In America if something’s broken or needs fixing, you’ll more likely hear, “How can we do that”. If you lose that attitude, then what? So good luck getting your road paved. Begin now perhaps, with a new attitude.
As a legal immigrant for years and now a naturalized US citizen as of yesterday, I say to you do what Americans have always done. Fight back. Not physically, but ideologically. If you aren’t already doing so, talk about how much you love America, its history (recognizing its warts of course), its western values, the constitution, and tout the American Dream as a reality. The Dream will only die if Americans themselves kill it. Don’t let that happen is my suggestion to you as a newly formed US citizen. Defeat the hate with love. Please.
It is alive. Only way to kill it is to give up on it. Hold the line and stand your ground. The determination that got you to the US will carry you through. Believe in yourself and America and we’ll all be better off for it.
The behavior of Boomers resulted in older generations having less trust and respect for young people. Policies got changed due to Boomers.
For example, It was much harder to find a job in 1985 than back in 1965. Instead of talking to the boss about a job, soulless job applications handled by HR became the norm.
Thanks to the feminist Boomers seeking Yuppie careers, housewives and stay-at-home-moms--the favored norm in the 60s--were looked down on as worthless in the 80s and 90s.
Pretty much everything that we Gen-Xers sought to do, we found that Boomers had already been there and wrecked.
Our 1st house in WA state was $42,500, new construction, in 1977. We bought it with a VA loan. My dad saw it for sale a few years ago and checked the price - $399,000
The American Dream persists in the immigrants who come to this country.
I have reconsidered my view on immigration. I want more Legal Immigration because we can “rob” bad countries of their intellectual capital, and because Americans aren’t having 2.1 babies per family. These legal immigrants become net contributors to America practically immediately. But I still oppose the flood of illegals over the border that burden our communities and serve the cartels, bringing drugs and crime.
I agree. Almost every legal immigrant I encounter is more American at heart than most post-Gen-X Americans. I would like to see a program where countries who send immigrants here would have to accept a certain number of America-haters who want nothing more than to leave in exchange. So many of the America-haters have discovered that other countries have much higher immigration standards than America does, and will not take them.
YES! I'll take lots of skilled, legal immigrants. I might suggest a special Visa program for high-tech Taiwanese workers. What better way to build a semiconductor industry than to poach existing talent? And there's probably a lot of that talent that would love to escape the hot breath of the neighboring totalitarian gorilla. That's just an idea and in the end, I don't care where they come from as long as they're ready to embrace Western culture.
But I'm tired of being told I'm racist for not wanting poor, central Americans with no skills to wade across the Rio Grande and be welcomed with open arms by our elites who want cheap gardeners, roofers, and nannies, to the detriment of the most vulnerable of our fellow citizens who must compete for those very jobs.
Yes the distinction between "legal" and "illegal" is essential in the immigration debate. We need immigrants, but we cannot exist as a nation if we don't have controlled, limited immigration.
What I can never understand is those who say they care for illegal immigrants trying to make a better life for themselves and their families, yet they refuse to see the egregious abuse heaped on these poor souls by coyotes among others when coming here illegally. Why can they not see their “caring” is doing nothing but fueling this evil and filling the pockets of the swines doing the abuse. I can only conclude it’s cognitive dissonance on the part of these people, and they are almost entirely left wing and Democrats.
It has been the habit of Democrats for a long time to talk and talk and talk about compassion, but to institute policies that, while seemingly "kind" on the surface, actually lead to horrible outcomes.
Well said. As a legal immigrant who had my oath ceremony just yesterday to become a naturalized US citizen I couldn’t agree more with you. Those of us who have lived in other countries, including reasonably wealthy western nations, know how great this country is if you are willing to apply yourself. Unfortunately many of those lucky enough to be born here, fail to recognize their great fortune.
Thank you, I truly appreciate your faith in me. But I especially appreciate you imagining I’ll be a “great” American. Those are big shoes to fill. I assure you I’ve tried over 33 years of living in this wonderful country, and even though I’ve had to leave it many times for work commitments, to impart to others how very fortunate we are to Iive here. Some refuse to see it. Usually they are those who were born here. What they don’t see is, you never fully appreciate freedom until you lose it.
So true. My daughter who is a civil engineering major was in Guatemala last week with Engineers Without Borders. They were building a water distribution center to bring clean water up to the mountainous area where the people are living and currently have no access to clean water. She's 21 and her comment on returning was, "I needed this more than they needed me."
One of the probing questions their faculty advisor asked (which occurred each evening) was "if five fingers on one hand could each produce a liquid what would those five liquids be." All of the student volunteers said water, of course, but when the local builder who worked with the group took his turn, he said "hot water".
We take SO much for granted. We are so 1st world that we have time to think about flipping pronouns while other struggle to get clean or hot water!
Thank you for that, and thank you to your wonderful daughter for her willingness to help, she gives us all hope. You clearly raised her well.
One thing I’ve always told people on my journey when they have tried to denigrate America and only focus on its faults; Yes, it’s true it has faults, but it’s the spirit of America that everyone clamors for. Some say they hate America, and yet they want to be just like it!
We know this from people beating down the door to come here. Not too many other countries (who? 🤷♀️) where that happens. Not even Australia where they’ve reverted to paying people and their passage to immigrate.
Now, can that change, when as you say pronouns are the main focus, no. People will still want to come here. But not for the right reasons I fear.
We need a pause. We need everyone in America to learn the language, the history, and the culture. We need old timers and new comers to love and revere our country and it’s principles.
If I may, I'd like to push back against the generic 'Boomers' reference when addressing the abuse claim. Democrats, during the Boomer years, controlled the House for 40 years, and passed countless bills, against Republican wishes, that led to where we are today. The history of Democrats using federal dollars to buy votes goes way back, and is on display, in a shameless and unprecedented way, with the loan forgiveness scam.
So, it wasn't a 'Boomer' issue, imho, it was a 'New Deal' issue that spun out of control.
I'm not talking about problems caused by Boomers in government; this happened well before then. I'm talking about the behavior of Boomers in their youth that caused older generations to stop giving young people a hand up. No one trusted young people anymore, thanks to the Boomers. A great many policies changed as a result of Boomer behavior.
Celia, I’m a Boomer (later phase, not old enough for Woodstock) who thinks that most of the ideas from my youth were a bunch of BS. As I’ve grown older I do wonder - where the hell were the adults back then?
The university presidents were kissing the asses of the students who demanded that students should make all the rules.
Look at pictures of political leaders from the 70’s. They grew their hair a little longer and tried to be cool, to court the youth vote. Ted Kennedy and Gary Hart come to mind, but they all did it to some extent.
Media and advertisers fell all over themselves catering to the crazy ideas of the young. Very few stood up to it in any way- the adults were trying to be just as cool as the kids. That only made the kids disrespect them more.
The last vestiges of the generation of adults that tried so hard to make the kids like them? They are the octogenarians like Biden and Pelosi that run things now. Finally they are as cool as the kids.
Where were the adults? They were overwhelmed by teenagers. Until the Boomers, there was no such thing. Vogue figured out that teens had money. Commerce found it was money they could easily get by pandering to the youth movement.
Sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll followed. I don't think the adults had muchuva chance against the onslaught. I dunno, but imagine they were somewhat shell-shocked by the Depression and WWII, and just couldn't fathom their kids activities.
It was a trying time, and I'm sure many parents were overwhelmed. But what really strikes me now, looking back on it all, is how many 40ish adults tried so hard to dress and act like 20 year olds. Nothing more pathetic than adults who try to be just like the cool kids, and many did just that. Boomers didn't originate refusing to grow up - it was the generation before us.
Edit: Maybe I'm just mad that they foisted "adult contemporary" music on us. They were 100% responsible for Air Supply 😕
I'm a Boomer. I think we inherited the greatest nation in human history from our parents, "The Greatest Generation." We passed on to the next generation a smoking ruin.
I, a 69-year-old Boomer, am always telling my 26-year-old daughter: “Sorry, sweetheart, but you’ve really been screwed by my generation and all because we could never say “no.”
The mistake we made in the late 50s, 60s and 70s was thinking that the prosperity we were enjoying by being the only nation who's manufacturing infrastructure was not damaged after WWII, was going to last, even after the rest of the world rebuilt. We started writing checks (mostly on endowments) that we would ultimately not be able to cash.
Democrats didn't strangle housing construction to drive up the price of existing homes (so now houses that boomers bought 40 years ago for $50k are now worth $800k).
The American Dream...is largely gone. Those with the energy and determination to really hustle can sometimes still find it. But many of the paths to securing a middle-class life that were still being sold to my generation (Gen-X), ended up being dead ends in the wilderness. In many cases, the paths had been shut down because of the way the Boomers abused them.
Nor does it help that inflation (particularly real estate inflation) has made it more and more difficult for young people to find housing they can afford. My husband and I managed to avoid this largely by moving where the real estate was affordable. But that is becoming less and less of an option.
But the central premise of the American Dream--the part where our founding principals are the key to being free to seek the life we want for ourselves--has been destroyed by the Left's utter denigration of America. They hate our history. They hate our Constitution. They hate the Western values that allowed us to become a bastion of freedom. When America is a place that can only be hated, what room is there for an American Dream?
Celia, the American dream for 90% of people, is rarely attainable, but for the 10% who run The Present Day capitalistic system, the American dream is doing just fine!
ZERO room left to dream😢😢
I suppose the American Dream is streets paved with gold. I'd settle just to have my street paved.
I feel the same way, TxFrog! The streets in our little town get worse and worse, while the wealthy idiots who run the show spend money on their own pet projects.
No, not at all. For me it was always about freedom to be myself and to live my life the way I want and not how my socialist government planned it. It took me long and hard years to get out. Thank G-d I was young and happy to start my life from scratch, from the very bottom. Ours is a rich country, so with success comes a level of comfort in life, no doubt, but it was never about “streets paved with gold”, and I know many who feel the same. This is a perilous time for the western culture. And yea, many roads need to be paved and bridges repaired. We got distracted by culture wars!
Well, I’d say its less about gold (immigrants generally aren’t looking for an easy life) and more about being able to have a go at starting something new. Entrepreneurial ideas and innovation have oozed out of America in abundance for decades, and the world has benefited. In Europe we have an attitude when something’s broken or needs improving you’ll hear, “The government should get on that”. In America if something’s broken or needs fixing, you’ll more likely hear, “How can we do that”. If you lose that attitude, then what? So good luck getting your road paved. Begin now perhaps, with a new attitude.
🤣
🤣🤣
As a legal immigrant for years and now a naturalized US citizen as of yesterday, I say to you do what Americans have always done. Fight back. Not physically, but ideologically. If you aren’t already doing so, talk about how much you love America, its history (recognizing its warts of course), its western values, the constitution, and tout the American Dream as a reality. The Dream will only die if Americans themselves kill it. Don’t let that happen is my suggestion to you as a newly formed US citizen. Defeat the hate with love. Please.
I am an immigrant too. I have been a citizen now for have of my life. Until very recently I was convinced that the American Dream is alive.
It is alive. Only way to kill it is to give up on it. Hold the line and stand your ground. The determination that got you to the US will carry you through. Believe in yourself and America and we’ll all be better off for it.
And this post is a perfect example of why we need people to immigrate here. We grow complacent and forget what is great about our home.
Hear hear! Congratulations on your citizenship, so happy to have you 💕
Well said, I agree.
Curious, what paths have boomers shut down ?
I agree with you on the left. Their hate is infecting our society and is very dangerous.
The behavior of Boomers resulted in older generations having less trust and respect for young people. Policies got changed due to Boomers.
For example, It was much harder to find a job in 1985 than back in 1965. Instead of talking to the boss about a job, soulless job applications handled by HR became the norm.
Thanks to the feminist Boomers seeking Yuppie careers, housewives and stay-at-home-moms--the favored norm in the 60s--were looked down on as worthless in the 80s and 90s.
Pretty much everything that we Gen-Xers sought to do, we found that Boomers had already been there and wrecked.
👍👍
Saving up to buy a house. That worked when houses cost $40,000, but not when they cost $1.2 million.
Our 1st house in WA state was $42,500, new construction, in 1977. We bought it with a VA loan. My dad saw it for sale a few years ago and checked the price - $399,000
The American Dream persists in the immigrants who come to this country.
I have reconsidered my view on immigration. I want more Legal Immigration because we can “rob” bad countries of their intellectual capital, and because Americans aren’t having 2.1 babies per family. These legal immigrants become net contributors to America practically immediately. But I still oppose the flood of illegals over the border that burden our communities and serve the cartels, bringing drugs and crime.
I agree. Almost every legal immigrant I encounter is more American at heart than most post-Gen-X Americans. I would like to see a program where countries who send immigrants here would have to accept a certain number of America-haters who want nothing more than to leave in exchange. So many of the America-haters have discovered that other countries have much higher immigration standards than America does, and will not take them.
YES! I'll take lots of skilled, legal immigrants. I might suggest a special Visa program for high-tech Taiwanese workers. What better way to build a semiconductor industry than to poach existing talent? And there's probably a lot of that talent that would love to escape the hot breath of the neighboring totalitarian gorilla. That's just an idea and in the end, I don't care where they come from as long as they're ready to embrace Western culture.
But I'm tired of being told I'm racist for not wanting poor, central Americans with no skills to wade across the Rio Grande and be welcomed with open arms by our elites who want cheap gardeners, roofers, and nannies, to the detriment of the most vulnerable of our fellow citizens who must compete for those very jobs.
You have a great idea there about the Taiwanese, Sir Brian. Probably too smart for anyone in gov to think of it.
Yes the distinction between "legal" and "illegal" is essential in the immigration debate. We need immigrants, but we cannot exist as a nation if we don't have controlled, limited immigration.
What I can never understand is those who say they care for illegal immigrants trying to make a better life for themselves and their families, yet they refuse to see the egregious abuse heaped on these poor souls by coyotes among others when coming here illegally. Why can they not see their “caring” is doing nothing but fueling this evil and filling the pockets of the swines doing the abuse. I can only conclude it’s cognitive dissonance on the part of these people, and they are almost entirely left wing and Democrats.
It has been the habit of Democrats for a long time to talk and talk and talk about compassion, but to institute policies that, while seemingly "kind" on the surface, actually lead to horrible outcomes.
Well said. As a legal immigrant who had my oath ceremony just yesterday to become a naturalized US citizen I couldn’t agree more with you. Those of us who have lived in other countries, including reasonably wealthy western nations, know how great this country is if you are willing to apply yourself. Unfortunately many of those lucky enough to be born here, fail to recognize their great fortune.
Congratulations!
Congratulations! My brother's partner was naturalized 7 years ago. Another American doctor...lucky us! And I know you'll be a great American too!
Thank you, I truly appreciate your faith in me. But I especially appreciate you imagining I’ll be a “great” American. Those are big shoes to fill. I assure you I’ve tried over 33 years of living in this wonderful country, and even though I’ve had to leave it many times for work commitments, to impart to others how very fortunate we are to Iive here. Some refuse to see it. Usually they are those who were born here. What they don’t see is, you never fully appreciate freedom until you lose it.
So true. My daughter who is a civil engineering major was in Guatemala last week with Engineers Without Borders. They were building a water distribution center to bring clean water up to the mountainous area where the people are living and currently have no access to clean water. She's 21 and her comment on returning was, "I needed this more than they needed me."
One of the probing questions their faculty advisor asked (which occurred each evening) was "if five fingers on one hand could each produce a liquid what would those five liquids be." All of the student volunteers said water, of course, but when the local builder who worked with the group took his turn, he said "hot water".
We take SO much for granted. We are so 1st world that we have time to think about flipping pronouns while other struggle to get clean or hot water!
You will be a great American!
Thank you for that, and thank you to your wonderful daughter for her willingness to help, she gives us all hope. You clearly raised her well.
One thing I’ve always told people on my journey when they have tried to denigrate America and only focus on its faults; Yes, it’s true it has faults, but it’s the spirit of America that everyone clamors for. Some say they hate America, and yet they want to be just like it!
We know this from people beating down the door to come here. Not too many other countries (who? 🤷♀️) where that happens. Not even Australia where they’ve reverted to paying people and their passage to immigrate.
Now, can that change, when as you say pronouns are the main focus, no. People will still want to come here. But not for the right reasons I fear.
Congratulations!
Great to have you! Godspeed.
Congratulations! Glad you are here!
Well done!
Congratulations! And welcome, new citizen!
JAE that's great!
We need a pause. We need everyone in America to learn the language, the history, and the culture. We need old timers and new comers to love and revere our country and it’s principles.
Who is going to teach them that, college professors?
The woke locals hate the language, the history, and the culture, so it's not like immigrants are any worse than your run of the mill progressive.
Those who teach citizenship prep classes are usually patriotic Americans, not Woke people. Unless they have invaded that area as well.
Agreed. If you want to leave your country of origin and emigrate anywhere, why drag with you the things that made you leave?
Whoa, great post.
If I may, I'd like to push back against the generic 'Boomers' reference when addressing the abuse claim. Democrats, during the Boomer years, controlled the House for 40 years, and passed countless bills, against Republican wishes, that led to where we are today. The history of Democrats using federal dollars to buy votes goes way back, and is on display, in a shameless and unprecedented way, with the loan forgiveness scam.
So, it wasn't a 'Boomer' issue, imho, it was a 'New Deal' issue that spun out of control.
I'm not talking about problems caused by Boomers in government; this happened well before then. I'm talking about the behavior of Boomers in their youth that caused older generations to stop giving young people a hand up. No one trusted young people anymore, thanks to the Boomers. A great many policies changed as a result of Boomer behavior.
Celia, I’m a Boomer (later phase, not old enough for Woodstock) who thinks that most of the ideas from my youth were a bunch of BS. As I’ve grown older I do wonder - where the hell were the adults back then?
The university presidents were kissing the asses of the students who demanded that students should make all the rules.
Look at pictures of political leaders from the 70’s. They grew their hair a little longer and tried to be cool, to court the youth vote. Ted Kennedy and Gary Hart come to mind, but they all did it to some extent.
Media and advertisers fell all over themselves catering to the crazy ideas of the young. Very few stood up to it in any way- the adults were trying to be just as cool as the kids. That only made the kids disrespect them more.
The last vestiges of the generation of adults that tried so hard to make the kids like them? They are the octogenarians like Biden and Pelosi that run things now. Finally they are as cool as the kids.
You've got the right of it, Heyjude.
Where were the adults? They were overwhelmed by teenagers. Until the Boomers, there was no such thing. Vogue figured out that teens had money. Commerce found it was money they could easily get by pandering to the youth movement.
Sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll followed. I don't think the adults had muchuva chance against the onslaught. I dunno, but imagine they were somewhat shell-shocked by the Depression and WWII, and just couldn't fathom their kids activities.
It was a trying time, and I'm sure many parents were overwhelmed. But what really strikes me now, looking back on it all, is how many 40ish adults tried so hard to dress and act like 20 year olds. Nothing more pathetic than adults who try to be just like the cool kids, and many did just that. Boomers didn't originate refusing to grow up - it was the generation before us.
Edit: Maybe I'm just mad that they foisted "adult contemporary" music on us. They were 100% responsible for Air Supply 😕
I'm a Boomer. I think we inherited the greatest nation in human history from our parents, "The Greatest Generation." We passed on to the next generation a smoking ruin.
I, a 69-year-old Boomer, am always telling my 26-year-old daughter: “Sorry, sweetheart, but you’ve really been screwed by my generation and all because we could never say “no.”
I'm 62 and my kids are 21, 20. I say no plenty! I think it's the Gen Z parents who have a hard time saying no.
Good point.
The mistake we made in the late 50s, 60s and 70s was thinking that the prosperity we were enjoying by being the only nation who's manufacturing infrastructure was not damaged after WWII, was going to last, even after the rest of the world rebuilt. We started writing checks (mostly on endowments) that we would ultimately not be able to cash.
As the old saying goes, rough times make strong men, strong men make good times, good times make weak men, weak men make rough times.
Democrats didn't strangle housing construction to drive up the price of existing homes (so now houses that boomers bought 40 years ago for $50k are now worth $800k).