Every time I begin to think that a generational shift may be occurring, I am bombarded with reminders from the Baby Boomer generation that they aren't quite done destroying the country, or making everything about them.

The 40th anniversary of the Woodstock concert?


No. The health care debate.


I couldn't help but notice that the same generation which took drugs in the mud of Bethel, New York in 1969, is now flinging mud at the best opportunity to give access to health care to all citizens of this country.

The grandma whose death-by-unplugging is so feared by multitudes of dimwits at town halls and online? She was at Woodstock, undoubtedly laying the groundwork for becoming a grandma, and probably any unwashed scumbag with a tab of acid in his pocket.

This greedy generation, which was all about peace and love when it was their turn to go to war, was all about rape and pillage in the 80s, when easy millions beckoned you from a different locale in New York.

But just selling out for money wasn't enough, you wanted power, too. That's natural. Your bloated generation, in numbers and size, thought nothing of sending other people's children off to war in 2003. Of course, in keeping with your "principles" the war wasn't about ideology, it was about another chance to make money with no risk to your own skins.

Have you achieved anything since 1969?

"Oh, sure," you say, "pick on George W. Bush. He's an easy target."

Yep, and you elected him. Twice.

"Can we at least get credit for Bill Clinton?"

I laugh, because you think that his presidency somehow validates your alleged principles. And I suppose it does.

The Baby Boomer's first president: A real triumph.

The Glass-Steagal Act of 1933, which established the FDIC and prohibited bank holding companies from owning other financial companies? Repealed by Clinton's signing the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999.

Any of you addled fatasses recall anything bad happening recently as a result of that?

Welfare reform in 1996: Threw millions of people off of the rolls, and actually increased poverty in the next decade.

Oh, and the Baby Boomer pièce de résistance: Health Care Reform in 1993.

Like so many other things you've failed at as a generation, you had good intentions. But once you realized that it would be hard, and might cost you a second term, you put your hands behind your back, started whistling, and shuffled off to have a one-sided chat with some intern.


You have achieved NOTHING since 1969.

And now you're feeling your oats again, storming town hall meetings where people might actually get to ask questions and learn something about the health care proposals, and instead drowning them out as you scream about fears that some bureaucrat might pull your plug when you end up in the hospital for your inevitable gastric bypass surgery.

I can't help but marvel at how much better off this country would be if Roe v. Wade had been passed in 1953 instead of 1973.

I am of the generation which follows you. The one that will be the first in American history to do less well than the previous generation, which is no coincidence. I am asking you for a favor, which would actually give you the opportunity to do something for someone besides yourselves.

Can you stop, just this one time, trying to keep everything for yourselves? You have Medicare, can you let the rest of us have something to keep us from dying when our appendixes go bad?

But since it isn't in your nature to do for others, will you at least consider dropping dead?

At 10:56 PM this evening, EDT, it will have been forty years since man first walked on the moon.

John Kennedy gave this speech at Rice University in September of 1962, and pledged to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade.



Less than seven years later, the United States achieved what many thought was impossible. We were motivated to do so.



Sometimes, I think about what great things that this country has achieved since then, and I'm sort of stuck. There have been some nice technological achievements, but I can't think of one thing that captures the imagination like the moon landing.

Right now, Congress is discussing how to provided health care for every citizen, just like they do in other less prosperous countries. It will not be easy.

Do we still possess the capacity to do something as big as this? Even if the taxes of some or all might need to be raised?

Do we still have the will to achieve anything truly great anymore?

The point is, there was no way that the people of the United States were going to get health care, because it was more important for these bought-and-paid-for stooges to protect their corporate masters' short-term profits, than to save a few thousand meaningless American lives. Hell, these people wouldn't even pony up to protect the health of children. But that was then.

Now, we have Barack Obama as president, who is, according to the best and brightest in Conservative thought, a Socialist. And as I recall, an Arab.


The main thing is, he wants health care for all Americans, as do 72% of us here in the US. But here in 2009, Obama has a Democratic majority in Congress who can get it done. Hell, as of this week, with the addition of Al Franken, it's an unfilibusterable (just made that up) super majority. Yay! We're getting a public option for health care NOTSOFAST.

I find it interesting that when anything important needs to be voted on, the Republican party can pull the leash on its members, and get them to vote in unison for whatever they're told to do. I don't like party-line politics as a rule. Truthfully, I have no use for political parties, and would never join one. But hey! If the GOP can get their ducks in a row, then there's no reason that the Dems can't do it to pass something important like health care, especially since, and I can't put too fine a point on this, 72% of the people in this country want a government option. Will we get it? Doubtful.

The problem is that the Democrats in the Senate have a preponderance of members suffering from chronic cases of being too old and too self-important. I'd also like to add "useless." Max Baucus, for example, Democrat of Montana, has said on many occasions that a public option is "off the table." Ben Nelson of Nebraska, has echoed these sentiments, as has Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. I'm sure their boss, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada will pull rank and get these guys in line, right? Because, as you may have heard, 72% of Americans want a government health care option.

Well, Reid has flip-flopped all over the place on this issue, as well as most others of importance, and cannot be counted on to get this done. What can we do? Hmm, wait a minute...

Montana. Nebraska. North Dakota. Louisiana. Nevada.

These are mostly large, windy, empty places, represented by people who resemble that description. What else do they have in common? There are sure a lot of white people in those places who think of themselves as rugged individualist Libertarian types. These states are, historically, red ones, and vote Republican. Louisiana too, now that New Orleans has been rid of so many black voters, thanks to Bush's indifference before, during and after Katrina.

You want to pass real health care reform with the necessary public option, President Obama? Easy as pie, just do this:

Call each of these senators, and any other Democrats who are being weaselly about this, into your office. Ask them if you can count on their vote for your health care plan, and please do not fail to mention that 72% of Americans want this, with a majority even willing to pay higher taxes to get it.

If they are unable to pledge their support on this, make a vow to them. Promise to support a Democrat against him or her who will help you in next senatorial primary in their state. Even if they prevail, it will cost them millions of dollars, and leave them in a weakened position when the general election comes up the following November. Remind them that they are in states that have found it very easy to elect Republicans to office. If any of them are actually stupid enough to ask why you would be willing to cede Democratically-held seats to Republicans, explain the obvious:

"We can still lose without you."

Explain that the American people want to have guaranteed access to health care, and that the fact that we are the only major industrialized country without it is a miserable embarrassment at every level. Make them understand that this is not simply a smart move economically in the long term, but the right thing to do morally.

But mostly, make them understand that if you are unable to pass this legislation, it makes no difference to you whether it fails 59-41, 55-45, or 52-48. You can lose it with or without them, they are not special, and if they are unable to see how vitally important this is to the future of the United States, they are not even necessary.