The Next Greatest Generation

Over the course of this summer I have been trying to have some meaningful conversations with my grandchildren. Usually we see them at family gatherings full of small talk about their daily lives and their recent accomplishments. Which is good. But not sufficient – at least for me. My eldest grandchild is heading off to college this fall (if you can call the middle of August fall) and I wanted to get to know her better as she has matured from being a kid into a young woman over the last couple of years. And the younger kids will be juniors in high school this year which, these days, is the last year of high school that counts for college entry.

So, big important stuff to talk about. I started by telling them that they will be facing a very difficult future. We Baby Boomers, plus also Gen X, need to apologize to this upcoming generation for the sorry shape of the world they will encounter. We old folks inherited a wonderful world from the Greatest Generation that had survived the Great Depression and won World War Two. The United States dominated the world economy as we indulged ourselves with washing machines, refrigerators and color TVs. The entire world was revitalized by decolonization and democratization. With the collapse of the Soviet Union it appeared that the American-led Washington Consensus would advance peace and prosperity across the globe for the foreseeable future. So, what the fuck happened?

First, let’s take a step back. The Greatest Generation did not arise because the world was such a wonderful place back then. It arose because the world they inherited from their parents and grandparents was a mess. Reeling from the devastation of the Great War and impoverished by economic depression, they could have been forgiven if they had succumbed to the turmoil they confronted. But they didn’t succumb, they overcame. How they did it has implications for the challenges our upcoming generation faces.

I am reminded of another great generation. In 1776, American colonists were a hodgepodge of immigrants, mostly English but also Scots , German, Irish, Dutch and enslaved Africans. With no organized military they defied an empire that boasted the world’s greatest army AND the world’s greatest navy (there was no air force back then). Asymmetric warfare helped the colonists keep the British military at bay but it was the common cause in American freedom that gained us the victory. That common cause not only secured our independence it also changed the entire world of the eighteenth century. The American Revolutionary War ushered in a new order for the age (Novus ordo seclorum) that spread Enlightenment values and principles across the globe.

Those values and principles dominated the world order for most of the twentieth century but now seem to be in retreat at home and abroad. America has replaced Great Britain as the premier military power boasting the world’s greatest army, navy AND air force but much like Britain has found itself helpless against the asymmetric warfare of Vietnamese, Afghans and now Iranians. The Enlightenment values that sustained America’s democracy as well as its prosperity were not universally valued around the world. Some religions denounced our materialism. Collectivist societies hated our individualism. Authoritarian governments feared our democracy. But that didn’t matter until we started to doubt ourselves. Our common cause became many different causes. Not many different people working toward a common goal but many people working toward different and sometimes competing goals. Collective groups are promoted over our individual rights that were announced in our Declaration of Independence and that are the “Blessings” that are supposed to be secured by our Constitutional government. These are the problems that we have allowed to fester within our country and that have infected so many of our people and our institutions.

Our children are growing up in this increasingly dystopian world. Texas High school student Marco Hunter-Lopeztestified before Congress that the Wylie, Texas middle school has a Quran in the library but no Bible. The district has a prayer room for Muslims but nothing for Christians. Faculty at American universities is overwhelmingly leftist and conservative speakers are routinely cancelled. The curriculum revolves around Marxism and Critical Theory and institutions and think tanks are created to promote these ideas. So-called Democratic Socialists now run New York City and Seattle and are slated to take over many more cities in the upcoming elections. Political violence is increasing at an alarming rate even while plain old criminal violence is declining. Red states and blue states are both trying to create partisan congressional delegations no matter the preferences of their citizens. This is a scenario that is ripping control of the future from the hands of our kids and putting it under the control of forces inimical to their well-being.

So I wanted to tell my grandkids to be prepared (the original Boy Scouts of America motto of “Be Prepared,” not the new Scouting America version). Kids today need to study hard and make learning a lifelong activity – not for some middle-management job in the indeterminate future but as a civic duty. If your local school does not teach civics and what it takes to be a citizen of this country (a courageous citizen as described by Maury Giles, CEO of Braver Angels)then the responsibility falls to you as parent or grandparent. Encourage your kids to volunteer, join civic institutions in addition to sports teams, and consider military service as part of your civic duty.

While it took exceptional leaders to wage the Revolutionary War and found a new country for the age, it took many thousands of ordinary Americans with little more than hunting rifles to achieve victory. And while the leadership of Lincoln and Grant was critical during the civil War hundreds of thousands of regular people sacrificed their lives to end the curse of slavery from our country. Leaders like Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Reagan inspired our country, but it took a generation of soldiers and factory workers to defeat fascism and communism. We will need such sacrifice once again. Good leaders are insufficient. We also need a unified and determined people to support them. We must prepare our children and grandchildren to be up to the challenges they will face. They must become the next Greatest Generation.