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Are Old People Ruining American Democracy? (www.nytimes.com)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/politics@lemmy.world
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[–] 25 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The boomers that vote for far right grifters and are happy to pull up the ladder behind themselves certainly deserve a share of the blame too.

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  • [–] 13 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    Nearly half of boomers have no retirement savings. Blame them all you want, but the problem is the rich. Always has been. Always will be.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    The population that voted for them even though it hurts them are still at fault, even if they didn't write the billionaire backed legislation.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    Not all boomers. Sorry, blaming "boomers" is rather naive.

    I've been around long enough to remember boomers blaming all the things on Silent/Greatest Generation. They had all the answers and could not wait to take over.

    Just sayin' - I'm starting to see a pattern here.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    The problem with boomers, though, is that they formed such a large voting block that their generation has been able to steer the political system in the US. We started seeing change in the 90s and it was gaining momentum in the early 00s, but the reactionaries went full tilt on fascism as a result.

    This is a gross oversimllified take so please don't think it's meant as any kind of scholarly dissertation.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago (19 children)

    Gen Y is the largest generation right now.

    All of voting age. Followed by Gen Z (not all of voting age - yet), then Gen X, then boomers.

    I mean, what happened in the past as you describe as a result of the huge numbers of boomers is entirely possible. I'm Gen X, so believe it when I say I have my share of resentments about how we were overshadowed nearly our entire lives by boomers, and then the spotlight jumped right to Gen Y, but all because of numbers, and not any unique traits to either Gen Y or boomers or to Gen X.

    But at this point, blaming boomers for what is happening now is rather....interesting, I have to say. They are the 4th largest group.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago (2 children)

    They have most of the wealth and the power. They're the ones doing the fascism. Every generation is doing their part on that fucked up front but the buck (literally) starts and stops with the boomers for the most part.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago (1 child)

    White people have the most wealth and power.

    City people have the most wealth and power.

    Men have the most wealth and power.

    Non-Indigenous people have the most wealth and power.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago (1 child)

    Gen Y numbers are bigger right now, as a voting bloc.

    Also, Gen Y is poised to be the richest generation on record: https://fortune.com/2025/03/28/millennials-richest-generation-on-record-great-wealth-transfer-from-baby-boomers/

    I suspect all that wealth transfer may change....something...but I'm not in any way convinced that Gen Y is any better than the boomers, as a group. In fact, they have no real equivalent activism of the 60s generation from what I can tell. In fact, I'm almost certain Gen Y doesn't have some magical quality that the boomers don't and that they'll make things better just by dint of being a different generation with all the wealth and all the numbers....I'd love to be proven wrong, though.

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