Dan @#38 -

You have hit a theory of mine directly on the head. The “Leave it to Beaver” environment in which the Boomers where raised left an indelible mark on their perspective. A mark that has endured (at least at a subconscious level) despite their rampant anti-establishment behavior since their childhood. That mark limits their extremes and guides their sensibilities even though they don’t realize it. Hence, they have delegitimized and degraded the overall culture for three decades, but have never completely swept the foundation away. So although I blame the Boomers for much of the nation’s ills, it won’t be their generation that truly crashes the current culture. It will be their kids.

Why? Because their kids were raised and nourished on the Boomers’ raging anti-establishemt attitude. Just as the WWII generation left a defining mark on the Boomers, the Boomers have left a mark on Gen-X. A generation that has never had a safe Leave it to Beaver base to work from. The Boomers raised their kids to know only single parent households, divorce, disrepect for authority, mistrust of tradition, and disdain for religion. The children of Gen-X? No hope in hades for any meaningful for link to traditional Americana at all outside of small conservative enclaves.

I live with two teenagers, and can clearly see the complete social disconnect and dysfunction two generations down from the Boomers. I don’t think it is hopeless. As Wretchard says, we will muddle through and reform on the other side. But I am certainly not looking forward to the muddling.

Cheers and Merry Christmas.