HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?

            Life and politics are both funny. Just when a person thinks he’s figured out things, he looks up and sees how completely off base he is. Of course, because humans are involved in both of them, confusion is to be expected.

            The other day someone talked about folks being 65 this year. For a minute, I thought to myself that those old folks are in the news again. Then the realization that these Medicare-eligible people are individuals whom I know well and are close to my age set in. Instead of seeing them as senior citizens, I recalled how they looked and what they did 45-50 years ago.

            This generation had major influences on the direction America followed. In 1965 they were 18. The world was upside down. To begin with, the Vietnam Conflict had turned into a full-blown war, and thousands of young men were drafted to fight the politicians’ battles. The Department of Defense claims the average age of the 58,148 killed in that war was just shy of 23. Other sources put the age closer to 20. That puts today’s 65-year-old citizens smack dab in the middle of that war and the frightening possibility of dying young.

            Many of those who weren’t drafted into the conflict fought in the US. They protested against the war. Sit-ins, marches, and rallies made the nightly news as much as the latest rounds of action in Vietnam and the death counts did. The first reported draft-card burning occurred that same year of 1965.  Just a few years later in 1968, Chicago Democratic Convention demonstrators and police clashed. Boy, what a bunch of rebels this age group turned out to be.

            During their last years as teens, these young people witnessed or participated in marches on Washington and Selma, Alabama, the Watts Riots, introduction of the Miranda Right, Women’s Lib, and the creation of the label “hippie” for thousands of the generation. Perhaps most important of all now, they witnessed the creation of Medicare.

            At some point, the girls traded in their miniskirts for business suits; the men cut their hair and took on the yoke of adulthood. Then this generation set out to become success stories in the American dream. Their high ideas about social issues and times for change somehow were displaced by the arrival of children, mortgages, and the everyday demands of life. 

            They also changed their political philosophies. Once the mighty forces for change and against the establishment, these adults now believe more in maintaining the status quo. According to many polls, nearly half of the individuals 65 and older now consider themselves as conservatives, while only 16 percent identify themselves as liberal.

            Perhaps it’s okay to assume that age leads to changes in ideology. For many, being conservative is a way of protecting the things that they’ve collected over the years. It also indicates a stand against the craziness that goes on in the outside world.

            What is fascinating is that the same folks that once were so against the system are now in favor of it. They used to cruise the drive-in restaurants; they contorted their bodies with dances such as the twist, jerk, and hully gully; they parked in dark spots and “necked” on dates. Now they prefer a slower change, a more deliberate approach, and a more restrained view.

            I know my kids look at me with amazement when I explain some of the crazy things my friends and I did. We were young and invincible. Maybe as the years piled on, many of this Baby Boomers generation saw a different truth. Whatever the reason, it’s fascinating how a generation filled with carefree rebels slowly became ones that preferred stability and security. Can anyone blame them?