Puff the Magic Dragon!

I was seven years old when President John Kennedy was assassinated. It happened on November 22, 1963. I remember school being dismissed, but not much else about that day. It was probably the event that first forced me to confront the larger world and to think about what a President is and what he does, but I can’t even be sure of that. What I do remember is the profound shock and sadness that my parents felt as they watched these events unfold in black and white. The next ten years would do little to reassure my parents. By 1973 we were watching in full living color.

In January of 1964, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles became their first number one single in the United States. My dad did not consider it music and felt the Beatles were an agent of Satan. He was particularly offended by their long hair and their willful rebuking of social conventions.

No self-respecting man would have hair like that. This subversive influence must be extinguished post haste and there was no Beatles music in our house ever.

The Baby Boom generation is generally considered to be those born between 1946 and 1964 and is typically broken down into two cohorts. Leading edge boomers were born between 1946 and 1955 and trailing edge boomers were born between 1956 and 1964. There are about 37 million people in each cohort. If the sixties are to be considered an interesting time, it is largely due to cultural changes brought about by this generation of young Americans, a generation that from the beginning was dissected, studied and relentlessly marketed to (I’d like to buy the world a coke) and thus came to believe itself unique and destined to create a better world.

In 1956 (a most special year) the average new home in America was 1230 square feet, was occupied by 3.3 people, allowing each person 330 square feet of living space. By 1965 the average home was 1525 square feet, still occupied by 3.3 people but now each person had 461 square feet of living space. At this time there was also 186 million square feet of self-storage space available for rent. These are the homes built by and for the parents of the baby boomers and are the houses most of this generation grew up in.

No self-respecting baby boomer would buy a Wimpey House!

This generation opposed the Vietnam War, supported civil rights for minorities and supported equal rights for women. They were considered naive, idealistic, liberal and many seemed to be in search of the eternal buzz. After Nixon stopped the war and resigned the Presidency, the boomers got hair cuts, began to settle down, find jobs and invent things like junk bonds, collateralized debt obligations, hedge funds and in the case of one guy named Bernie, perfect the Ponzi scheme. They also invented the personal computer, DOS, the Internet and elected the first African American President. History will record their impact on the world, but they are old now.

Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump are all baby boomers. Quick recap. Clinton = sexual misconduct. Bush = 2 questionable wars. Obama = Republican Congress nothing gets done. Trump = self described sexual predator.

In 2015 the average home built in America contained 2687 square feet and housed 2.5 people, giving each person 1058 square feet of living space or more than double the amount in 1965. In 2015 there was 2.6 billion square feet of available self-storage space for rent in the United States. Houses are getting bigger but so is the demand for additional storage space. What does this say about us? What does it say about the ideals of the baby boomers?

Will the upcoming twenties be another period that history will say was an interesting time to live in? It sure is shaping up that way. This guy is going to Congress even after beating up a reporter on election eve.

The winner by TKO at 47 seconds in the first round is: Gregory Richard Gianforte (born April 17, 1961 a fellow trailing edge boomer)

45 weighs in with an atta boy by saying in Italy on Friday: “Great win in Montana.”

Okay! This is where we are.

I must admit that I was a little nervous about this trip 45 was taking. He was visiting many strange and exotic lands and I was fearful the people in those far away places would not understand or comprehend the superior American intellect that was going to be on display. I was fearful that 45 would not receive the deference due to the American President because of that thing called American Exceptionalism. Boy, was I wrong. Did you see the spread those boys in Saudi Arabia laid down? I didn’t know there was that much gold paint in the whole world. 45 looked like a kid in a candy store.

I saw on Fox News that “the trip was by all accounts a home run.” He made a $100 billion arms deal with our good friends the Saudi’s, who rule by absolute monarchy under Sharia Law, (how many emails did I get that Obama was going to implement Sharia here?), just allowed women to vote in the almost meaningless municipal elections in 2015 and where women driving cars is considered by religious leaders to: “undermine social values.” American bang for your buck?

He showed great strength by scolding our NATO allies for not putting enough into the kitty. Ante up boys! For at least 500 years, most of the world’s most destructive wars have been fought in Europe. In the two big ones last century over 500,000 Americans died. Do we really want to abandon the one institution in history that has brought any semblance of peace and stability to Europe? We should all be in favor of our allies paying more, but is calling them out on the world stage at a monument dedication for 911 really the best way to make that happen? I have serious doubts.

Yeah, they look like a real receptive bunch. Everybody loves to be humiliated live on Fox 10. Merkel looks like Ike Clanton in Tombstone when he says to Doc Holliday “hope you die lunger!”

There is so much going on right now; we haven’t even touched on pulling out of the Paris climate accord, the 35 year old son-in-law defacto president, or 45 shoving the Prime Minister of Montenegro. “Look out! Working man coming through.”

On September 12, 1962 President Kennedy gave a speech at Rice Stadium in Houston Texas. I have no memory of this but by the end of the 60’s I knew it very well, we all did. This speech was designed to build support for the fledgling United States Space Program. Here is a small part of what he said.

“We choose to go to the Moon! We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win.”

 And by God that’s exactly what we did. We won. It’s something ole Vlad would do well to remember right about now. He may have a BFF in the White House but the rest of us are not as impressed.

Americans came together with a national determination to make this vision a reality. A determination driven in large measure by a united people’s desire to make the words of an assassinated President come true. To honor a man, to honor his vision, and to say to the world you can kill our President but you can’t touch our soul.

It was Sunday July 20, 1969 and after praying in church for success we stayed glued to the TV all afternoon. Watching in full living color, at last we heard these words.

“Houston, Tranquility Base here, The Eagle has landed.” My dad had tears in his eyes. The only time I saw that until the day my Sainted Mother passed to her long home.

The conspiracy theorists crawled out of their holes almost immediately. It was all faked. There have been conspiracy theories about Kennedy’s assassination, about the assassination of Dr. King, about 911 and just about any other major event in my life. I tend to tolerate them and some are even fun to explore, but as I got older, the fake moon landing is one I will not abide. I came to realize that Sunday afternoon that the generation that made this happen was the same one that as young men and women had defeated Hitler and those tears in my dad’s eyes told me it was all worth it, He was proud to be an American soldier but on this day he was even prouder to be an American.

Yes, the sixties were an interesting time. But for all the upheaval and all the challenges to social conventions, America still put two men on the moon by the end of the decade, just like President Kennedy said we would.

Hey, young uns, how bout those baby boomers, doing a great job or what?

We need a vision and more than that we need a visionary, not a COVFEFE.

Gotta go, I hear Willie calling.

“Whisky River Take My Mind

Whisky River Don’t Run Dry”

 

Love to all!