From my own perspective, this really does sound like a "whiny Millenial" piece. Sure things have changed, but just as many Boomers voted Democrat as they did Republican. Did you think the 70s activists just magically did a philosophical flip flop?
That's changed for me; I was a lifelong Democrat, but most likely will never vote for one again. They are not the party they were.
I went back to school in my 50s to earn a BA and then a Master of Arts in Teaching. That got me three years of substitute teaching at $12 an hour, while I all the other "real" boys and girls were earning 36k a year plus. A Masters got them 50k (one fellow student bitched about what low pay that was in one of my classes), and in California or New York--for instance--125k a year isn't unheard of. I'd have been ecstatic with 36k a year.
The teachers I subbed for were always in "professional development," which is paid, is it not? Their subs are paid for by the taxpayer. They absolutely get summers off. If they work other jobs, it's because they want to, as far as I can tell. I was told they can opt to spread their pay over 12 months or over nine months.
Meanwhile, even the students in the lowest income schools had better phones and clothes than I did.
I'm not wealthy; is that somehow my fault? I started teaching in my 50s, and I guess that's just too damned old.
I could never have afforded to live in SFO--my favorite city--even 30 some years ago, but I've recently heard people in their 20s bitch about the cost of living there and that somehow it's the Boomers' fault that they can't afford it. Because of zoning or some such.
Mathematically and rationally speaking--clearly not strong suits of the Millenials--not everyone who wants to live on any coast anywhere will be able to. How is that anyone's fault? Supply and demand. Simple equation.
When I suggested to him that the US is a very big place, with a LOT of affordable, beautiful places to live besides the California coast, he responded that he didn't want to "manage an Auto Zone" or some such in Detroit.
Whaaaaaat?? Why is it an either/or? Your generation can't possibly be that dense. You see, I took an example or two and made blanket statements just as you did.
Remember all this "whining" when you see the Boomers taking care of their parents, AND their adult children who often have had to move back home, AND their grandchildren, just as they are themselves getting old and sick, and yet are often still out there working. I know plenty of those, too.
Just hang on; maybe you can inherit all that "wealth" sooner rather than later by refusing to "take care of them in their dotage."
