Twenty Years From Now, You Will Lie To Your Children

[kpete]

Published on Saturday, November 14, 2009 by CommonDreams.org
Twenty Years From Now, You Will Lie To Your Children

by David Michael Green

...............

............It was bad enough that we lived for as long as we did at a greedy and unsustainable level, stealing from other peoples, from our environment, from brown and female workers, and even from our own children. But now it's getting much, much worse.

In twenty years those children are all too likely to be living poor, on a hostile planet, working long hours to pay down the sins of their fathers.

And they might well be enraged, too, as they should be.

A decade or two from now, if they confront their right-wing elders - gazing in anger and astonishment at the bottomless capacity of their parents' selfishness - you can safely bet that their questions will be met with dissembling deception.

Twenty years from now, regressives will lie to their children.

We know this because those regressives are already lying today, covering their execrable crimes the only way possible.
With deceit.

more:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/14-1

[daleanime]

1. If you check their schools...

you'll find that they are lying to their children already:mad: You have to start early to raise a good(?) repug.

[TlalocW]

2. HA! I've outsmarted Green

I'm not having children. However, I lie routinely to my ferrets now. "No, I don't have anymore peanut butter treats! Quit biting my toes!"

TlalocW

[Karmadillo]

3. Yes, but at least we have the decency to be consistent by lying to ourselves, too.

nt

[SmileyRose]

4. It is my fervent hope

The kids all over the world now will grow up and say "fuck it" it the elite of the world and refuse to be economic units. If EVERYONE just decided all on the same day to stop paying the mortgage or the rent and continued to live there, stopped going to work and started living off the grid in small communities instead - I mean just absolutely kill off globalism -

Well, a crazy dream I know.

[XemaSab]

5. I don't want to be an economic unit

but at the same time, I want to eat. :shrug:

[Igel]

6. You'd still be an economic unit,

even if you were utterly self-sufficient in production of implement, tools, food, and didn't trade, if you were near other people. If there was any demand at all for what you did use or take out of circulation.

You'd be taking up a resource--land or harvesting aquatic resources--and as such that would qualify you for a unit in some model. Only if there was no demand for the resources you used would you no longer be in need of being modelled by economists. (Of course, then you'd still be a unit for resource managers and the like.)

[StarfarerBill]

7. Unless you live in a post-scarcity society...

...which can never happen as long as capitalism remains a global fetish.

[Greyhound]

12. .

:thumbsup:

[DireStrike]

9. When this happens they send in troops

It'd never be allowed to happen worldwide. Maybe half the world at most.

Unfortunately the tortured system they've built really IS more productive. It just doesn't produce any happiness. It can win wars though.

[Greyhound]

13. It would only take 10% - 20% to break the system.

We're getting closer every day.

[Nederland]

28. And what would we eat?

Food to feed everyone on the planet requires fertilizer, fertilizer requires chemicals, chemical plants require transportation, transportation requires fossil fuel, etc. Think about it and pretty soon you realize if you want to feed everyone, not much changes.

[LatteLibertine]

8. A great way to

be green is to not be a breeder. Skip the whole kids thing. It's low level biological programming anyway.

In addition, I wish people would stop being mindless consumers. I still remember that vid where people literally ripped the doors off of a Walmart, and trampled one another just to get to the latest gaming console. At least one person died and I am not sure how many were injured. Plastic garbage only fills the hole temporarily. Besides that the "hole" is artificially created anxiety and inadequacy fashioned by marketing/media.

[anonymous171]

10. The best way to be green is to starve to death.

It's low level biological programming anyway.

That way population goes down AND consumption goes down.

[imdjh]

19. Can I start smoking again if I choose this plan?

[Jackpine Radical]

34. Only if you're on fire.

[LoZoccolo]

25. Twenty years from now, they will call you an hero. n/t

[Nederland]

22. Why should my kids take care of you...

...when you get old? And don't tell me it's because you are paying for their education, because unless you plan on sending me checks for their college tuition, you ain't.

[Missy Vixen]

30. We pay taxes. We're paying for their education.

In the meantime, hopefully, they're smarter than their father.

:eyes:

[Nederland]

36. Obviously you didn't read my whole post

More importantly, there is way more than just paying for college. Only a person who is not a parent could possibly think that the only thing a kid needs to grow into a successful adult is a state funded education. Unless you woke up and fed them every two hours as a baby, changed their diapers till they were potty trained, read them books every night to ensure they would learn to love books and reading, chauffeured them all around town for activities and all the countless other things involved in being a parent, your efforts didn't raise them--mine did. Don't give me this "it takes a village crap". The bottom line is that when it comes to raising the next generation, certain "villagers" are working a hell of a lot harder than the rest, and they are called parents. Thousands of hours of my time and hundreds of thousands of dollars of my money all go into making sure that my kid has the training and compassion to wipe your butt when you get old.

You're welcome.

[Missy Vixen]

37. Yawn

It's unfortunate that you have no higher ambitions for your oh-so-special spawn than wiping my butt when I'm older.

Here's a hint: Typically, I'm supportive of parents. I chose to not become a parent for a myriad of reasons, none of which are any of your business. I have to laugh at your World o' Entitlement, though. Whether or not you believe it, those around you who passed on parenting are PAYING for your life choices, and we continue paying for those choices when they grow up and have children of their own.

"Your money," my ass, buddy. You didn't have kids to be altruistic. You had kids for no other reason than wanting them, and you expect everyone else to foot the bill for your expensive private hobby. Those kids suck up resources everyone else pays for, too.

You're welcome.

[Nederland]

39. "Those kids suck up resources everyone else pays for"

Really? Like what? I'm aware of only one resource that my kids suck up that are paid for by someone other than me: education. Given that every dollar spent on education comes back to society as seven dollars in increased tax revenue, that should be viewed more as an investment than an expense don't you think? So enlighten me, what resources do my kids suck up that everyone else pays for?

And as far as having "higher ambitions" for my kid than wiping your butt, what do you have against the health care profession? Is becoming a health care professional not a "worthy" enough position in society for you? So now you've insulted parents and nurses. Anyone else on your shit list?

If you'd like to keep digging the little hole you've found your self in, by all means keep responding.

[Greyhound]

11. K&R. I wonder how many lie awake at night, trying to ignore their conscience? n/t

[ThoughtCriminal]

14. Not new

Try and find an older conservative that will admit they fought against desegregation and civil rights.

[niyad]

15. can't lie to kids you don't have.

[RadiationTherapy]

16. 20 years from NOW? The boomers already fucked us hard and long.

And their denial as a generation is a spectacle to behold. Even now, at this extraordinarily fragile time for humanity, the generation responsible for multi-car households and houses as income generators refuses to step down and conserve. Even now, after harvesting several generations worth of wealth and resources during their youth and working lives, they crow for capitalism and 'hard work' all the while soaking us for retirement funds they feel entitled to after living lives as the wealthiest population on the planet.

Anyway; there will be no regrets. In all likelihood, we will be hostile towards future generations for implying that we could have done something.

[tomp]

24. wow, did you mean to pick a fight?

there is no one group responsible for the mess we're in except government/business, aka fascists (and that includes about 95% of democrats, too). the fascists have apparently convinced you that I am the enemy, that I am to blame for your problems (and you don't get off the hook by saying "boomers as a whole, not any individual boomer").

let me just set you straight:

after working all my teenage and young adult life for peanuts and protesting our tragically failed government and working for change, i went back to school and became a nurse (when i was 34). in case you didn't know it, NOBODY works harder than a nurse. for that I get a decent salary (not a great salary) and some benefits. right now i have a pension plan which is on the verge of going bankrupt and a 403b (no employer contribution) that has been devastated by the economic crisis. I don't just "feel" entitled to my benefits, i AM entitled to my benefits. Soaking you for them...i don't think so. i worked my butt off for what i have. i'd rather boost everyone else up than tear me down, if you don't mind.

if you think i'm willing to just fuck off and die because you've got some kind of chip on your shoulder, think again.

we are all in this together. blame the fascists. period.

[RadiationTherapy]

26. Individuals are intelligent, mobs are dumb. Unfortunately we are all lumped

together at some point. You are a 'boomer', I am an 'X-er', we are 'americans'. Despite our individual stories, the facts about the groups remain. I can rattle off to a Honduran why I am not the person he/she should hate, but the reality is I am a member of a group that has FU-HU-HU-HU-CKED Honduras.

Whether a fight ensues or not, I understand the OP's assertion that we will lie to our children about how we got here.

[quaker bill]

38. Not I.

My children and I have already had this discussion. We have been having it for nearly 30 years. I felt it was important that they understand fully why I was protesting Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II. No, I am afraid I did not protest Clinton, because he got at least a couple of things right, like raising wages, taxes, and balancing the budget.

It was not just their war mongering, which was cause enough to protest. It was that they were intentionally gutting the economy, rotting it from the core, mostly to destroy the union movement. Then to top it off they moved our defined benefit pensions into 401Ks (no I don't have one because I have either refused or cashed out with every new job). The point of the 401K was to harness our economic fate to the fortunes of the Corporate CEOs, so voting to favor them would be in our interest, I for one have refused to cooperate. To the extent I invest, I do it with my own funds, after taxes, no early withdrawal penalties. Yes, as just before the tech bubble burst, I do occasionally withdraw from the market, to cash.

You can call me a member of any group you like. That said, I have never voted for a Republican or against a tax increase.

[EFerrari]

40. You might want to rethink your categories.

I have no more control of Wall Street today than I did forty years ago when I was 13. And I didn't f#ck Honduras but have been f#cked by the same group that is tanking democracy there today.

So, congrats, you are now officially Honduran (and that is what I tell my kids, too). :)

[BlancheSplanchnik]

32. just by existing, we all participate

Whose computer are you using? Got an iPod, stereo, TV? Do you shop at the grocery, use a refrigerator, cook your food? Own anything, anything at all made of plastic? Got kids? Plan on having them? Do you have a roof over your head? Is it furnished and heated, and do you use electricity?


The industrialized world's way of life is not something that can be blamed on one generation, much less the generation of (I'm guessing) your parents, or perhaps grandparents.

Because we all participate, we all can improve what we do, and how we create our influence in our surroundings.

[Bette Noir]

33. Resent your parents much?

Grow up and take responsibility for yourself, instead of blaming a whole generation for your own failures.

[quaker bill]

17. While I tend to agree on the problem

I think Green throws too much off on the Office of the President for all of this. One of the larger disservices Reagan delivered to this country is the notion that Presidents are elected and then serve as vehicles of wish fulfillment for the country at large.

In this regard Presidents have come to be seen as near mystical figures that cause all this "stuff", that Green recounts fairly well, to happen.

Presidents are in fact more an expression of the society than the leadership of it, even GW Bush, in fact he is the most poignant example. Yes he did lie us into a war, but polling at the time was clear that 85 percent of the American public wanted to believe it (the tale was so weak that you needed to want to believe it to do so). More than 50 percent still wanted to believe it even after no WMD were found, and re-elected him in 2004.

The people wanted to believe that they could have everything they wanted, good wars, good schools, good roads, good times for all, and not have to pay taxes for any of it. All they had to do was shrink government and get rid of "waste, fraud, and abuse". That it was utter fantasy is proved by the decline in public services and increase in deficits anywhere enough republicans gained elected office to put the policy in place. Balooning deficits start at Cities and runs through Counties, States, and all the way to the Federal level anywhere these guys touched.

What brought a halt to the wish fulfillment drive with GW Bush was the hour upon hour of devastation and utter incompetence beamed into our living rooms in the aftermath of Katrina. From that point forward, he could no longer be a vehicle for this drive. It was that moment that shifted this near psychotic drive onto the Democratic party. This in time resulted in the election of Barack Obama.

My critique of Green is that he furthers this notion, by making Obama out to be the next wish fulfillment vehicle, and then claims we should all be somehow disappointed that all the wishes have not materialized already. There is nothing about the project Mr. Green and I would generally agree on, the end of wars, attacking global warming, restoring fiscal accountability to future generations, true access to healthcare for all, and ever so much more, that is anything less than a monumental task. The notion that Obama could somehow snap his fingers and make decades of truly bad governance disappear in 10 months (and that we should be disappionted that he hasn't) has lovely emotional appeal, but lacks the ingtergity and intellectual seriousness called for by the task at hand.

[Caretha]

18. + 1

Very well articulated and spot on.

[imdjh]

20. Twenty years from now, if you leave your dorm room, you might be a reality based adult. nt

[RadiationTherapy]

23. Is this you demonstrating your 'adulthood'?

[Nederland]

21. Twenty years from now AI computers will run everything

And life for humans will either be better than it ever has been or much much worse.

[EFerrari]

41. Maybe then our gate will close properly.

[FarLeftFist]

27. I don't understand the RW's anger

I thought they liked president's that don't do anything to their already "perfect" country.

[jimmil]

29. Does anyone think we will pay the national debt?

Seriously, does anyone actually think the U.S. will pay down the national debt? Of course not. It will completely bankrupt the world. All the countries holding our debt will settle for pennies on the thousands of dollars. We have no intention of ever paying anything back.

[gmoney]

31. Too bad the Clinton surpluses weren't continued

Remember Greenspan fretting that we might "pay off the national debt too quickly"?

I guess because the national debt is largely owed to the private bankers behind the Fed, and he'd have hated to see their vigorish income stream dry up.

[imdjh]

35. The legacy of the Boomers will be "I'm sorry IF..."

The legacy of the Boomers will be their inability to be direct, to take responsibility, to accept blame, and to resist bullshit. This is the generation that thinks that personality defects are medical issues. This is the generation who believed that if every kid didn't go to college, he wasn't living up to his potential. This is the generation that thinks a degree in 12Th Century Poetry or Political Science is superior to a plumber or electrician license. This is the generation that thought it was going to sit around on its ass in the post industrial society, and make money by being witty.

This is the generation, that invented the nonapology, "I'm sorry IF I hurt anyone....." which gave birth to their kids saying, "I'm sorry about what happened..." instead of "I'm sorry I killed/maimed/stole/attacked etc...."

[Vidar]

42. Point well taken, though I'm 54 with no children to whom I may lie.