Born in 1949, I’m a proud member of the baby boomers. You know, the generation that’s responsible for the biggest population explosion in this country in the 20th century as the World War II soldiers came home and found making love was a lot more fun than making war.

We brought on the dawning of the Age of Aquarius when harmony, understanding, sympathy, empathy, trust, higher consciousness, alternative lifestyles, equality and globalism abounded. Actually, many astrologists say the Age of Aquarius is starting now.

“Peace, love, dope,” is how author Terence Mann, played by James Earl Jones in the film “Field of Dreams” described the ‘60s. Well, what’s left of that? The world is no more at peace than it was back then, love is in scarce supply, but there’s plenty of dope to get our minds off it as 40 states have legalized medical marijuana and recreational use has been approved in 24.

The common perception at the time was that we were all hippies or left-wing radicals. You know how to tell the difference, don’t you? When confronted by a national guardsman, the left-wing radical jumps in his face and shouts, “Shoot me, mother f-er.” The hippie gently places a flower in the guardsman’s gun barrel and gives him the peace sign.

I look around today at what’s left of the boomers and I don’t recognize them. Donald Trump carried the demographic in 2016, 2020 and 2024. Our blood red Garfield County commissioners are all in their 70s. Did all the hippies and left-wing radicals get married, raise a family and acquire some restrictive sense of responsibility?

To tell the truth, I think the boomers were a misunderstood generation to begin with and a lot more similar to the Greatest Generation, the survivors of the Great Depression and World War II, than they’d like to believe.

After a poor showing with the boomers in 1968, Richard Nixon improved dramatically with the under 30 crowd in 1972. I was in college in Indiana at the time and my party, the Progressive Reform Party, took control of student government, but only because the frat rat parties, Impact and Action, split the straight vote.

I went to the antiwar protest at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. With me were a couple of high school buddies. One went on to be a midshipman at Annapolis and the other a Libertarian candidate for governor of Iowa.

Looking back, we boomers really had it pretty easy. The Vietnam War and the Great Recession of 2008 were bad, but nothing like World War II or the Great Depression. We’ve always been relatively financially stable. The boomers bought houses at ridiculously low prices, then restricted new development with zoning laws and NIMBY attitudes.

Social Security and Medicare were established with no long-term plan on how to finance them. Quality of life has always been put ahead of quantity.

Yeah, the boomers grew up and lost some of their idealism. That’s a shame, but it’s not all gone and not gone for good. I see plenty of gray heads at local rallies and protests like the recent No Kings demonstrations. And, they’re passing it along. I was greatly inspired by the high school kids at the roundabout with their signs and chanting, “ICE out now.”

Before I get too down on my generation, I should point out perhaps our greatest achievement, rock ‘n’ roll, the finest body of popular music ever produced.

People try to put us d-down

Talkin’ ‘bout my generation

Just because we g-get around

Talkin’ ‘bout my generation

Things they do look awful c-c-cold

Talkin’ ‘bout my generation

Hope I die before I get old

Talkin’ ‘bout my generation

-The Who