Letter: Boomers have stood by as leaders ruined country

I’m a boomer. Jim Tankersley’s front-page piece Nov. 8 blaming boomers for pillaging our kids’ future made me peeved and then got me thinking.

Unfortunately, Jim is right about the blame. As the largest voting bloc in our country, we have largely stood by for business as usual while Congress and the Supreme Court have done things that should have created national outrage and housecleaning.

The ruinous Iraq war that spawned ISIS while at the same time cutting taxes on those most able to pay. The scandal of “too-big-to-fail” banks nearly going broke and getting bailed out while homeowners and taxpayers got the shaft. The law that makes student debt permanent. Citizens United. A majority party that denies the observed and measured fact of global climate change. Repeal of the Voting Rights Act and the rush to disenfranchise the poor and minorities.

There are more, but any one by itself is egregious.

Our entitlements (which we paid for and Congress stole from) aren’t what’s wrecking our kids’ future, it’s our complacency. If we and the younger generations don’t wake up and become the informed electorate Jefferson hoped for, we are truly seeing the end of the American dream.

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 4:42 PM with the headline "Letter: Boomers have stood by as leaders ruined country."