Why the Millennial vs. Baby Boomer Conflict Is a Good Thing

It’s the early decades of a new century, and young adults are not particularly happy. Many believe that their parents’ generation is out of touch and stuck in their dated, anachronistic ways. The country and the world are changing fast, after all, and this older generation does not seem to want to keep up with the times. Many 20- and 30-somethings are thinking about striking out on their own, a risky move perhaps but one that will offer independence, freedom, and the opportunity to follow one’s own dreams. Heading west seems especially appealing, as folks in that part of the country seem more open-minded and willing to take chances in the hope of hitting it big.

I could be talking about the 21st century, but it’s actually the 19th century. Young adults of that time—the first generation of non-native Americans to have been born in the new country—saw things very differently than their colonial era parents. Members of that older generation had likely emigrated to the colonies from England and, while they eventually fought for independence from that country, hadn’t totally rid themselves of their Old World attitudes and behavior. The younger generation was more progressive and adventurous than their Revolutionary War-era parents, and members of “Gen A” ultimately did strike out on their own to forge new paths that would become known as Manifest Destiny.

I tell this 200-year-old story to illustrate the fact that generational divides in this country are hardly new. In fact, they are woven into the very fabric of our history, with each generation setting itself off in some way from the previous, older one to a greater or lesser degree. While such divides no doubt create social tension and conflict, they are all in all a good thing, as they constantly renew the energy of our country and foster growth and innovation. Unlike most other countries, where tradition rules, America has thrived on young adults rejecting the norms of their parents and creating their own way of life. The value of this can’t be overestimated.

As the population grew and as citizens became activists, however, generational divides intensified. The one in which I took part—the “generation gap” of the 1960s and 1970s—was quite volatile, as our slogan (“Don’t trust anyone over 30”) made clear. The music of The Who and the exchanges between Archie Bunker and his (meathead) son-in-law on the television show All in the Family serve as nice windows into the strained if not hostile relationship between young baby boomers and their Greatest Generation parents.

The current primary generational conflict, between millennials and boomers, is also emotionally heated, as the former’s slogan (“OK boomer”) suggests. The circumstances attached to this one versus that of a half-century ago are very different; we were protesting the country’s involvement in the Vietnam War while millennials blame us for economic greed and environmental irresponsibility. Looking back over the past two centuries, each younger generation has had its own set of gripes against their parents’ way of life and alleged sins, so this is wholly typical, historically speaking.

Not typical is the wave of anti-boomer sentiment that has become a literary genre all its own. Consider just the titles of four recently published books: Helen Andrews’s Boomers: The Men and Women Who Promised Freedom and Delivered Disaster, Jill Filipovic’s OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind, Joseph C. Sternberg’s The Theft of a Decade: How the Baby Boomers Stole the Millennials’ Economic Future, and Bruce Gibney’s A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America. The authors of such books fail to acknowledge that generation conflict has always served as a source of reinvention and revitalization for the United States, helping to propel it to become what many believe is the greatest nation on Earth.

Beyond that, it’s way too early to judge baby boomers’ merit as a generation. Some no doubt wish we’d instantly go away, but the fact is that tens of millions of us are going to be around for the next two or three decades. It will be up to future historians to determine whether boomers were a good or bad generation or, most likely, something in between.

Locating the current millennial versus baby boomer kerfuffle in historical context helps put it in useful perspective. Such generational “wars” are not just entirely normal but are often good for the country. And based on our almost 250-year history, millennials can expect to have their own generational battle with their children, and those children will likely have a different clash with their own children. This is how America works, and we should be happy about it. And you can respond “Ok boomer” if you like.