Ask yourself: What made our Greatest Generation great? First, the problems they faced were huge, merciless and inescapable: the Depression, Nazism and Soviet Communism. Second, the Greatest Generation\u2019s leaders were never afraid to ask Americans to sacrifice. Third, that generation was ready to sacrifice, and pull together, for the good of the country. And fourth, because they were ready to do hard things, they earned global leadership the only way you can, by saying: \u201cFollow me.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Contrast that with the Baby Boomer Generation. Our big problems are unfolding incrementally \u201d\u201d the decline in U.S. education, competitiveness and infrastructure, as well as oil addiction and climate change. Our generation\u2019s leaders never dare utter the word \u201csacrifice.\u201d\u009d All solutions must be painless. Which drug would you like? A stimulus from Democrats or a tax cut from Republicans? A national energy policy? Too hard. For a decade we sent our best minds not to make computer chips in Silicon Valley but to make poker chips on Wall Street, while telling ourselves we could have the American dream \u201d\u201d a home \u201d\u201d without saving and investing, for nothing down and nothing to pay for two years. Our leadership message to the world (except for our brave soldiers): \u201cAfter you.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
So much of today\u2019s debate between the two parties, notes David Rothkopf, a Carnegie Endowment visiting scholar, \u201cis about assigning blame rather than assuming responsibility<\/b>. It\u2019s a contest to see who can give away more at precisely the time they should be asking more of the American people.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n