An American Heartbreak

Tom Brokaw famously called my generation the greatest. I'll accept the title for those of us still around, but only for the years preceding 1945. I'm not so sure we weren't too content with ourselves post-World War II. We began to believe our press as it were -- something to the effect that we were God's gift to the planet, other nations and all its peoples. The gratitude for the civil rights and liberties so hard won gave way and and "More!" became our need and, over time, our obsession.

I don't mean to do a treatise here. I'd just put down the morning papers and can't stop thinking about what's going on with our car companies, and it just about breaks the heart of this member of Brokaw's Greatest Generation. I would have no way of overstating how deep and profound was our love for the American motor car and what a significant part it played in the now tossed around phrase, "The American Dream," then an all but holy right of passage. American families were told in hushed tones by banks and mortgage and insurance companies, that this was "The second most important check you will ever write," the first being for a home, of course. And that is what American families felt as they waxed and polished and hosed down their vehicles on the weekends of their long romance with the American Motor Car.

I spoke of this to President George H.W. Bush in 1989 when I was asked if I had anything to suggest to him as he assumed the presidency. When I say today's news just about breaks the heart of this member of my generation, this video might help the understanding of that:

Comments

[headstrong]

No offense, Norman, but they totally brought this upon themselves.
Misguided, outdated dinosaur vehicles combined with arrogant and incompetent management.
Nothing lasts forever!

[edg1]

Thank you, Mr. Lear. It also breaks my heart to see the demise of America and the American Dream. I grew up in Detroit and like most of my Baby Boomer friends, I've had a long association with American cars. My first few autos were muscle cars, and my friends and I would cruise Woodward and Gratiot Avenues for hours on end each weekend. The sound of hopped-up 4 cylinder rice-burners just don't match the roar of a Mopar 426 Hemi or a Chevy 427 Tri-Power.

What's most amazing is that my generation, the Baby Boomers, sat idly by while the industrial might of America was eviscerated and our middle-class lifestyle was destroyed. I hope the one-percenters who benefitted these past 30 years at the expense of the rest of us are satisfied with the destruction they have wrought upon our nation. Mission accomplished, and god help us all.

[leggs67]

the Baby Boomers did not sit idly by, they were active participants in the process albeit unwittingly.