I sit here today, a senior citizen, wondering just where my generation went wrong. We had so much promise, those of us born just after the end of WWII. The whole world was our oyster and all we had to do was reach down and pick it up. The world loved us. Our parents worked hard so that we could succeed, and all they wanted in return was for our generation to be better, have more, and accomplish more than their generation. And we did. Some of us. However, somewhere along the way a good many of my generation went wrong.

I think it all began during the 1960's when so many of my generation decided that freedom was not worth fighting for, that drugs were ok, and to trust no-one over thirty. Many of my brothers and sisters spent their time protesting the draft, the Vietnam war and trashing college campuses. Anti-Americanism began to poke up its ugly head at liberal institutions like UCLA Berkley and other universities and colleges. These bastions of higher learning welcomed the hate spewing radical element with open arms. The Kennedy mystique grew with the assassination of Robert Kennedy and the election of Ted Kennedy to the Senate. The Chappaquiddic incident proved once and for all that money and influence could get you out of any trouble. Senator Kennedy proved that a lie, if told enough, becomes the truth. Bill Clinton showed us how true this was.

Those of us who were drafted into the service of our country and actually went to serve felt like outcasts. We were booed and spit upon by people our own age. It seemed no longer honorable to believe in and support your country. The military uniform became an emblem of all that some felt was wrong with our society. Public opinion, fueled by the likes of Walter Cronkite, demanded that we pull out of Southeast Asia and abandon our promises there. We left in disgrace flying away into the night while thousands of our allies died. Then we elected John Kerry, a liberal anti-American to the US Senate and almost to the presidency.

It was our generation that supported President Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society". This was a clear attempt to socialize this nation. The idea was that all people should be equal. Equal to what? Equal to the lowest common denominator is how it turned out. We began the disasterous welfare program, a noble idea on paper, that has succeeded in ruining several generations of minorities, and for which we will be paying the costs forever more. Our generation elected radicals to our legislative bodies, ie John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, et all. We enacted ruinous laws. We hired loons to run our instutions of higher learning. They preached hate to us and to our children. We turned over the education of our children to them. They produced a generation of students that can't read well enough to fill out a job application, but they have excellent self-esteem, whatever that is. We thought that we knew everything and that there was nothing else left to learn. We ignored our parents. We ignored history. We listened with rapt attention to the likes of Huey Newton, Timothy Leery, Robert and Ted Kennedy, Phil Donahue and any other crackpot who promised us the moon and delivered a ball of smelly green cheese instead.

In fact we knew nothing! What we have gotten in return for all our efforts is a generation of children that despise their country, hate us, their parents and grandparents, demand everything immediately and give nothing back. We created a minority underclass that expects to be clothed, fed and given spending money for producing absolutely nothing other than unruly offspring who terrorize their neighborhoods, deal in illegal substances, and flaunt the law. We abhore the free enterprise system that built this country. Our borders are overrun by illegal aliens who flaunt our laws and demand the rights of citizenship.

Yes, my generation is guilty of beginning the destruction of the morals and values that drove the United States to become the greatest, richest country on earth. To those of you who must clean up this mess I offer my deepest appologies. I am sorry that we listened to those who, in other times, would have been ostracised or run out of town. I am sorry that we tried to cure all social ills by throwing money at them rather than finding the root of the problem and curing the rot that grew there. I am sorry that we produced a generation of children that can't commit to a relationship long enough to raise their children. I am sorry that we elected the politicians that have left you with reems of assine laws and a trillion dollar national debt. Most of all I am sorry that we did not take the time to teach you those things that our parent taught us, ie: love of country, love of God, that hard work equals success, and to plan ahead.

I hope the upcoming generations can clean up the messes we have made, but somehow I doubt they can.