They still read 1984 in school.  

And yet, as someone that has a young one, and gets to see the post-millenials in action, the silver lining is even games like Pokemon go, which has been labeled as the "all seeing surveilence eye" attracts kids of all cultures, and all backgrounds, to play together and have fun together. I have stronger faith in the future, I think, than I do in the old screamers stuck deep in the past that no longer speak to a majority of this world. 

Trump is a remnant of the past, and won't last long in any sort of future reality.  He has at best a year shelf life before the world tires of him, and disposes of his rhetoric and lies.  

I agree, Gary.  There is promise in the future.  Someone wrote that conservativism is a fearful mindset, afraid to let go of what they imagine was a secure and happy past -- afraid to face the changes and challenges of the future.  Liberals don't wallow in fear, but embrace the future and work to make it better by learning from mistakes of the past.

Me, I hope I'm a happy progressive conservative.  I worry, but I'm not really afraid.  I try to seek solutions to challenges and don't run from them.  I'm scared of some things I see around me right now -- but it's the same kind of fear I'd feel if I had to go storming into another burning building.  That kind of fear that keeps you alert, but doesn't immobilize you.

Things may become very, very interesting, but we'll probably survive.  Maybe.

Yep, I agree Lee.  Living in the South, I do get to witness a handful of people running around shooting off their mouths like they are on the right side of history, thinking that the "South will rise again" and they'll set things right.  I wouldn't even want to hang around with these people.  To me these people are just moronic and want a future that is bland. I couldn't even imagine taking orders from them, let alone letting them rule over my life.  

When I went to school, in rural Appalachia, I sat at the geek table at lunch, and we had two friends from India sit at our table, but pretty much everyone else was white.  There wasn't much diversity in our school system back in the late 80s, and early 90s, and even less in my parents generations class.  I look at my dads yearbook and it was all mostly white..   My kids class, on the other hand is not that way.  He sits at a table and it's kids from all over - russians, hispanics, indians, kids with mixed races, and rural white appalachians.  His class photo is an assemblace of many different cultures..  I discussed with him recently what Trump brings to the table, and he was miffed and actually dismayed that he would want to isolate, or even remove his friends by sending them out of the country with an SS style "Deportation Force".. 

The millenials and post millenials, along with a majority of gen xers, will probably accept a little weeway in these throwback times to a past that will no longer work, before we have to step, overthrow their system and set things back on the right path.  

Maybe the best of all solution which i'm sure the millenials will have no problem writing, would be replacing corrupt government officials with computer algorithms that follow a strict moral code.  Heck, if we're going to automate everything, let's first start with Washington.

Wow! The adjectives are flying this afternoon. How about a few more nouns? Such as respect--and appreciation. But no, it's still all about the adjective "old."

Speaking of shelf life, Hillary Clinton just turned 69. If you millennials have something better to offer, then why in God's name didn't you offer it? I'll tell you why. Because you have no respect or appreciation for any process unless it comes with a button or screen. Yes, you take credit that you are more "diverse," but again, why didn't you organize that diversity and find a better candidate than Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump?

Of course, some of you did, if another "old" guy, but you let Secretary Clinton slice him apart. He tried to be kind, "I don't care about your emails," after which she finished him off as you are doing now. Bernie Sanders lives in the past, and a past that will no longer work. Respect and decency are for political weaklings. I am woman, and watch me roar!

Well, I'm watching--and getting sicker by the minute. Fine. Take your country to task for its failures. Just don't fail to cite them all, among which a citizenry lacking any respect for history likely respects nothing but itself. The great civilizations have all respected age as a measure of achievement. There is no question you have a future, Gary. The question is what you intend making of it by pretending it won't run out.

Well age can also brings senility, dementia, and short and long term memory loss, which I think not only Trump suffers from, but half of his supporters seem to be inflicted with it, as well.  

I realize you don't like millenials, Al.  You've spoken about it numerous times on this forum, to the point where I take a lot of your comments towards their generation with a grain of salt.  Unfortunately, that's just how it has become.  You seem like an intelligent man, but respect is something to be earned, regardless of age.

I never stated that I think Clinton is a perfect choice for president.  I didn't vote for her in the primaries, so I did my part..   Many millenials are getting started by participating in this giant three ring circus that is our political system, and they are not old enough to put a candidate into office.  So, cut them some slack, ok?  Many of the younger millenials that fit the latter part of thier demographic are participating in their first rodeo.    As a gen xer, i've been around a few election cycles, and it's no longer my first rodeo, and the Bush era, and especially the republican trifecta that occurred from 2002 to 2006 still sits fresh in my mind..  Secondly, right now we are in the natural progression of watching the boomers put up their last stand.  They have perhaps two more general elections (this being one), until a majority of them will be gone from the system of our government.  Until then we are stuck with these choices.  

But it works both ways, Al.  Since the older generations tend to vote at a higher percenage than the younger generations, and my generation is stuck in the middle of two large demographics, I think the same can be applied to the boomers - this is the best your generation could come up with?  This is your era, your time to shine, and seriously, this is the best you could bring to the table?  The boomers gave us Bush, and now here we are stuck with these two?  An estimated 76.4 million boomers make up 325 million people here in the states, that's almost a 1 out of every 4 Americans. And of those 76.4 million boomers, these two rise to the top?  The boomer generation have given us Bill Clinton, and George W Bush.  Obama sits on the edge between boomer and gen xer since he was born in 61, so I think both generations can include him as one of theirs.

I'll take Obama anyday over these choices, though.. Unfortunately on the democratic side we had 3 choices in the primaries.  On the republican side it was such a three ring circus that very few moderates came to the table.  Instead we get to witness the rise of a fascist clown.

If anything, I really hope this fractures the republicans, and as they set sail to join the whigs, we see the rise of other parties.   I think libertarians, especially in the west, and a more moderate party (heck, that's mostly a majority of today's democrats) could develop out of the chaos and start to take house and senate seats.  The far far right will have thier neofascist neocon party that is now pretty much the current state of the Republican party.   I think the US would be better off with three parties, and maybe even as many as 4 or 5.  We need more parties taking up the seats in the circus that Congress has become.  Until then, we are all forced to suffer through this latest horror show.

In the end, is the bigot vote by using the republican strategy to carry the southern states large enough to carry an election?.  I doubt it.  The south is diversifying faster than the rest of the country and we'll see what happens this election, but already Virginia is turning blue, North Carolina is probably going to go blue, but it may stay a little purple.  Florida and Georgia are not even a given to go to the Republicans, and with how quickly Atlanta is changing demographically, I'd almost gurantee that Georgia will no longer be a very red state for much longer.  The purpling of Georgia is already here, and the same is happening in Texas as the state diversifies.  So, the southern strategy is no longer a given for the republicans, and as they head further to the right it just seems like a collective suicide for their party..  

Hmm. A hard one to argue, Gary, except the dimentia part. Now, what was I saying. . . ?

Oh, now I remember! I believe I was wondering aloud as a historian how this election will turn out, and why the millennials, having rallied for Bernie Sanders, just let Clinton take it all. At least my generation trashed Chicago in protest, although we heard Goldie (from the Smothers Brothers Hour on CBS) remind us just before the election that we would be advised to vote Hump Free!

No, I don't dislike millennials, but I find them a curious lot. Where are THEIR protest songs--their Peter, Paul, and Mary? Why are their attention spans so short?

Is it the nine hours a day on the Internet and "chatting" constantly with their friends? Or are they frozen in place by so much college debt? Certainly, the biggest thing that seemed to drive them to Senator Sanders was his promise of free college, and yes, his adding the suggestion their current debts would also "disappear."

Believe me, Gary, I am mentoring at least a dozen millennials, and did so all summer in Zion National Park. It's their attention spans that really worry me. You tell them to write up their ideas, and all they can say is, "like, what will that do?"

Well, for one thing it will force you to think. Ideas best jell on paper. So they take out their you-know-what, and think it as good as paper. No, it is not. It beeps and buzzes the moment they get started. Ooh! I have just have to take this call!

They can't sit still for even a minute. Being a good citizen takes a whole lot more. Yes, there are many successful millennials here in Seattle, selling that "system" to their peers. They make 100K a year and up. But they aren't ready to lead this country, as yes, we thought important 50 years ago.

Did we succeed? Well, not entirely, but our list of achievements is pretty large, up to and including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, which doubled our system of national parks. As we played John Denver, Bob Dylan, and Arlo Guthrie, we marched our butts up Capitol Hill, and won that bill just before Ronald Reagan was inaugurated, topping 20 years of nonstop campaigning on behalf of the environment, social justice, and civil rights.

We know where we have been--and where this country still needs to go. In short, we were counting on you young people to get "involved," but all you seem interested in is your phones! I agree, It's so much safer and easier than getting your head bashed in, but do try it once before you claim dimentia. We earned our dimentia the old-fashioned way. We cared.

I don't think many millenials are going to write with a pen and paper anymore, with the advent of voice recognition and siri.  And yes, I can find a peer reviewed monographs on my phone, and read them. It's quicker and easier than walking down to a library that may or may not have a book on the subject.  

But, as a genxer (someone from the generation that is slowly taking over the workplace and will be the next generation guiding the political arena), we have heard it for all of our lives  - the boomers are the most important generation in human history, and that all generations after them will never live up to their potential or what they have done for human society.  We know this already - that mantra has been leveled at us for decades now.  And yet, i've seen plenty of xers slowly take on key positions within the NPS. Over the next decade the NPS won't have to hang up their hats because there is a new crop of youth ready and willing to fill positions.  They are definitely enganged and care about the environment, and yes they may tweet and post about their concerns and adventures, but they are at least engaging their peers when they do. 

As a genxer, I watch as the boomers slowly leave, and even on sites like this, we hear the beating of the drums - "ohh how will the National Park Service ever move on without the boomers, we might as well just close the parks once the last one hangs up their hat.  Those millenials will never know what to do with them.".

Yes, it's been instilled into us for a long time now.   It's just not accurate.  And yes, there are many challenges facing the next generations, and I don't necessarily see complacency in their ranks.  But I do think they are held back.  Many enter into the work force strangled with a large amount of student loan and credit debt. I do find it concerning how tuition continues to skyrocket beyond inflation and these kids come out of school with almost basically a mortgage payemnt of student loan debt.  They will more than likely never achieve the comforts that the yuppies took for granted. Even my generation didn't come out of school with such a large amount of student loan debt.  So, I definitely understand how Bernie Sanders took the Millenials and motivated them.  However, the liberal boomers (perhaps the largest voting block of democrats) and a majority of minorities did not fall for Bernie.  They went for Hillary.  

By the way this entire Trump phenomenon is not being led by xers or millenials, or even the remainder of the silent generation.  It's a boomer phenonmenon.  It is interesting how many may have joined in civil rights movements during their youth, only to later, in their retirement age champion someone like Trump.  It's quite baffling, actually.  And no, that is not an endorsement for Hillary, or even Bernie, although both are the lesser of the two evils.

But, don't get me wrong, the boomers have done many good brilliant things for our society.  The foundation has been laid, and yes, fighting to protect species from going into extinction, building on stronger wilderness principals by maintaining key habitats and working on protecting key corridors for species migration so that these species don't exist in isolation, trying to curb air pollution that is creating large global consequences, and figuring out how to minimize the amount of trash being dumped into the oceans is going to require a huge global undertaking.  The boomers will probably not be around to see this happen.  But, I have faith the other generation can accomplish it.  The challenges are definitely immense.

Shouldn't be baffling at all, Gary, when you consider Republican leaders played their base for patsies turning their backs on them.  Lieing BS by both sides eventually causes a groundswell of resentment.  Unlike what many in the elite "Establishment" (both sides) have grown to believe the people are still the deciders on paper and occassionally the fog clears with clarity and a chance to correct things.  We'll see...

Any spelling errors, Gary?