Generations Surging toward crises

Alive today are five different generations of Americans looking with increasing angst at the current election cycle. Politics is actually a window into deeper issues. Resolution of these issues will define the Saeculum in which we live. Before we take these thoughts further, lets examine some terminology and define the five different generations.

· Generation: Most define this as an approximate 20 year period. When a group arrives at adulthood, they tend to be fertile and able to produce children for about 20 years.

· Saeculum: Roman term that defines a “Long Life.” Separate from Civic time, American History is actually best viewed in terms of Saeculum periods. We are currently in what Historians call "The Millinial Saeculum."

· Generations:

o Missionary (Idealist: FDR, Marshall, Macarthur); No longer living but built the "Great Power" foundation of the 20^th Century.

o Lost (Reactive: Patton, Eisenhower, Truman); Very few living but gave practical application to the Missionary Gen’s visions.

o G.I. (Civic: Reagan, Kennedy, Magee); Last G.I president was George H Bush.

o Silent (Adaptive: Mondale, Sagan, Woody Allen); No president has come from this generation. John McCain is a member of this generation.

o Boom (Idealist: Bennett, Gates, George W Bush, Clintons, Obama, Romney); Experienced a Divided awakening from 1967 – 1980. Divided at Roe v. Wade; Woodstock vs Jesus Freaks; Summer of Love v. Focus on the Family Conferences.

o Thirteenth (Reactive: Most Battalion to Company Commanders and 1st SGTs to Plt Sgts in Iraq); Practical, hard nosed, built one of the greatest entrepreneurial explosions in American History

o Millennial (Civic: Privates thru SGTs in Iraq, High School Class of 2000 to Kindergarten); Protected, cheerful, large numbers Home Schooled – Returning to the style of the great musicals and dramas of the 1920s and 1930s (e.g. High School Musical).

Over the next several weeks, we will take a snapshot of the Saeculum in which we live and apply this information from a Biblical perspective. As I write this, we are hearing the Mitt Romney is suspending his campaign for President and a number of core conservatives are walking away from even casting a ballot in the upcoming election. In the midst of this turmoil, the Millennial Generation spans from 2^nd year of grad school to Kindergarten. They fill our public education institutions and many more are home schooled. Their teachers (at home or public school classroom) tend to be Gen-X with a few Boom parents still occupying those roles as the lead cohort of Millennial teachers begin stepping into classrooms. The divided awakening of the Boom generation produced a pop culture and trend-setting generation that literally changed American Civilization. This is about to happen again with the Millennial kids stepping into jobs, higher education, and more. Yet, the cultural divide is defined on one side by the coalition that wildly cheered Roe v. Wade, the summer of love, and Woodstock. On the other side are Pro-Life warriors, Jesus Freaks, and a dramatically growing crowd of conservative boomers and Gen-Xers who are married with kids. You see, the longer a soccer mom is married and the more kids she has, the more conservative she becomes. In other words, she becomes a security mom. The Gen-X Dads tended to be Conservative all along as they built businesses and careers - Paying high taxes for liberal programs turning their wallets and brains toward conservative values. Their primary method of winning the Conservative v Liberal debate was to marry liberal ladies and smile as marriage and having children turned them conservative. Next: Pop Culture and taking the Gospel to the Street.