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The Living Force
Former Venezuela Presidential Chief of Staff Beatrice Rangel on how post-baby boomer generations are set to lead countries across the Western Hemisphere from Argentina to Brazil to Venezuela to the U.S.A.
Sunday Feb. 3, 2019 - Getting Rid of Sociopathic Generations
Latin American Herald Tribune - Beatrice Rangel: Getting Rid of Sociopathic Generations
The best way to understand the roots of the disarray that predominates in world affairs is to read Bruce Cannon Gibney's book "A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America."
The basic tenet of this incredibly well researched and superbly written treatise is that because baby boomers were the first generation that did not have to participate in a war, were coddled by their war-torn parents and educated by TV (which to the author is "a training and reinforcement mechanism for deceit) are selfish, deceitful and prone to instant gratification.
Accordingly, they became a generation of rent extractors and political manipulators.
Sunday Feb. 3, 2019 - Getting Rid of Sociopathic Generations
Latin American Herald Tribune - Beatrice Rangel: Getting Rid of Sociopathic Generations
The best way to understand the roots of the disarray that predominates in world affairs is to read Bruce Cannon Gibney's book "A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America."
The basic tenet of this incredibly well researched and superbly written treatise is that because baby boomers were the first generation that did not have to participate in a war, were coddled by their war-torn parents and educated by TV (which to the author is "a training and reinforcement mechanism for deceit) are selfish, deceitful and prone to instant gratification.
Accordingly, they became a generation of rent extractors and political manipulators.
To Gibney's mind, this explains why baby boomers have overused infrastructure and fail to address climate change, adequate education and healthcare.
Facing these challenges would have demanded a minimum of sacrifice which baby boomers did not stand ready to take, given their inclination towards instant gratification and aversion of pain or any suffering.
The result is ballooning debt and cultural dualism typified in the coexistence of a top demographic cohort that is hyper-educated with a bottom demographic cohort that is functionally illiterate despite attending primary school.
The top cohort thus can enjoy all possibilities to grow and realize their talents.
The bottom cohort's most probable residence will be the ever-growing private prison system.
The baby boomer virus spread through the international system with effectiveness and speed given that -- except for Europe, Japan and lonely stars like Chile, Singapore, Costa Rica, Canada and New Zealand -- elites in most countries of the world are corporativist.
Corporativist culture is rent extracting, short in vision and exclusionary. In sum, God created these elves and globalization brought them together. And just as the U.S. is the least developed among the developed countries in terms of infrastructure, education, health care and fiscal virtue, the rest of the world is a humongous factory of frustration, addictions, illicit trade, violence and despair.
Under such circumstances democratic stability becomes challenging.
Because the baby boomer culture upholds the principle that one must live long and prosper at the expense of everyone else. And while not all boomers were cut in the same mold, most benefited from the instant gratification culture, as a generation they are all "jointly and severally liable."
But since the universe does not tolerate imbalances for too long, a change is about to happen. Baby boomers are being retrieved by nature and displaced by biology especially in politics where their culture proved to be most damaging.
In the U.S., the truly disgusting tit-for-tat between President Trump and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is beginning to convince U.S. voters that the time has come to vote out baby boomers.
Everywhere in the US a new generation of leaders is coming to prime. Let's pray that this generational spring will be in full force for the 2020 elections.
In Brazil the country clearly rejected the baby boomer culture in favor of a political leader that is promising Brazilians to go back to family values, to create jobs and to support individual initiative. He is younger than most predecessors and completely untied by political and corporativist networks of the past.
In Venezuela, a young and fresh leader -- Juan Guaido -- has taken the lead of the National Assembly in the midst of the worst constitutional crisis the country has ever faced.
Yes, not only is the Venezuela of today producing one third of the oil it produced when president Chavez was elected in 1998 but it has seen its infrastructure, health care and educational institutions collapse.
People die on the streets of hunger and disease. The rate of suicides is the highest in the hemisphere and 3 million Venezuelans have left the country in a regional stampede seeking to escape from death in the hemisphere's killing field known as Venezuela.
Contrary to his predecessors Mr. Guaido has not engaged in a world rainbow tour but has spent most of his time participating in grass roots townhalls aimed at educating Venezuelans on what it means to live in the midst of a constitutional crisis and how he thinks the country could recover its democracy.
His speaking style is absent of grandiloquence, preferring to be colloquial and simple so that his message is perfectly understood by all.
In some fashion his speeches remind many witnesses of the political scene in the 1960s of the rhetorical style of Romulo Betancourt, the founder of Venezuela's democracy.
And from the personal view point, contrary to most political leaders in Venezuela, Mr Guaido has exposed his life in street protests against the regime.
In sum, Venezuela is also shaking away corporativism which is the baby boomer strain in emerging markets.
And the trend will most probably take hold in Argentina where either Mr Macri or Mr Urtubey will lead that nation. Neither of which is a baby boomer predator.
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