The Volgi pointed me at this article as he knows that I somewhat buy into broad generational patterns.  To set some parameters around this (and for more details, go check out “The Fourth Turning” by Pete Peterson), let me outline a few definitions that Peterson’s book uses.  We have a set of generations that we refer to as “The Silent Generation” (born 1925-1942), “The Boomers” (born 1943-1960), “Generation X” or the “13th Generation” (1961-1982) and “The Millenials” (born 1983-2004).  Peterson’s theory, which he maps well back to the War of the Roses, has each generation following one of four archetypes which are cyclical: Prophets, Nomads, Heroes and Artists.  There are also four phases of a cycle: High (everything is going well, an era of prosperity), Awakening (social, spiritual and guilt-driven challenges against the High), Unraveling (dissatisfaction with the spiritual or social changes, apathy and pessimism at a high), Crisis (generally a world event or status that culminates from the growing pessimism, etc.).  From Peterson, here are the relevant definitions:

• A Prophet generation grows up as increasingly indulged post-Crisis children, comes of age as the narcissistic young crusaders of an Awakening, cultivates principle as moralistic midlifers, and emerges as wise elders guiding the next Crisis.
• A Nomad generation grows up as underprotected children during an Awakening, comes of age as the alienated young adults of a post-Awakening world, mellows into pragmatic midlife leaders during a Crisis, and ages into tough post-Crisis elders.
• A Hero generation grows up as increasingly protected post-Awakening children, comes of age as the heroic young teamworkers of a Crisis, demonstrates hubris as energetic midlifers, and emerges as powerful Awakening elders attacked by the next Awakening.
• An Artist generation grows up as overprotected children during a Crisis, comes of age as the sensitive young adults of a post-Crisis world, breaks free as indecisive midlife leaders during an Awakening, and ages into empathic post-Awakening elders.

Sure, your Gormogons are all part of the “13th Generation” (“Gen Xers” is and has been, as a variety of the referenced articles point out, a slighting reference to the generation) so I might be biased here.  But let me tie this to recent events in the country, particularly the Obama election and the healthcare reform push.What does the Democratic Party really intend to do for the generation that took them to the White House? Cover them with debt, leach off their health premiums, and play them for suckers?
Currently, and one of the most underplayed aspects of healthcare debate, young people – say roughly 18 to 28 – pay their own healthcare costs and are generally uninsured.  Why?  Because that is income that they are “losing”.  They are taking the gamble that, as young people, they are healthier and therefore don’t need to invest in insurance.  Those that do purchase health insurance are generally paying into the system more than they use in health care benefits.  Playing this forward to a future where Obamacare is passed and there are no free rides (i.e. young people who are uninsured), there will be a huge disparity in dollars invested vs. benefits used by age.  Think about this for a second.  Young people will be mandated to have insurance but will likely not use health benefits anywhere close to the amount they’ve invested.  Much like Social Security, it is a huge transferal of wealth (defined as paid for benefits).  So the push by the 60-80 year old Silent Generation / Boomers in Congress for this bill are the direct beneficiaries of the investment of the Millennial generation who voted the democrats into office in 2006 and 2008.
So how am I tying this all together?  Well, while the Millennials have promoted sacrifice and volunteerism (see previous posts about the “I Pledge” efforts and reference “Rock the Vote”, etc.), the 13th Generation (Gen Xers) are right there with volunteerism and charitable services (see Peterson’s article).  The latter is just flying under the radar.  Why?  Because, I believe, the 13th generation, by and large, believes that it is just the right thing to do.  The difference that has been exposed in recent elections, is that the Millennials buy into big government leading these efforts while the 13th generation doesn’t.  The Crisis (from the Fourth Turning) is here.  The economic situation, the growing pessimism in our elected leaders (recent polls show a majority of Americans against the current incumbents), and the world political scene has set the stage for an outright “revolution” against it.  The Millennials will eventually wake up or the 13th Generation’s kids (tentatively referred to as “The Homelanders”) will reject this wealth transference and social acceptance of the intolerant.  And, as Peterson has questioned: “What does the Democratic Party really intend to do for the generation that took them to the White House?  Invest massively in their future?  Or cover them with debt, leach off their health premiums, and play them for suckers?”

GorT

GorT is an eight-foot-tall robot from the 51ˢᵗ Century who routinely time-travels to steal expensive technology from the future and return it to the past for retroinvention. The profits from this pay all the Gormogons’ bills, including subsidizing this website. Some of the products he has introduced from the future include oven mitts, the Guinness widget, Oxy-Clean, and Dr. Pepper. Due to his immense cybernetic brain, GorT is able to produce a post in 0.023 seconds and research it in even less time. Only ’Puter spends less time on research. GorT speaks entirely in zeros and ones, but occasionally throws in a ڭ to annoy the Volgi. He is a massive proponent of science, technology, and energy development, and enjoys nothing more than taking the Czar’s more interesting scientific theories, going into the past, publishing them as his own, and then returning to take credit for them. He is the only Gormogon who is capable of doing math. Possessed of incredible strength, he understands the awesome responsibility that follows and only uses it to hurt people.