WPR's The New Rules: In Politics, Don't Trust Anyone Over 50!

Wired magazine's May cover presents Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, while the accompanying article salutes the "hacker culture" that "conquered the world." Amid the political paralysis we now witness in Washington, it's a timely reminder of how all the top talent of the Boomer generation went into business and technology, while the dregs went into politics. Don't believe me? Try to imagine a politics-oriented magazine offering a similar cover: You couldn't get more than half of America to agree upon a single Boomer politician of Gates' historic stature.

Read the rest of the column at World Politics Review

As for the book mentioned:

Find it here

Comments

[Gilbert Garza]

The issues that bring us to arms, one side against the other, have been and will always be with us and will always be pretty much the same. The contested field of battle is not the problem. We are getting closer to identifying the problem when we recognize that whatever the problem is, it is made worse by the systemic self destructiveness of the weapons and tactics of the modern socio-political battlefield. The core of the problem is (and in this I agree with Dr. Barnett) in the quality of Americans in so many aspects of American life that seeks to find and even create opportunity in the use of and in the outcomes of the use of these socio-political weapons and to benefit from or in spite of the systemic self-destruction that they cause. If any nation can, America can recover from this, perhaps in several generations as it sees itself in comparison to the rest of the world.

[MattR.]

Interesting article here. Younger generation seems to trust the government, more so than the previous generations Somewhat in line with your thinking that millenials look to the post boomer Pres Obama and do not identify with Dubbya.

Did the lack of trust/feelings of angst towards drive the brightest to the private sector, thereby feeding into having poorer performers in the shiny white buildings near Federal Triangle? Or did poorer performance lead to a sense of "they cant get anything done, so why should I go there?"

As a 30 year old, I think that the govt can do great things and give my all in being a civil servant (uniformed and plain-clothed). So hopefully there are more that feel the same way, and we make govt work again.