According to CNN, “Col. Edward Shames, the last surviving officer of the historic World War II parachute infantry regiment of the US Army known as Easy Company, died Friday at the age of 99. During World War II, Shames ‘was a member of the renowned Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division now known globally as the ‘Band of Brothers,’ according to the obituary. The story of Easy Company was later immortalized in the HBO miniseries ‘Band of Brothers,’ based on The New York Times bestseller by Stephen E. Ambrose.” It is the generation that was largely shaped by the experiences of the Great Depression and filled the military (and civilian) ranks to fight the Nazis and Fascism during World War II. They are literally the generation that saved western democracy as we know it. Indeed, they are the Greatest Generation and the most revered. Fast forward a couple of generations, and today those shaping the political landscape are destroyers of their ancestors’ legacy. It is perhaps fitting and ironic that the children of the Greatest Generation (Baby Boomers) and their children (Generation X) have so cavalierly failed to take on the mantle of their parents and grandparents to ensure America’s democracy thrives and survives. For what do we have today? Baby Boomers and Generation X are old enough to fill the majority of political posts at all local, state, and federal government levels. Do you want to know why our democracy is backsliding? Look at what the Baby Boomers and Generation X are doing and have been doing to America since Reagan. It is sad that the Greatest Generation saved democracy while their descendants are working to destroy it. This is what happens when institutional and generational memory becomes extinct. Welcome to stupid America. We learn nothing and forget everything here!
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