…is, as most things seem to be for Generation X, a  mixed blessing, not to mention a heavy one.

Like most people I was surprised. At first, I was pleased, since Obama is the first GenXer to win The Nobel Peace Prize as JenX67 points out on her blog,  referring to noted generational expert Neil Howe.

But true to GenX form I almost immediately felt apprehensive, wondering if this “award” would end up being more of a burden to the point of being an albatross around Obama’s neck, thus hampering his ability to govern effectively. God knows he’s already got enough obstacles to overcome. Another is not needed.

In this particular case I think my pessimism was not unwarranted. No sooner had the announcement been made then people immediately started bashing Obama as well as The Nobel Prize Committee. Of course, this is nothing new. There was similar reaction when it was award to Jimmy Carter and Al Gore. It was probably no different when Teddy Roosevelt won it in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson won it 1919, the only other sitting U.S. Presidents to be awarded the prize.

That didn’t make the ridicule and stone throwing any less bothersome, especially because so much of it was just petty and juvenile. No doubt many of these people were the same to cheer when Chicago, a U.S. city was passed over to host the Olympic games. You know the political resentment runs deep when people cheer against their own country or refuse to take pride in one of their own citizens being awarded something like The Nobel Peace Prize simply because they don’t like Obama. It’s more than just sad. It’s fucked up.

But I suppose these sorts of whiners can’t, nor should they, be silenced. After all this is America. Everyone is allowed their say even if it is no more than reactionary kind of Tourettes.

At least one other American leader, John McCain, a guy who arguably has more reason than most to take a shot at Obama, offered a dignified response, when he was quoted as saying:

“I can’t divine [the Nobel Committee's] intentions, but I think part of their decision-making was expectations. And I’m sure the president understands that he now has even more to live up to. But as Americans, we’re proud when our president receives an award of that prestigious category.”

As per usual McCain is practically a lone voice in the wilderness.

In the end, Obama’s detractors can piss and moan all they like, they can say it is a joke, that the award means nothing — although one can’t help but wonder if they really believe that why are they expending so much energy and hot air saying so; if means nothing then why say anything at all? — but as Christopher Beam suggests in his slate article, though it may in part make Obama’s job more difficult, expectations being elevated even further, it also offers him more clout. Consider that he is no longer just President of the United State Barack Obama, he is now President of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize winnter Barack Obama. That may not impressing the scraming lunatics that show up at town hall meetings NOT to part take in a rational public debate but to shout down those with whom they disagree or Fox News but then they were/are never going to be impressed by their president. That too is fucked up. But what can you do with people who’s behavoir is fucked up? Simple. Fuck em! Because it will mean something on the world stage, which is, at least in part, where our President needs to perform.

An interesting quote to consider in light of all the negative press generation y gets. I’m not used to hearing such positive feedback!

“Today’s other example of a Hero archetype is the Millennial Generation, born from 1982 to about 2003 or 2004. These are today’s young people, who are just beginning to be well known to most Americans. They fill K-12 schools, colleges, graduate schools, and have recently begun entering the workplace. We associate them with dramatic improvements in youth behaviors, which are often underreported by the media. Since Millennials have come along, we’ve seen huge declines  in violent crime, teen pregnancy, and the most damaging forms of drug abuse, as well as higher rates of community service and volunteering. This is a generation that reminds us in many respects of the young G.I.s nearly a century ago, back when they were the first boy scouts and girl scouts between 1910 and 1920.”

- Neil Howe, co-author of several books about generations including “Millennnials Rising: The Next Great Generation,” in an interview with Casey Research

There are 5 stages of a dream, but most people never get past stage 2. To make dreams become a reality, you need to fulfill all 5 stages.

It all starts with a thought.

I thought it stage

Every dream starts with a thought. You begin to wonder what it would be like at achieve your dream. You question if it is even possible for it to become a reality and whether you can move forward as more than just a thought.

I caught it stage

After you think about t for a while, you get excited. You begin to think of the possibilities and it becomes more than just a thought. You begin to research and read about it and make contacts and get more information. You start to believe you can do it. This is the stage that most people stop at. They may read about some business opportunity online and get excited about the possibilities of a change in lifestyle and the money they could make and what good they could do with it. They go through all the information but are too scared to move to the next stage which is the I Bought It stage.

I bought it stage

This is the stage that separates the men from the boys. The serious from the tire kickers. The entrepreneurs from the hopefuls. Every dream has a price. Most people can think it and catch it, but are not willing to pay the price to continue their dream and make it a reality. They are not willing to get up early and stay up late. Not willing to get the education and learn new skills. Not willing to pay to go the extra mile and do what it takes, whether with a financial or time and effort commitment. They assume because they have a dream, it will come to them automatically. Nothing comes without action and effort. Every dream has a price. It is going to cost you hours of doing things others wont do. Otherwise, your dream will pass you by.

You have to pay now and play later. Get the discipline and education now so you don’t play now and pay later. Go after the dream while you are able, for if you don’t you will regret it later in life. The I bought it stage has a price to pay. Once you pass this test though, you get to move to the next stage.

I sought it stage

The desire begins to set in and you begin to go after it. You get on a mission with laser focus and take the action needed to make your dream a reality. You sell yourself on the fact that you are going to do what it takes to become a success. You don’t listen to the negative people in your life who say it can’t be done. Nothing is going to stop you.

I got it stage

When you are determined, nothing can stop you. Once you reach the I got it stage, you are standing in the dream. It has become a reality and you are living it. It is no longer a theory in your head. Your thoughts and actions have manifest into reality. Your dream has come to be. Your lifestyle has changed, you are living as you dreamed you would and you can afford to do the things you wanted when that first thought sparked in your mind and you began to think of the possibilities.

I taught it stage

There is another stage after you have realized your dream. This is when you have a passion for teaching the things you have learned and you become a mentor and a leader to other people who want to share your dream and have the success that you have. These are the leaders in your company that do trainings and are willing to give their time to help others achieve their dreams. There is as much satisfaction from this stage as there is from realizing your own dream.

A dream breaks through your limitations. When you begin to live the dream, you begin to establish new dreams, bigger and better than your original thought.

If you apply yourself and make up your mind that you are going to achieve your dreams, they will become a reality. It all starts with a dream!

Neil Howe

In their books Generations (1991) and Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation (2000), William Strauss and Neil Howe use the start year as 1982 and end year of the generation as 2001. They believe that the coming of age of year 2000 high school graduates sharply contrasts with those born before them and after them due to the attention they received from the media and what influenced them politically

Crossposted at Future Majority.

As I mentioned the other day, Neil Howe has revisited the politics of Millennials in a report co-authored with Reena Nadler, titled “Yes We Can: The Emergence of Millennials as a Political Generation.” Howe and Nadler examine the political motivations of today’s young people through the lens of the the framework Howe and his late research partner, William Strauss, produced a decade ago. The report, which was released by New America Foundation as a part of its Next Social Contract Initiative, is available in a .pdf file here. This report, and Peter Levine’s report, titled “The Millennial Pendulum: A New Generation of Voters and the Prospects for a Political Realignment,” will be released at an event at the New America Foundation (1630 Connecticut Avenue, NW 7th Floor, Washington, DC). Participants include Neil Howe, Reena Nadler, Peter Levine and Scott Keeter (Director of Survey Research at Pew Research Center), and Hans Riemer (National Youth Vote Director for the Obama campaign and former Political and Issues Director for Rock the Vote).

The first portion of the report rehashes what the Millennial Generation is, how it fits into American history, and the generation’s collective personality. In fact, Howe and Nadler examine the development of the Millennials using the seven adjectives Howe and Strauss used to describe Millennials in their book Millennials Rising: special, sheltered, confident, team-oriented, conventional, pressured, and achieving.

Eventually, Howe and Nadler delve into the development of the Millennials’ political personality. Conceding that it is too early to know whether or not the Millennial trend toward the Democratic Party is a sure thing and that Millennials are somewhat complex politicos, often taking hybrid positions, Howe and Nadler label Millennials as “politically and economically liberal but socially and culturally conservative.” The authors compare the politics of today’s youth with the views of “Reagan Democrats,” seeing similarities in each generation’s political orientation.

At first, the conservative label threw me off. I remembered reading in Generation We that Millennials are much more tolerant socially than their elders. For instance:

On race, too, there’s strong trend among Generation We toward seeing race as fundamentally a nonissue. In 2003, almost all (89 per-cent) of white 18- to 25-year-old Millennials said they agreed that “it’s all right for Blacks and Whites to date each other,” including 64 percent who “completely” agreed. Back in 1987–1988, when the same question was posed to white 18- to 25-year-old Gen Xers, just 56 percent agreed with this statement.

Gallup data from a 2005 poll underscore these findings; 95 percent
of 18- to 29-year-olds said they approve of Blacks and Whites dating, and 60 percent of this age group said they had dated someone of a different race. In addition, 82 percent of white 18- to 25-year-old Millennials in 2003 disagreed with the idea that they “don’t have much in common with people of other races.”

But it is their views on sexual preference issues that are perhaps the most strikingly liberal. On gays, the views of Generation We are far more liberal than that of their elders. For example, in a 2007 Pew survey, an outright majority (56 percent) of 18- to 29-year-olds supported allowing gays and lesbians to marry, while the public as a whole opposed gay marriage by a 55-to-37 majority.

Millennials are also concerned about political trends that put tolerance at risk. In an April 2005 GQR poll of 18- to 25-year-olds, 64 percent believed that religious conservatives had gone too far in invading people’s personal lives, and 58 percent thought the country needs to work harder at accepting and tolerating gays, rather than work harder at upholding traditional values.

But Howe and Nadler weren’t necessarily talking about same-sex marriage and abortion (which Millennials do not view either more progressively or conservatively than their Boomer parents). Instead, they were focusing on the Millennial fondness for the family structure. Emphasis is mine.

Millennials are maintaining strong emotional, physical, and financial connections with their families as they enter adulthood. Throughout their childhood and adolescence, they have been more likely than the last two generations to trust their parents, depend on their support, and discuss important personal matters with them. Looking ahead, Millennials also place great importance on starting their own nuclear families. They are less interested than their Boomer parents in reforming family life and discussing (or arguing about) “family values.” Most prefer to take the importance of families for granted and try to make them work. Like older liberals, they support a broad definition of acceptable family structures. Like older conservatives, they believe that strong families are the cornerstone of a stable and livable society.

[...]

Despite this family-oriented “traditionalism,” today’s youth are more likely than older Americans to believe that unconventional families can be just as close and stable as traditional families. Millennials believe that the opportunity to participate in family life is so important that nobody should be left out. This generation is nearly twice as likely as older Americans to favor gay marriage, and they are the only age group that favors allowing gays to adopt children.

Republican youth, as Mike noted earlier this week, like to see a path back to parity among today’s youth in the “socially conservative” nature of Millennials, but as you just read, this proves to be fool’s gold. This isn’t your Republican Boomer parent’s “socially conservative” philosophy.

Furthermore, what Howe and Nadler don’t substantively touch upon is that Millennials are much more apt to think economically when thinking of matters of national importance. Arguments over the fabric of the nation consist not of abortions and the possibility of gays marrying each other, but of the social safety net and entitlement reform. The fiscally liberal Millennials will be placing much more emphasis on defining its pro-government priorities in the budget than on any social viewpoints, especially given the nature of the economic crisis. This certainly counts for something and can’t be overlooked when assessing the next twenty or thirty years of politics.

Howe and Nadler center their report on “ten imperatives” they think will form the Millennial political agenda moving forward.

1. Strengthen Community
2. Trust the System
3. Minimize Personal Risk
4. Support the Family
5. Be Upbeat and Optimistic
6. Make Capitalism Work Better
7. Champion Unity over Diversity
8. Favor Realistic and Multilateral World Leadership
9. Seek Consensus and Decorum in Politics
10. Plan Ahead for the Long-term

I don’t think any of these would necessarily surprise those of us interested in Millennial political behavior, other than the way Howe and Nadler have Millennials supporting the family compared to our conservative counterparts. One thing to underscore might be the economic liberalism of today’s young people. Again and again, Howe and Nadler point out the pro-government, pro-regulation mindset among the generation, careful to include that Millennials don’t despise business and the markets. Raised amid excessive individualism, Millennials tend to see a group solution to many crises, and so with our global financial crisis, it’s only natural that they look to an institution like the government for solutions.

Looking into the future, Howe and Nadler underscored entitlement reform as something Millennials will use to grab a hold of the political discussion. Howe and Nadler predict that future-oriented Millennials will be the generation with the political ability and will to make tough, sustainable fiscal decisions, reforming Social Security and Medicare.

All in all, Howe and Nadler’s report is a good start. Millennials are clearly already starting to impact our politics in a major way. But I think there’s more that can be said regarding the future agenda for the generation, especially given Howe and Nadler’s prediction that Millennials will coalesce behind one party in a civil, pragmatic way. For example, at what point does the climate crisis begin to supercede entitlement reform as the largest challenge? Will we be recovered from today’s mess in time to deal with that? A great foundation, but I’ll be looking for more to read on this in the months and years to come.

Neil Howe (of Millennials Rising fame) and Reena Nadler co-authored a report that has just been released by the New America Foundation as a part of its Next Social Contract Initiative. The report’s title is “‘Yes We Can’: The Emergence of Millennials as a Political Generation.”

I’ll be blogging more about this report soon, once I’ve pulled out the good stuff (which will be hard, because it’s full of it), but I thought I’d at least share it for now.

This report demonstrates why 2008 was such a big shock to our political system and why last year is merely the tip of the iceberg. Definitely a must read — check it out.

By the authors of the bestselling 13th Gen, the first in-depth examination of the Millennials–the generation born after 1982.

“Over the next decade, the Millennial Generation will entirely recast the image of youth from downbeat and alientated to upbeat and engaged–with potentially seismic consequences for America.” –from Millennials Rising

In this remarkable account, certain to stir the interest of educators, counselors, parents, and people in all types of business as well as young people themselves, Neil Howe and William Strauss introduce the nation to a powerful new generation: the Millennials. They will also explain:

Why today’s teens are smart, well-behaved, and optimisitc, and why you won’t hear older people say that.

Why they get along so well with their Boomer and Xer parents.

Why Millennial collegians will bring a new youth revolution to America’s campuses.

Why names like “Generation Y” and “Echo Boom” just don’t work for today’s kids.

Having looked at oceans of data, taken their own polls, and talked to hundreds of kids, parents, and teachers, Howe and Strauss explain how Millennials are turning out to be so dramatically different from Xers and boomers and how, in time, they will become the next great generation.

Building on the concepts they first developed in Generations and 13th Gen, Neil Howe and William Strauss now take on Generation Y, or, as they call them, the Millennials. Unlike their rather distressing portrait of the more reactive Generation X (the 13th Gen), or the negative stereotypes that abound about today’s kids, this is all good news. According to Howe and Strauss, this group is poised to become the next great generation, one that will provide a more positive, group-oriented, can-do ethos. Huge in size as well as future impact, they’re making a sharp break from Gen-X trends and a direct reversal of boomer youth behavior. Why? Because, as a nation, we’ve devoted more concern and attention their way than to any generation in, well, generations.

Using their trademark paradigm, which places each generation as part of a larger historical cycle with four generations to a cycle, the authors not only describe these kids as they are now (as the first year sets off for college, the last yet to be born) but launch into projections for the future. A sampling of their potential influence in this decade: pop music will become more melodic and singable and sitcoms more melodramatic and wholesome; there will be a new emphasis on manners, modesty, and old-fashioned gender courtesies; and they’ll resolve the long-standing debates about substance abuse. “They will rebel against the culture by cleaning it up, rebel against political cynicism by touting trust, rebel against individualism by stressing teamwork, rebel against adult pessimism by being upbeat, and rebel against social ennui by actually going out and getting a few things done.” Scanning the future further, this hero generation will have to confront some major crises. But, for a group that has never known war or famine, will it be an opportunity or a calamity? Much of Millennials Rising is familiar territory rehashed, and the profiles and prophecies just too general. But it’s hard to resist this hopeful vision for our children and the future. –Lesley Reed

Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation is available at Amazon for $11.53. To Order click here
Amazon Product Pages contain a lot of other details on this product as Customer Reviews, Sales Ranking, Special Offers, Alternate products that customers are going for and much more.Want to read these details? click here

Want to get some other Format / Binding / Version? You can search for them from here

Other Products of Interest

• Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069
• The Fourth Turning
• Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled–and More Miserable Than Ever Before
• When Generations Collide: Who They Are. Why They Clash. How to Solve the Generational Puzzle at Work
• Boomers, X-ers, and Other Strangers: Understanding/Generational Differences/Divide Us

I’m not a people watcher. Couldn’t care less. Can sit in an airport or train station and never see the people around me. But I am a people listener. I hear the conversations behind me, in the stall next to me, at the table down the aisle. I listen, picturing how the people speaking could be in a novel, a play, a movie–what their whole story is and what moves them. I’m listening, empathizing with their plights, cheering their successes. I listen to people when I run, loving our new (if temporary) digs along the waterfront because I run and listen in on dozens of conversations from walkers, cyclists, and joggers.

And I have never, in decades of listening, experienced anything like this week.

Every single voice I heard, amongst those explicitly not talking to me, was talking about the economy. Every one. The ladies walking on the levee, the businessmen at the cafe, the family at Fleet Week, the couples holding hands at the library. Every, single non-me-focused voice is talking about the shitstorm that is our economy. How did we get here (that one I know…traunches); what is happening next (that one I know…massive recession); what is the government going to do (that one I don’t know…depends on the election, and neither option will fix things economically). And the people on whom I’m eavesdropping aren’t even in New York, looking at this.

It’s amazing to hear, for the first time, an eerily similar conversation from EVERYONE. (And really good for my novels, because people walking around just paralyzed with fear make for really good characters. I’m sorry we’re all hurting and scared. Don’t get me wrong. But it’s a major boon for my fiction.)

Check with The Fourth Turning, btw. This, even more than Sept. 11, puts us in another Crisis period; which puts me, as I’ve always suspected, with the Lost expat writers of the 20s. Our current generation of Hemingways and Steins and Fitzgeralds and Nins is working right now. And watch out–they’re listening when you go Rollerblading on the levee.

Lately, I’ve been very intrigued with the theories put forth by William Strauss and Neil Howe regarding generational cycles that all societies and cultures experience. In short, the two assert that there are four “archetype” generations (Prophet, Nomad, Hero, and Artist). For example, the Millennial Generation (born starting in 1982) are “Heroes,” Generation X are “Nomads,” Boomers are “Prophets,” and the Silent Generation (think John McCain) are “Artists.” There are also corresponding “turnings,” or phases of society that enable each generation to make its mark. The cycle repeats, and the order is always the same. Each archetype has its own characteristics that distinguish it from the others.

While the focus of their work is on European and American generations starting with the Arthurian (b 1433-1460), the assumption is that this theory can be applied universally. Is it possible to apply these theories to the Muslim world and make forecasts regarding the future strength of violent fundamentalism? Might new generations of Muslims turn away from the extremism of their parents?

Generational marketing consultant Jessie Newburn recently posted on Twitter (I’ll link to her post when Twitter gets their act together) that the Millennial generation is at a turning point, and we should expect to see a general shift of priorities among that group. I thought about that post when yesterday I read Lawrence Wright’s piece in The New Yorker, “The Rebellion Within,” explores the current revisionist movement in radical Islam led by Sayyid Imam al-Sharif (AKA Dr. Fadl). Dr. Fadl has been engaged in a very public debate with Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Ladin’s right hand man over whether many of Al Qeada’s terror tactics are in line with the Koran. Fadl’s movement to disavow many of the terror tactics of jihadism is gaining acceptance among many in the Muslim world. Might the next generation in much of the Muslim world be undergoing a similar “turning point?”

There may already be another example of Strauss and Howe’s theory in the Muslim world (I’ll link if there’s already information on this). In Iran, it was the young generation in the sixties and seventies that embraced religious fundamentalism, rebelled against the social and political structures of their parents and previous generations, and ousted the Shah and instituted a theocracy. Their children – Iran’s next generation – reject much of this fundamentalism and are in many ways sympathetic to the West and America.

It may be a stretch to connect the theories of Stauss and Howe with the current revisionist movement in Islam, but it sure is interesting to ponder. Notions that violent fundamentalism in Islam will continue to rise unabated are likely incorrect. But it won’t necessarily be because the West has “defeated it,” but that this cycle will run its course and the next generation will chart a new one.

Bill Strauss, who co-authored a number of important books on generational dynamics, is dead at 60.

This is a great loss. Strauss and his colleague Neil Howe were responsible for some of the most insightful and important analyses ever done into American generations. Thanks to them we now have a heightened ability to understand the cyclical nature of generations, affording us a tremendous capability to anticipate coming trends.

13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail, their examination of Generation X, literally changed my life. Up until I discovered it in th early ’90s I had no idea about the broad economic and social factors shaping what I thought was my own personal little hell. It seemed to me that there was a rulebook for professional success and that everybody had a copy except me. 13th Gen made clear that it wasn’t just me – I was at the very front edge of a cohort full of people facing the same struggles for the same reasons.

Howe and Strauss’ work (especially Millennials Rising) has since become the cornerstone for a lot of my professional activities, as so much of what I do has major generational implications. Put simply, I could never repay the debt I owe to Bill Strauss, even if I dedicated the rest of my life to trying.

He’ll be missed.

By the way, those unfamiliar with Strauss’ writing may know him as the co-founder of the Capitol Steps, the wildly successful political satire troupe.