The baby boomers are still holding the cards

You’re still young, they say – you’ve got plenty of time to get wherever it is you’re going. But you don’t feel young. All you feel is stressed.

When you hit the driveway after work, take a deep breath and walk in the door, your children begin playing tug-of-war with your inbox for a few precious moments of your attention. Your children win, but when it’s time to sleep, the e-mails get their revenge.

You’ve been called “Gen X” or a “millennial,” but you have no idea what those terms mean. You’ve got bigger things to worry about, and your elected officials seem oblivious to most of them. It seems as if they’ve gone all in on the present, and folded their bets on the future.

There’s a reason for this:

The baby boomers are still holding the cards.

The average age of House members at the beginning of the 115th Congress was 57.8 years; of senators, 61.8 years. The average member of Congress is roughly one-and-a-half times as old as the average citizen. And Donald J. Trump just became the oldest president ever to assume office, at age 70.

Here in Kansas, the average age of our six Congressional members is 59; our governor is 60.

As the baby boomers drive off into the sunset with full Social Security payments and ready access to taxpayer-funded health care, the scenic views of their country are quite pleasant. For the rest of us, there’s a whole lot of uncertainty on the horizon.

Their country paid into a Social Security system that honors their investments every month. We can see the deductions on our direct deposit slips, but a cabinet full of IOUs may be all that awaits us when it’s time to cash in.

Their country went to college before student loans became a trillion-dollar cottage industry.

Their country rarely got sick without seeing a doctor. The cost of treatment was not so prohibitive that living in pain was less painful than the bill that followed. Now, they’re still protected through Medicare, while the rest of us are left twisting in the political winds.

Their country embraces smart phones as clever but mysterious gadgets that are handy for snapping photos of grandchildren. We remember vacationing with our parents and having them all to ourselves. Our work follows us now, wherever we go.

Our baby boomers have plenty of experience in running their country, but this adds little value to ours. So why is it that we continue to reward their experience so handsomely at the voting booth?

Surely there is nothing sinister about their legislative agenda, but if governing is all a matter of perspective, couldn’t we use a bit less of theirs – and a bit more of ours?

This story was originally published April 24, 2017 at 5:02 AM with the headline "The baby boomers are still holding the cards."