Thank the folks born in the years just before the mid-century baby boom for post-America's narcissism - says someone in that age bracket

I've had my differences with Roger L. Simon for a few months - to be precise, since the beginning of the Squirrel-Hair phenomenon. It has, for me, placed him in that category of once-admired conservatives who lost their moorings in their utter fascination with the man-of-action-not-theory real-estate mogul.

Now that I think of it, it goes back a bit earlier, to Simon's position that the freedom-of-religion crowd (that would be me) was picking the wrong battle re: homosexual "marriage."

But credit must be given where it is due. He has written an incisive and important piece at Commentary today, in which he coins a term, pre-boomers, to describe his own demographic, and cites the birth years of some of its most iconic figures to help the reader arrive at the point to be made:

John Lennon, born in 1940; Tom Hayden, in 1939; Abbie Hoffman, in 1936; Gloria Steinem, in 1934; Allen Ginsberg, 1926; and Timothy Leary—apostle of “turn on, tune in, drop out” and virtual patron saint of hippie culture—born in, wait for it, 1920. The game was already well established, the rules already made, before the boomers arrived on the scene. They were just our younger brothers and sisters, trying to play catch-up. They lived in imitation of us, expanding on what we did, playing variations on a theme and commercializing “the Revolution” until it was virtually bred in the bone, the very essence of American and consequently modern European culture. All others were outliers.

And what was the main sociocultural product wrought by this sub-generation? Narcissism. By the end of the 1970s, it was clear that that, not the supposed nobility of a quest for a once-and-for-all transformed world, was the predominant characteristic of this group - and that it would be the defining characteristic of the nation's populace as we moved from being the United States of Americ to post-America:

As far back as 1979, Christopher Lasch published a now famous book The Culture of Narcissism that described the American behavioral patterns as largely narcissistic. According to Lasch, our family structure had produced a personality type consistent with “pathological narcissism.” We were constantly seeking attention from the outside world, making us a nation of insecure weaklings forever in search of validation to tell us we were alive, to give us a raison d’être. Lasch saw the radicals of the ’60s, like the Weather Underground, as manifestations of this pathology. He also cited the “personal growth” movements of the seventies—est, Rolfing, Hare Krishna, various forms of Buddhism, organic food, vegetarianism, and so forth. These belief systems and quasi ideologies continued to gain adherents during the ’80s and ’90s and on into the current century with writers like David Brooks and Charles Murray documenting how what was once youthful rebellion became the norms of the contemporary bourgeoisie. The Generation of ’68 and its followers had gone mainstream, transmogrifying radical symbols into specific forms of conspicuous consumption. Everything was smeared. A trip to Whole Foods in a Tesla became the equivalent of striking a blow against world hunger.

The election of Barack Obama was the apotheosis of this melding of lifestyle with political worldview. That he celebrated his victory in front of Grecian columns was symbolic in more ways than one. Narcissus was in the house—both on stage and in the audience. The “me” generation had found its perfect leader.

Toward the  end of his essay, Simon lapses into the half-baked-ness that demonstrates how his former left-wing orientation has kept his conservatism from fully developing, saying that social conservatives (what those of us who are that call adherents to Judeo-Christian values) exhibit this narcissism as well, thinking they know how their fellow citizens should live.

Well, there is a sense in which that's true, but I would say it's born of humility. We didn't invent the rules about which we're vocal. They are The Word, revealed to us - a species collectively and individually in need of grace - by a sovereign Creator who must be regarded with awe and whom we dispute at our own risk.

And one more thing: Why does not Simon even mention his new enthusiasm: Donald Trump, the crowning example of the narcissism Simon has so consummately depicted?

I defy Simon to find a shred of narcissism in these words of Brian Myers at Caffeinated Thoughts, writing on the juncture at which we find ourselves, with Trump having eliminated all GOP opposition:

My hope for our present time lies in the fact that God has demonstrated how gracious He can be with wicked people and wicked nations. Consider His willingness to spare the entire city of Sodom for the sake of ten righteous people. Or, when we yearn for righteous civil leaders and we are disappointed as so many of us are right now, consider righteous King Josiah who rather surprisingly came after so many generations of wicked kings. God has shown that, when we might least expect it, He is pleased to show mercy. Therein lies my spiritual hope for our nation.

Take the next step, Roger. Take a spiritual view of this narcissism you rightly diagnose. And join us in praying to be healed of it.