'DO YOUR OWN THING' BOOMERS DOOM INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY

"I do my thing, and you do your thing. I am not in this world to live up to
your expectations, and you are not in this world to live up to mine."

Frederick Perl

Baby Boomer mantra, circa 1968

During the 1960s the biggest worry of my parents' generation was, "What's
going to happen when these kids take over?" Clearly, my parents and their
peers were fearful that the "do your own thing" mentality would create an
"anything goes" society.

Alas, quite the opposite has occurred. The '60s "freedom lovers" have grown
up to become control freaks. Over the last 25 years, as boomers have moved
into positions of power, the sentiment of tolerance expressed by
psychologist Frederick Perl has disappeared. My parents were certain that
marijuana, LSD, and other popular drugs of the day would all be legalized.
But since boomers have obtained the reins of government power, a more
pervasive prohibitionism has taken hold.

Government powers of taxation and regulation are now used to discourage the
consumption of anything considered unhealthy - from cigarettes and alcohol
to fatty foods and soda pop.

But the war on our freedom to choose what we ingest is only the latest in
the boomer generation's metamorphosis. The '60s environmental movement has
done the most to foster the control-freak mentality. In the name of saving
the environment, more nails have been pounded into the coffin of the "do
your own thing" philosophy than in pursuit of any other popular cause. Baby
boomer politicians have made laws that mandate how to dispose of trash; the
amount of water allowed in our toilets; what kinds of showerheads we can
use; what size cars we can drive; and what kind of washing machines we can buy.

To get people out of their cars, possibly the most liberating invention
ever, and onto government-controlled public transportation, "smart growth"
advocates tell us where we can live, where and how we can travel to work,
and how much land our house can sit on. Maybe we were right in the '60s,
people over 30 can't be trusted - with our liberty.

In academia, where tenured baby boomer professors are in control of
policies toward students and their untenured colleagues, speech codes and
indoctrination sessions, i.e., sensitivity training, are the norm. Perl's
open-ended declaration of tolerance, which once dominated college life, has
been replaced with a level of intolerance that overturns the concept of
academic freedom - "do your own thing so long as it's politically correct -
remember, I have the power to deny you tenure."

I suggest that this change has had nothing to do with philosophy. Contrary
to popular mythology, idealism explains very little about the dominant
views of the baby boomer generation. In reality, there has been one
consistent motivating factor - self-interest. Simple economic analysis
explains a great deal. In the 1960s and 1970s there were personal benefits
to advocating a "do your own thing" philosophy.

Ultimately, we all wanted to do our own thing. Boomers wanted people to be
tolerant of recreational drug use and loosened sexual mores because they
wanted to take drugs and have sex. They were against the draft because they
were being drafted. The growing support among today's policy makers for
"mandatory community service" in schools and even compulsory "universal"
service for all young people suggests that opposition to the draft was not
based on a love of liberty but a love of self.

As baby boomers have moved into positions of power the cost-benefit
calculus has changed. If one has power, no personal advantage can be gained
by not exercising it.

A bureaucrat working for a government agency cannot advance in terms of
income or personal prestige without promulgating and administering more
regulations. The EPA, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Departments Energy
and Education, etc. would all soon disappear in a society that accepted
Perl's philosophy.

Intolerance, coupled with the power to impose one's own thing on others, is
the life-blood of a government regulator.

There are really no inconsistencies in the journey from do-your-own-thing
to control freak. Indeed, boomers have simply been very good at identifying
personal costs and benefits and at using government power to advance their
own interests. It is no coincidence that in the '70s and '80s boomers
became known as the "me generation."