The 1960s brought in an idea of fierce individualism. As we reflect today, we can bare witness a youthful generation had ideas of standing up to their parents and their society to recreate what they valued as justice, including civil rights and unity. While we cannot shame them for those ideals, we can begin to see another narrative grow and a lesson to be learned – be careful about shaming others without providing the proper respect because what you put out will come full circle.

That’s where we are now – full circle, taking a look at the baby boomers who brought into society, 40 years worth of wars, exploitation, greed and civil unrest, exactly that they had shamed their parents generation in the 1960s.

As we look back at images of the 1960’s Woodstock and the youth singing songs of ideals, we fail to see that same generation heralding and respecting their own parents and grandparents who faced two world wars and an era of depression. The family began to break apart and the 60s youth, boldly with music, literature and art, sought to seek out and create the ideals of fierce independence, as they did.

Think about it. During WW2 when brothers, fathers and sons were being slaughtered in Europe, the following generation, the baby boomers, slammed these same families calling them out with all sorts of blaming and shaming without the respect they deserved, while they played their music, smoked pot and drank their Jack Daniels, hailing it all in the name of peace and good vibes.

And then this:

These last 40 years which have been under their political, economic and social watch, after they became adults, have served their generation. But, in fact, it has ruined them today.

In fact, in the 1980s Reagan, whom they elected with a landslide election, began taxation on social security benefits – the baby boomers literally began taxing their own parents (the ones who served in WW2 and dealt with The Depression!), in order to benefit their large baby boomer generation! Talk about throwing your own elderly parents under the bus! During this same age, never mind the lessons learned from Vietnam, US military expanded hugely which today proves a risk to us as we hear rumblings of a possible military coup, in our own country. What’s more? The taxation of trickle down economics, when the boomers did not hold accountable those who exploit others, essentially providing the nuts and bolts of building us into a society of billionaires who are upsetting our democracy and the power of the people. The baby boomers’ president Ronald Reagan also killed the Fairness Doctrine Ruling which monitored and ensured fairness in media and not propaganda, which we can see we are immersed in corporate propaganda.

Their Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi – the Speaker of the House – who has served as a generational congresswoman even put a statue of Ronald Reagan in Washington in Washington DC to represent California. Reagan should serve as nothing more than a symbol of the gross mentality of exploitation, greed and attack on the people these last 40 years.

Today it is full circle as the baby boomers wind down into their elderly years recognizing the family is gone and what a mess they have left for my generation and all future generations at a time they are asking themselves “Who will take care of me?”

It will be my generation – the X Generation, as we call ourselves who will be responsible taking care of the elderly. We not only have a generation of youth following us seeded in extraordinary college debt but we also have the burden of caring for a huge elderly population who soon will be facing issues of health, dementia and poverty. We have an incredible challenge ahead of us.

We need an immediate shift with policies to address this before our generation, and likely all of American society, literally falls apart due to poverty, loss of democracy and civil rights.

This is one of my proposals. It is a calling for families to reconcile differences and to come together recognizing that family matters deeply. It can serve as our healing process, a connection to blood and the sacred values of home and community. We need to rebuild from the place of the hearth, where good food around a table shared together in the evenings is as valued as a stock market trade. And we need policies that cater to these needs, starting with tax breaks and incentives.

We have tax breaks and incentives to help raise our children, understanding that the future resides in our dedication to them. We want the best for our children. And how we can show our children the best of us is how we take care of each other, including our aging parents. The government should issue tax breaks for those families caring for their aging parents, whether it’s in their own homes or in nearby facilities. Caregivers need better pay and not the slave wages and lack of support they have suffered with. Illegal immigrants have been abused over the years with under the table pay and with minimal wages, another example of the gross injustices and exploitation driven these last 40 years.

Germany set an example of caring for the older people, understanding connection and health are vital for a well groomed society. Senior citizens had benefits for saunas and hot springs locations that soothed them and kept them happy with social gatherings and connection.

California has a tradition of hot springs and more. Let’s us reshape these iconic and sacred locations to help benefit the older people, helping them stay healthy and happy, which will make all of us happy. Such will help heal our land, build community, jobs and a vibrant industry of healing and taking care of our bodies and each other.

And finally, death care. The funeral and burial institutions are exploitative and nobody should have to worry about burials. Let’s create a new system that benefits us all, as green cemeteries rise. For a fee, much less than fanciful and soulless cemetaries of the past, let’s reinvigerate our forests and areas that have burned into afterlife sanctuaries. For a smaller fee, than a typical burial, the state can help fund a tree to be buried in the forest, a full circle economic, environmental and financial benefit to us all, including our forests and the future of our children.

As Governor of California, these are some of the ideas I will create. It’s time for era of peace, humility and the sacred. We have learned so much and now it’s time to put all our lessons to practice as we take care of each other and show our children what a beautiful world we can create.