Allan Bloom’s “The Closing of the American Mind” was published in 1987; I entered college in 1990 at what seems now to have been the coming of age for a “tenured radicals” (Roger Kimball published a book by that same name in 1990). I did not attend a small eclectic liberal arts college, or an IV League school, I attended a mid-size regional university in the heart of the Southern Appalachian Highlands. This area, which includes my hometown and current home, is historically one of the most conservative areas of the country. Nevertheless, this area was not immune to the force of the fashionable non-conformity and as I look back, it may have in fact been more of a draw for the Leftist missionary-type activities on campus.

During my undergraduate and graduate school days, I walked around campus with my head in the clouds, trying not to embody the role of “white-male oppressor”. Although, I had learned I was and would always be an “oppressor”, regardless of what I thought I knew about myself. Some of my most ardent Leftist professors convinced me that they in fact did know me better than I knew myself. They sold me on the idea that Western Civilization and Capitalism were evil and destructive forces in lives of individuals. For them it was just so retrograde and unfashionable to support such archaic forms of social control (as if the Left understands anything about freedom). I learned that these two forces were responsible for the insidious patriarchal nature of American society and the legacies of racism, sexism, and “otherism.” My professors shared their beliefs openly in the classroom and the only positive credit ever given to Western Civilization was in relation to its influence in producing the enlightened ones, say a Rousseau, Marx, or Marcuse. Again, my professors knew what I needed to know and I was not encouraged or given the opportunity to come to my own conclusions concerning the nature of things, or the issues in the world. To do this would have violated the basic principles of Leftist Professorial Praxis. Their objective was (and still is) to indoctrinate us Appalachian “hill-billies” into their worldview and embrace the more fashionable race/class/gender oppression narrative. It was (is still) their duty to free us poor repressed ignorant young people from our White, Christian, and Conservative influenced stupors.  

In case you haven’t picked up on it, I have moved on from the tired and guilt ridden positions I once held as a revolutionary member of Generation X. For me it wasn’t a “St. Paul on the road to Damascus” type event, but more of an evolutionary process. My journey began prior to the birth of my 1^st son, soon after I had read The War Against Boys, by Christina Hoff Sommers and my evolution away from the fashionable non-conformity was set permanently in motion after reading Thomas Sowell’s, “A Conflict of Visions”.

Hoff Sommer’s book forced me to challenge the assumptions that I had held since undergraduate and graduate school. Thomas Sowell’s book broke down both sides of the story. The one thing my professors failed to do in college. A Conflict of Visions provided me with the necessary introduction to the philosophical and political poles that individuals tend to gravitate around. Both Sowell and Hoff Sommer’s books led me to other books, and those books led me to even more books. As I kept reading, the process simply kept unfolding. As I reflect back on what has been (and continues to be) a true odyssey of the mind, I am grateful that I had the courage to confront my fashionable non-conformity and the radical theories taught to me as “Truth” while earning both my B.A. and M.A. This process has helped me to come to my own conclusions regarding human nature, the role of government, and the structure of society. Through careful consideration of my previous beliefs, I have come to realize that I am more aligned with Sowell’s notion of the “constrained” vision. This includes the belief in a limited government, personal responsibility, and a defense of America and its values as expressed by Madison, Jefferson, and Paine, who understood that men are free. If this translates into conservativism, well then so be it. Equality at the expense of liberty is unacceptable in a free society. I will no longer yield my personal sovereignty to those individuals who have a will to power and think they know me better than I know myself.  

My hope with this article is to find more members of Generation X, who are like me, individuals who bought into the fashionable non-conformity of the time and have come to realize that they too were misinformed by those who found it necessary to their cause to only share one side of the story. We continue to live through the decadent legacy of the Baby Boomer generation and their infatuation with the “unconstrained” vision. We have survived their divorces, their narcissism, and their attitudes of buy it now, pay for it later. If this is the promise of those who sacrificed liberty at the altar of equality, then is there any wonder why we are in the state we are in at this moment in our history?

It’s time my fellow Gen Xer’s to wake up and take a long look into the mirror. We are a helluva a lot closer to forty than twenty and we cannot go quietly in the night, while these late-term Baby Boomers (read as President Obama) sing the “redemption song” for the entire “destructive generation”. We are the nation’s next leaders and it’s time for us to come to terms with our responsibilities to ourselves, our families, and our nation. We are free because of the work of individuals who had the courage to embrace the challenges that come with freedom, not the fleeting causes of a fashionable non-conformity. Our contribution to American society will not come from being more radical, or more non-conformist than our parents, but from being far more conformist to the idea that men are free. The future task for us will be to leave American society better than our parents found it and not take our freedom for granted. This will not be realized if we continue to embrace the fashionable non-conformity sold to us during our college years, as well as through the social engineering policies of the current administration. We are the lost generation only because we haven’t found ourselves yet. The time has come for us to be our own search party!