What passes for “traditional values” among the Baby Boom generation and its descendants is often, in reality, a sad echo or even a parody of those values.
Think about the difference between a leader in World War II and what passes for a leader now. The night before D-Day, Dwight Eisenhower wrote his “In Case of Failure” letter. If the invasion failed, he wanted to make it clear who bore the responsibility:
The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.
Compare Trump: “I don’t take responsibility at all.”
This after a lifetime of self-indulgence and faking it.
There were some children of the Greatest Generation who upheld the tradition they inherited, while expanding it to make it even better. We see them in our society now, thank God.
And then there were those who claimed all the benefits but none of the responsibilities, behaving like some heirs do, like the man we elected President: a lucky child.
Photo: Eisenhower speaks with men of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Division, on June 5, 1944, the day before the D-Day invasion. (Public domain via Wikimedia.org.)