Is There an “Age War” Looming?

The title of a piece in the April 2014 issue of AARP Bulletin, “Dispatches from the Battle of the Ages,” suggests that we’re already in a battle between older and younger people, with the article detailing media reports about battlelines on jobs, funding for federal benefit programs, health care costs, and caregiving obligations. 

“Alarmists use … statistics to paint a portrait of generational warfare.  But are they mounting that picture in the wrong frame?  To paraphrase a slogan from the 60’s peace movement, ‘Suppose they gave a generational war and nobody came?'”

The article suggests an interesting resource, Paul Taylor’s book (released in March), The Next America. 

“Taylor [executive vice president of special projects at the Pew Research Center in Washington D.C.] and his Pew Colleagues conducted opinion surveys and pored over decades of demographic data.  Yes, there is a palpable anxiety about the lingering recession and long-term problems associated with entitlements, plus the runaway national debt.  Yet Taylor notes this anger transcends age barriers.”

At times I do hear a strong resentment among students, both at the college level and in law school, and yet at the same time, I am also impressed by how many students choose to take courses and look for jobs in fields that will serve older adults.  Is there a “war” — or is it more of a struggle to find firm footing on ground that is ever shifting?