Debunking the great Generation X myth

The '80s and '90s were not a golden period; they didn't last, and the future looks mighty uncertain. So much for sustained opportunities.

Generation X is not really any of the things boomers would like it to be. We don't have the same political motivations. We don't live in the same world.

We work at our McJobs and in our home offices and at our low to mid-ranking careers in big corporations. And we try to make the small differences we can while weaning ourselves off the conspicuous consumption patterns we learned from our elders.

As a guide for confused boomers (memo to Simon Crean and Peter Costello), here are some of the policy ideas Gen-Xers and their younger brothers and sisters hold dear. Borrowing the title of a new book by American Gen-Xers Ted Halstead and Michael Lind, we like to call this approach the "radical centre".

Careful environmental management with heavy taxes for waste and running down environmental resources. Sustainability is non-negotiable. We have to live in 2050. You older folks don't.

Socially as well as economically responsible government. Policies on immigration and Aboriginal reconciliation have to be generous, humane and inclusive, no matter what today's opinion polls say.

Tax, education and health-care policies must recognise the insecurity of the New Economy. Tony Blair's "enabling state" agenda with increased spending on core human and material infrastructure needs is a good one.

However, these programs can't be funded with irresponsibly large levels of government debt or onerous taxes on innovation and business creation.

This mix of radical and perhaps unpopular social and environmental policies with more centrist, popular economic programs could be adopted by either the ALP or the Coalition. We don't mind which - we're political, but we're not partisan.