Measuring Humanity: We kept our head down and did the work

It seems that my generation is dying out. We have a reputation as those who were focused on daily living, but we were more than that.

I am part of the Silent Generation in the United States of America and proud to be so.

'The Silent Generation refers to the demographic cohort born between 1928 and 1945. Positioned between the "Greatest Generation" and the "Baby Boomers," they are often characterized by their upbringing during the Great Depression and World War II...While the "Silent" label suggests a generation that kept its head down, their actual contributions to the mid-20th century were transformative. They didn't just witness history; they provided the intellectual and artistic backbone for the most significant shifts in modern society.' from Gemini AI

Most of us fought on two fronts: victory over Fascism and Communist/Socialism abroad and racism at home.

Both were actively trying to kill us, 24/7. We were their enemy.

Fascism offered stability, but delivered chaos and death. Socialism offered consideration for the well being of individual people more that did Free Market Capitalism which did not. But Socialism failed to provide the benefits it promised and collapsed in about 1990. Now we recognize that Capitalism and Free Market economies are better for most people, even though there are real problems in Capitalist free market societies: inequality, corruption and resulting policies favoring the ultra rich and wage market failure to provide decent livings for many.

Racism turned into Jim Crow tactics including lynching and church bombings, but we fought them as hard as we could. Some of us died. We were able to expand voting rights and we felt good about that. 

We kept our head down and did methodical work to create better lives for most. The stakes were very high. And, the efforts took whatever we had to offer and then asked for more. At least our kids had safety at home even though we had to live through the duck and cover drills in case of the Bomb. 

My focus has been on the economics of Communism and Socialism before and during the Cold War. The promise of Socialism enticed the populations of many countries to try that model as offered by the Soviet Union instead of the Free Market Capitalism model the United States offered. Both sides were aggressive in offering their model; that aggression killed many people on both sides. Finally the Socialist model in Russia collapsed in the late 1980's; that collapse left no doubt about the superiority of the Free Market model for most of the world's population. However, in Russia, governance turned away from offering Socialism as good for all the people and turned instead into a kleptocratic dictatorship. 

The United States of America has morphed into a nascent kleptocratic dictatorship similar to Russia under Putin. I hope we can end that and then restore our Democratic Republic.

Today in 2026 and in order to install the popular appeal of Socialism into a Free Market Capitalistic system, I have suggested installing an empathetic economic system to make most people's lives better. That system has detailed policy and practice proscriptions centered on the concept of creating the most jobs in a country as a means toward the end of creating better lives for people. 

My detailed suggestions are presented in my book EMPATHY IN ECONOMICS: THEORY, PRACTICE AND POLICY, Mike P. McKeever author, 2026, Amazon Kindle books.