Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels on the Baby Boomer Generation

World magazine printed this excerpt from Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels' commencement speech to students of Butler University this year. My take on this follows the quote.

"Along with most of your faculty and parents, I belong to the most discussed, debated and analyzed generation of all time, the so-called Baby Boomers. By the accepted definintion, the youngest of us is now 45, so the record is pretty much on the books, and the time for verdicts can begin.
Which leades me to congratulate you in advance. As a generation, you are off to an excellent start. You have taken the first savvy step on the road to distinction which is to follow a weak act. I wish I could claim otherwise, but we Baby Boomers are likely to be remembered by history for our numbers, and little else, at least little else that is admirable.
We Boomers were the children that the Second World War was fought for. Parents who had endured both war and the Great Depression devoted themselves sacrificially to ensuring us a better life than they had. We were pampered in ways no children in human history would recognize. With minor exceptions, we have lived in blissfully fortunate times. The numbers of us who perished in plagues, in famine, or in combat were tiny in comparison to previous generations of Americans, to say nothing of humanity elsewhere.
...As a generation, we did tend to live for today. We have spent more an dsaved less than any previous Americans. Year after year, regardless which party we picked to lead the country, we ran up deficits that have multiplied the debt you and your children will be paying off your entire working lives. Far more burdensome to you mathematically, we voted ourselves increasing levels of Social Security pensions and Medicare health care benifits, but never summoned the political maturity to put those programs on anything resembling a sound actuarial footing.
In sum, our parents scrimped and saved to provide us a better living standard than theirs; we borrowed and splurged and will leave you a staggering pile of bills to pay. It's been a blast; good luck cleaning up after us.
...Today, if you are thinking about standing on the shoulders of the past generation, I'd say "Please don't"...live for others, not just yourselves. For fulfillment, not just pleasure and material gain. For tomorrow, and the Americans who will reside there, not just for today."--as printed in World magazine (June 6, 2009 - page 9)

I found these statements a little shocking and profound. It is possible that his statements about the lack of tribulation this generation has experienced are a little unfair. I feel like it is worth mentioning that the peace they experienced was because of their own efforts to create it. It also could have been because of what the previous generations had done. Both are arguable.

Otherwise, this excerpt made me think very hard.