A sorry state of affairs

Commentary June 25, 2009 at 08:00 PM
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Good to see someone stepping up for boomers. After a commencement season filled with pessimistic speakers bemoaning both the state of the country and the dreadful baby boomers who got us here, Stephen Moore's Wall Street Journal piece, "This Boomer Isn't Going to Apologize," is a refreshing change. He recounts the thoughts of the federal judge who spoke at his niece's graduation:

"The enemy, he said, is the collective narcissism of their parents' generation — my generation. The judge said that we baby boomers have bequeathed to the echo boomers, millennials, or whatever they are to be called, a legacy of greed, global warming, and growing income inequality. And everyone of all age groups seemed to nod in agreement. One affluent 40-something woman with lots of jewelry told me she can barely look her teenagers in the eyes, so overcome is she with shame over the miseries we have bestowed upon our children."

Puhleese. Although I should point out that the collective insecurity that has baby boomers apologizing kinda' proves the narcissism tag they've been saddled with. Regardless, Moore isn't buying it:

"I have two teenagers and an 8-year-old, and I can say firsthand that if boomer parents have anything for which to be sorry it's for rearing a generation of pampered kids who've been chauffeured around to soccer leagues since they were 6. This is a generation that has come to regard rising affluence as a basic human right, because that is all it has ever known — until now."

Amen to that.

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