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Are We Doomed Politically?

By Doug Bandow on 7.14.09 @ 8:38PM

We're doomed. At least, that is what the polls suggest. My Cato Institute colleague Gene Healy points to polls which show that today's young people, Generation Y, are generally statists:

The CAP report shows that Gen Y is substantially more likely to support universal health care, labor unions, and education spending than older voters. And other surveys support CAP's "Progressive Generation" thesis.

In 2008, the nonpartisan National Election Study asked Americans whether "the free market" or "a strong government" would better handle "today's complex economic problems." By a margin of 78 to 22 percent, Millennials opted for "strong government."

Kids today are a credulous bunch. The 2007 Pew Political Values survey revealed "a generation gap in cynicism." Where 62 percent of Americans overall view the federal government as wasteful and inefficient, just 42 percent of young people agree.

No wonder, then, that GenNext responds to President Obama's call for "public service," roughly translated as "a federal paycheck."

Here, they differ dramatically from their skeptical "Generation X" predecessors. A 1999 survey asked Gen X college seniors to name their ideal employers; they "filled the entire list with for-profit businesses like Microsoft and Cisco." What a difference a generation makes. In the same poll today, Gen Y prefers the State Department, Teach for America, and the Peace Corps. That's a problem for a country built on the entrepreneurial spirit.

Demography might not be destiny, since minds can change. And an Obama administration which racks up trillions of dollars in debt to be paid by Generation Y might reduce people's enthusiasm for endless government spending.

Still, the numbers are sobering. If the limited government/individual liberty crowd is going to prevail, we have a lot of educating and convincing to do.

View all comments (14) | Leave a comment

Bill Perace| 7.14.09 @ 9:27PM

Look on the bright side, after 4 years of Obama, a trillion dollars may be the price of a hamburger.

Solo| 7.14.09 @ 9:28PM

"Anyone who isn't a liberal at age 20 has no heart. Anyone who isn't a conservative by age 40 has no brain"

Winston Churchill

They'll come around but it will take some work on our part. Obama is actually helping.

Roy| 7.14.09 @ 9:40PM

It has gotten harder and harder to ignore the media. When Jon Stewart sneers, only kids with pretty strongly developed belief systems don't listen.

When I was little, we were indoctrinated pretty powerfully into the belief that the ultimate evil was racism. I am not saying this was bad, but the point is that it became a substitute for thought. Then, one day, the media directed people to think that disagreement with "gay marriage" was equivalent to racism. Huge masses of people instantly did so-especially those 20 and under.

Alan Brooks| 7.14.09 @ 11:16PM

no hope morally-- as I will say to a thousand deaf ears, dystopia is embarking to a town near yours.

3DOGMAN| 7.15.09 @ 1:13AM

The Gen Y will soon learn their lessons the hard way when all of them are required to work 80 hours a week to pay (taxes)for all of their lofty ideals while still livng at their parents home that will be fallen down around them because they have no money to repair or maintain them.

Then we will see how their conflict resolution training from their failed unionized public school system educations will not keep them from killing each other

It will be like a "Jerry Springer" episode going on in every household and it wont stop until all of them are dead from the fighting.

Yes, Ward Clever will be kicking the "Beavers" teeth in and there wont be anyone to stop him.

Liberal Reader| 7.15.09 @ 6:45AM

I work with college aged young people. My impressions are that heir views are -- in fact -- more conservative than many Gen Xers.

They are not as sure about abortion as people of my generation, and they seem to go to church more often. They are not as likely to support things like affirmative action simply because racism dismays and flabbergasts them: they have a hard time believing it ever existed.

However, you're right about a few things: these kids are just as flabbergasted by the idea that gays cannot marry. Conservative, liberal, in-between -- they're all the same on this issue.

They are much more interested in science and trusting of its outcomes than many in the so-called "conservative" movement.

They are not as easily labelled as "conservative" or "liberal": in fact, growing up watching the dunces on cable news howl and whine, they often seem to have rejected that whole manner of political discourse -- which is very, very heartening.

Becky| 7.15.09 @ 7:24AM

As an older college student, I found a lot of young people unrealistic about job opportunities. They believe they will get a good job when they graduate. While it was fairly true in the past, it is becoming a way to start out adulthood with a mountain of debt, especially here in Michigan. A local seven eleven manager put a little help wanted sign in the window and got over 100 apps, many of whom are college graduates.

Interestingly, I took engineering and art classes, and found the most conservative kids in art.

Charles Murray wrote and is championing one of the most long overdue discussions about higher ed . As a well educated person, I think he is on to something. Even the Detroit papers know that Michigan has been into the education and retraining thing for years, and we are not growing jobs.

Liberal Reader| 7.15.09 @ 9:07AM

Becky --

Michigan is indeed having hard times. I don't think it's true, however, that just because education and retraining haven't noticeably helped, they've hindered.

In Wisconsin, where the public school system as a whole is very well funded, companies are actually coming rather than going. The jobs being created in WI are high paying and stable. Those companies are coming to WI precisely because they awful bloody socialistic communists that run the state have been wise enough to invest heavily in education.

On Charles Murray: he's an interesting fellow, and his recent book makes some great points. I'd be careful to read other thinkers on education, however. Murray doesn't accept some widely held views about the benefits of education for citizenship. He seems to think education is simply a jobs training program, which is most emphatically not that case.

Solo| 7.15.09 @ 9:36AM

Lib Reader...

As a staunch conservative I can speak confidently on behalf of my fellow conservatives that I, and they, believe strongly in the benefits of an educated populace. Moreover, we all believe strongly in the benefits of science.

Our disagreement with the left is in what constitutes "education" and "science"- both of which have long since been corrupted by the left's politics.

Liberal Reader| 7.15.09 @ 10:20AM

Solo --

Well, I don't know what to tell you.

The essence of academic discourse -- which includes scientific discourse -- is the assertion of arguments backed up by evidence, and the subjection of those arguments to review by one's peers.

If you are a scientist and wish to quarrel about science, by all means do so: submit your paper, make your point. If you wish to make an argument about the goals or role of education, do so: make your claims, substantiate them, and argue you point.

Be prepared, however.

No one is going to listen to ad hominem attack; no one will listen to arguments based on spurious labels (e.g. "He's a liberal therefore he's a socialist therefore he's a fascist and therefore he doesn't know what good education is").

It's not the kinds of conditions you find prevailing within the echoing Fox Newsopia in which conservatives dwell.

Solo| 7.15.09 @ 11:35AM

Well, now, "Lib Reader"...

That's bold talk for someone who offered this quote :

"They are much more interested in science and trusting of its outcomes than many in the so-called "conservative" movement. "

"Ad Hominem", indeed! Engage in projection much?

I think that the evidence for my assertions are more than abundant unless you would like to argue that, scientifically, association equals causation (as in the anthropogenic Global Warming hoax) or that "Daddy's Room Mate" and "Heather Has Two Mommies" being force fed to our children are, somehow, representative of academic pursuit rather than socio-political indoctrination.

Many on the left accept these things as axiomatic and as representative of pure scientific analysis and academic pursuit (respectively) and, therefore, conclude that anyone who might dare to question their validity is an apostate or heretic.

A clear demonstration of the distorting effects of leftist thinking. And never more clear than in your quote that I referenced above.

Liberal Reader| 7.15.09 @ 1:53PM

Solo --

What evidence do you have that man made climate change is a "hoax"?

Brubaker| 7.15.09 @ 3:09PM

Two generations of Americans have now been raised in state controlled propaganda mills, receiving daily indoctrinations by the minions of the teacher's unions.

Absent any balance in information presented, or any encouragment to think critically, how could they not worship at the feet of government?

Stalin knew a thing or two about indoctrination, but he was an amatuer compared to the wacko left.

Millennial| 7.23.09 @ 2:32PM

Each generation's experiences and circumstances shape its outlook and temperment. Millennials are not as keen on business and corporate life, because they have seen how corporations have screwed over their workaholic fathers and mothers to some extent. I have first hand experience. Millennials have also had to deal with a much more competitive environment to get into college and acquire a respectable job compared to the opportunities that were available to their parents. Right now, the most educated college graduates in this nation are being laid off or can not find steady work. This generation is the first generation in America that will surpass their parents financially. The limits and dangers of capitalism are readily apparent to them.
Public service is appreciated by millennials and should be appreciated by all Americans. If the Founding Fathers were simply a bunch of crass, free market money mongers, then this country wouldn't exist. The truth is they were also highly involved in building and supporting civic, public institutions.
Most Millennials are aware of the dark side of capitalism in which nothing is regarded as sacred. There would be commercial advertisements on the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument if the private sector were permited to do so. Disgusting! If free market forces wish to gain points with this generation, they will have to tone it down and respect some things that have nothing to about money but everything to do with honor, respect, and country.