Gen Z is Disillusioned With Our Economy and Society. They Should Be.
An ode and apology to my successors.
Gen Z is going to bring about a lot of change if they decide to actually participate in elections.
In one way, this is nothing new. Every generation leans to the left in its youth. This has been the case for much of modern history. The counterculture movement of the ’60s and ’70s is the event that first comes to mind when people think of left-leaning young adults, but polling for the last half century shows a consistent liberal lean in the under-35 crowd no matter the era that the poll was conducted.
Those differences, though, were often disagreements within the confines of our existing system. Gen Z and (to a certain extent) millennials disagree with their elders about the system itself. That is what makes this group different. We’re not discussing whether our taxes should be slightly more progressive or a candidate’s views—we’re discussing whether our system of governance or economics is even worth salvaging.
There’s a reason for that.
We’ll get into it in a bit, but the core issue here is actually one that people on all sides of the political spectrum and age group seem to agree on: something is just not quite right with the way our world is working.
