Of Course Millennials Love Bernie Sanders. They’re Born Socialists.

Indignation oozes from presidential candidates like Marco Rubio and Hillary Clinton when they’re forced to confront Bernie Sanders’ surging appeal among the fastest growing segment of the electorate, a group they might have once thought they could count on: Millennials. Yes, those seemingly ‘entitled’ kids are causing a ruckus again. Except they’re not kids anymore. The eldest among them is nearly 40, is likely a parent, and pays the bills.

Certainly, one reason for their support of Sanders is his air of authenticity that resonates with today’s 20- and 30-somethings, especially when juxtaposed with the practiced singsong of sculpted orators like Marco and Hillary. Since the turn of the century, keen marketers have known that most Millennials will reject pretty much anything that rings of falseness.

But, given the specter of a political system that, to the young, subsists on a foundation of dysfunction and deceit, is that all there is to it? Can authenticity alone propel them to rally for a crotchety old socialist from Brooklyn?

Not likely.

You see, astute researchers have been documenting insights derived from Millennial attitudes since the 90's. Their perspectives are unfailingly aligned in quite a few areas. Chief among them is that Millennial behaviors comprise a nuanced expression of a highly collective, collaborative ideal — in other words, socialism.

For one, the venerable Cassandra Report, perhaps the most consistent and persuasive 20-year narrative study of U.S. Millennials, examines this generation with remarkable consistency and rigor. Cassandra paints a picture of strong socialist inclinations among Millennials. Here’s how:

First, Millennials are inherently group oriented. This phenomenon has its roots in their sheer numbers, but was cemented by a Boomer parenting approach that structured young Millennials into teams, tours, classes, camps and clubs at an unprecedented pace. One could drown in the flood of stats and proof points on this, published from sources as diverse as Pew and MTV. But consider this: Their most significant contribution to our modern economy is an industry based on interpersonal engagement and collectivism called “social” media. That’s no coincidence.

Their most significant contribution to our modern economy is an industry based on interpersonal engagement and collectivism called “social” media. That’s no coincidence.

Second, Millennials are idealists. Those Boomer parents — perhaps assuaging guilt from having compromised (sold out?) their own generational values — coached them relentlessly that they could achieve whatever they put their minds to. Then they hit the real world and their idealism became a powerful defense against a sagging economy that hardly greeted them with open arms. [A significant plurality of them entered the full-time workforce in the heart of recession, from 2007–2011].

Some of them went “off road,” seeking solace in the solemnity of global quests, yoga and yurts. Many moved in with their parents, whose longing to be their children’s trusted peers served to keep the doors of the family home unlocked. But others deigned to adapt, devising new and more efficient ways to live, inspired by the communal social sharing platforms conjured up by compatriot entrepreneurs like Zuckerberg and Spiegel.

Hence were born billion-dollar enterprises in the guise of adaptable services like Uber, YouTube, Yelp, AirBNB, Waze, and — perhaps most suggestively — Kickstarter. The common principle uniting these transcendent start-ups: reliance on the crowd. The manifestation of a belief system centered on the notion that we are better off together than we are as loners.

Millennial behaviors comprise a nuanced expression of a highly collective, collaborative ideal — in other words, socialism.

Third, Millennials care. The socialism Wiki instructs that the socialist ideal was borne “out of general concern for the social problems that were associated with capitalism.” In this context, it’s easy to spot a persistent pattern of Millennial desire: to invest time and resources in improving the world around them. To make meaning.

We should not be fooled into believing that, in general, Millennials will abandon their vision of a life that empowers them to drive positive change while they age. True, their attitudes toward money and wealth are bending slightly as they confront the realities of adult life, but the fact is that a majority would still pay more to purchase a product made by a company they believe is doing good (authentically). Also, they remain inclined to accept lower pay to work for an enterprise that reflects their altruistic aspirations. What’s more, according to a recent Millennial study by Deloitte, 61 percent of “senior Millennials,” those with higher-ranking job titles, have chosen not to undertake a task at work because it conflicted with their values. So, should it surprise anyone that they would embrace the concept of those same companies and their leaders paying in more so that our nation’s less fortunate can go to college and get health care?

They remain inclined to accept lower pay to work for an enterprise that reflects their altruistic aspirations.

Finally, perhaps the most obvious manifestation of their socialist leaning is Millennials’ utter distrust of the financial establishment. This could trace to several sources, including bearing witness to their parents’ financial struggles throughout their own formative years.

But even for those Millennials not paying a price for some past foreclosure, layoff, or fraud, financial malfeasance has been a recurrent theme throughout their cultural odyssey, reminding them constantly of the evil nature of those who enrich themselves at the expense of others without making a meaningful contribution to the greater good. Tales of Jordan Belfort, Bernie Madoff, and The Big Short have been etched into their experience through film, videos, Reddit and, perhaps most persuasively, Jon Stewart.

One Millennial respondent to a recent Cassandra inquiry concluded, “Dealing with a bank is like going to the DMV.” That’s ironic, since our current political divide seems to be hastened by an intense blame game over whether Wall Street or Washington is more responsible for gutting our middle class. Apparently, Millennials don’t seem to care much for either but, given the option, they’ll take government.

It’s not difficult to see why. While our government may be too cumbersome, too divisive, and too inefficient, at least it’s built upon a premise of being “by the people and for the people” (as socialist a concept as there ever was). Wall Street bears no such accountability, and the concentration of wealth and power it proliferates, easily seen all around them, smacks as opportunism. Generally speaking, Millennials abhor opportunism, because it’s neither collaborative nor idealistic nor giving.

After a decade spent trudging through a veritable first-person shooter game of terrorism, tuition debt, cracking infrastructure, mass gun violence, and melting ice caps, the responsibility for change now falls squarely on Millennials’ shoulders, and they know it. So much for Generation “Me” or Generation “We.” Today, it’s more like Generation “Gee, Y Us?”

So much for Generation “Me” or Generation “We.” Today, it’s more like Generation “Gee, Y Us?”

As a result, they’ve grown less concerned with labels than they are with leveraging their ideals, and their bulk, for real change. So while Sanders’ talk of Democratic Socialism might frighten some, we needn’t expect Millennials to run from it, and when they embrace it, we shouldn’t be surprised at all.