Millennials First Generation Not to Grow Conservative with Age - Here's Why

Two Activist women in the street holding their hands up together.Photo byJacob Lund via Shutterstock

Millennials heard it all their lives from their Boomer parents. “You may think that now, but you’ll get more conservative as you get older.”

The Boomers Got Conservative

They think they know because they lived it. The generation that gave us the Hippie counter-culture movement and marched in the street for peace and civil rights now votes to strip the rights of everyone around them.

They Say Millennials Will Too

Boomers laughed at their children’s naivety. “Of course, everyone wants world peace,” they replied patronizingly. “When you’re older, you’ll understand the nuance.”

Richer, Not Older

The hidden truth behind those words is easy to discover. It’s not about getting older; it’s about getting richer.

Voting To Protect Assets

The Boomer generation grew more conservative as they acquired more assets. They believe traditional policies would preserve their wealth, while liberal policies would steal it and give it away to the “undeserving.”

Why Millennials Are Different

Millennials are bucking the trend, the first generation in history not to shift conservative as they age.

Here’s why.

No Assets To Protect

The most glaring difference between Millennials and their Boomer parents is Millennials have no assets. The generation saddled with massive student loans and then graduated amid the worst recession in decades struggled to survive.

Many couldn’t afford houses then, and with rampant inflation, they definitely can’t afford them now.

Different Values

Even Millennials with assets aren’t turning conservative. They’d rather pay higher taxes than support a system anathema to their core values.

Millennials care about equity, diversity, and fairness and refuse to vote for a party that doesn’t.

Innovative

The world changed rapidly in Millennial’s youth. The internet brought a level of connectedness and globalism never seen before. We have smartphones, Twitter, Wikipedia, and thousands of new ways to earn a living.

This new world gave Millennials a different outlook. Whereas previous generations valued security, Millennials preferred innovation. They’d rather try stuff and get it wrong than stick with a comfortable but incredibly flawed system.

Human Rights

Many older Millennials of today would have voted for the conservatives of the 1990s. However, the modern Republican party has shifted so far right it’s bordering on fascism.

Every day brings new horror from the Republican Party’s quest to strip people of their human rights. Women lost their right to bodily autonomy due to conservative policies, and the LGBTQ community fears erasure.

Conservatives Lie About the Economy

The people voting conservatively as they age to preserve their wealth fell for propaganda. In the last thirty years, the Democrats have had more success with the economy than the Republicans. Democrats give us a balanced budget, increase jobs, and put tax dollars to work helping the working-class people.

Republicans cut taxes for the rich and blow the budget, leaving a giant mess for the next Democratic president to dig out of.

People assume Republicans are better with the economy because they inherit a strong economy from a Democrat, destroy it, and then leave the Democrat to pick up the pieces.

Religious Right

Young people are turning from religion at record rates as the Republican party digs deeper in its pandering to the religious right.

Millennials value secularism and genuine religious freedom.

Globalism

Millennials grew up in the interconnected world of the internet. They make friends with people in European countries who enjoy socialized health care, paid parental leave, subsidized child care, work-life balance, and other quality-of-life programs their liberal governments provide.

They see it work elsewhere, so know it can work here.

Education

They call college universities liberal indoctrination factories, and it’s true, but not for the reasons conservatives claim.

No one is brainwashing college kids into liberalism. Education generally makes people more liberal because they gain a fresh perspective on how the world works. It’s the opposite of brainwashing. It’s teaching people how to think critically about the world - as they were taught and as it really is.

Diversity

It’s easy for people stuck in a bubble where everyone is exactly the same to share a particular worldview and get stuck in their ways.

Millennials experienced far more diversity than previous generations. They made friends with people from other cultures, religions, races, and backgrounds. These friendships show us different perspectives and open our minds to the truth about how the world works.

COVID

Many conservative Millennials switched due to the horrific way the Republican party responded to the COVID pandemic.

The anti-science, pro-work agenda made them see the party for what it was: a bunch of rich folks who would do and say anything for their profits.

Deregulation

Millennials saw the destruction that came with deregulation. Older conservatives prefer less regulation, as regulations often cost money. But Millennials see the value in regulation.

Regulations aren’t burdens to businesses that conservatives claim; they’re common sense rules that keep the public safe. See the TX eclectic grid, global climate change, and unregulated financial markets.

Social Justice

Many millennials left the Republican party when it started catering to racists and bigots. It doesn’t matter how much the left wants to tax us; we refuse to vote for a party overrun with people who believe in white male supremacy.

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This article was produced and syndicated by Partners in Fire.