It appears that many in the Millennial community (born after 1981) are part of a political movement toward another level of extremism called Democratic Socialism. In a sense, this comes from economic life experience that has cause them to redefine the general concept of poverty.
When I began to learn about history and civics in school, I also began to hear about Republicans and Democrats. At that time, much of the difference between the 2 parties was based on geography.
Then, the South was solidly Democrat and the North, the East and West were a mixture of both. Republicans were more geographically heterogeneous.
Also, there was a lot of diversity within the parties. The Democrats in the South were very Conservative while Democrats in other parts of the country were both Liberal and Conservative. The same with Republicans as there were Liberal Republicans especially in the East and the Republican Conservative wing was generally made up of people that wanted to advance their businesses and protect their wealth.
Then came Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon’s and the Southern political strategy in the 1960s that put a more powerful Conservative Movement in place with most Southern Democrats joining the Republican Party to reinvents its identity. The Democrats at that time were still advancing President Johnson’s Great Society and its civil rights agenda.
The created stark contrast between our 2 major political parties continued to move away from each other through pressures at the margins cause by such events as the anti-Vietnam War on the left and the Tea Party revolt on the right. This is the legacy of the Boomer Generation that is being currently replaced by Millennials.
According to long-established poverty determination guidelines, the United States has less than 10% of its population in that category. However, the Millennial generation experience has redefined poverty to include the lack of opportunity to create wealth.
Millennials were in the middle 20s when the Great Recession (2007-2009) hit the country and deprived the generation of a normal future. Many had graduated from college and could not find a job, could not pay their student loans, could not afford housing and have had to live with their parents.
They also saw the wealth of the rich 1% grow to obscene fortunes that represent 50% of the country’s assets. They saw that, despite the economic station of their parents, they were deprived of the opportunity to do better.
They also have no experience or memory of our one-time archenemy the Communist Soviet Union and its failed Socialist ideology and economic system. All they see is that there are a few oligarchs in America that own much of the country and blame them for their economic plight.
Many are gravitating toward the notion of shared ownership of the means of production and distribution. They are looking for fairness in the availability of economic opportunity.
The search for political and economic fairness is taking the new generation to the fringes of the Democratic Party beyond what is called the Progressive Movement. On the other side, Republicans are also being push at the margins with cultural and political issues such as White Supremacy, Fascism and blaming immigrants for our ills.
The traditional notion of what poverty is and how to eliminate it is being turned on its head by Millennials who feel directly impacted by the limitations of our economic system. Adopting Democratic Socialism is also a sign of distress with a divided country that is very much questioning our American identity.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of LaVozColorado. Comments and responses may be directed to News@lavozcolorado.com.
