Millennials are More Libertarian than the Political Duopoly Wants to Believe
As far as the David Frums and Paul Krugmans of the world are concerned, talk about a "libertarian moment" in
America is baloney. Why? Because beyond legalizing pot, young Americans don't care about government intervention in the economy.
But this represents a serious misreading of the millennials based on cherry picked poll data, I note in my morning column at The Week. A careful reading of the Reason-Rupe polls shows that millennials are not some 1960s-style hippies who want to move to a commune, toke up, and read Das Kapital. "Indeed, they are aspiring entrepreneurs who want worldly success — along with legal pot," I note.
Millennials are children of the twin wars on drugs and terrorism. Hence, it makes sense that they care more about their personal freedoms and the growth of the surveillance state.
At the same time, the rise of the internet economy has shielded them from the worst excesses of government economic interventionism, making similar resistance unnecessary for now.
But that doesn't mean that they'll stay quiet forever as the government runs rough shod over their economic liberties. Their fight for legal pot might have only primed them for a future fight to keep the Internet economy free.
Go here to read the whole thing.
