The Moral and Factual Bankruptcy of Generation Z

There is an odd thing that many older liberals tend to say about America’s youth. As a member of Generation Z, which currently comprises those aged 13 to 28, I have often heard a similar refrain: “It’s you young people who are going to save this country.” “If only my generation listened more to you guys.” “We need you young folks to take over things, already!”

Some older liberals say such things because they seem to truly believe that young Americans are an especially enlightened demographic. That we, purely by dint of our youth, have a better understanding of the world than does everyone else, so older generations should give extra weight to our ideas on how to change it. That our political beliefs are inherently superior simply because we haven’t been around as long. That young people are, as Jonah Goldberg puts it, “repositories of moral insight, authority, or dispensation.”

About the Author

John R. Puri

John R. Puri is the Thomas L. Rhodes Fellow at National Review.

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There is an odd thing that many older liberals tend to say about America’s youth. As a member of Generation Z, which currently comprises those aged 13 to 28, I have often heard a similar refrain: “It’s you young people who are going to save this country.” “If only my generation listened more to you guys.” “We need you young folks to take over things, already!”

Some older liberals say such things because they seem to truly believe that young Americans are an especially enlightened demographic. That we, purely by dint of our youth, have a better understanding of the world than does everyone else, so older generations should give extra weight to our ideas on how to change it. That our political beliefs are inherently superior simply because we haven’t been around as long. That young people are, as Jonah Goldberg puts it, “repositories of moral insight, authority, or dispensation.”