“I see nothing for the future.” The young man is not impressed by empty platitudes about the greatness of America?
Take one young Pittsburgh man I met in a recent focus group. A college graduate working part-time as a bartender, he felt weighed down by hopelessness, adrift in a country where rising costs, stagnant wages and lack of affordable housing have made even the modest ambitions of other generations feel out of reach for him. “Hope is great,” he told me, “but I see nothing for the future.”
The young man’s experience reflects a broader crisis of confidence and purpose, rooted in economic insecurity and social disconnection. The Covid pandemic exacerbated the alienation, with many first-time voters spending thousands of hours isolated and online in their formative years.
While these struggles affect the whole country, they weigh especially on young men of all educational, racial and ethnic backgrounds. Nearly three-quarters of Gen Z men report feeling regularly stressed by an uncertain future, stirring painful memories of the Great Recession they witnessed as children. These feelings erode self-esteem and diminish their interest in personal relationships and long-term planning, leading many to describe their future as “bleak,” “unclear” and “scary.”
Today’s young men are lonelier than ever and have inherited a world rife with skepticism toward the institutions designed to promote and defend American ideals. Men under 30 are nearly twice as likely to be single as women their same age; Gen Z men are less likely to enroll in college or the work force than previous generations. They have higher rates of suicide and are less likely than their female peers to receive treatment for mental health maladies. Most young men in my polling say they fear for our country’s future, and nearly half doubt their cohort’s ability to meet our nation’s coming challenges.
The rest of the article is garbage. It makes it seem that it was easy for Trump to be a Pied Piper. And the text entirely ignores the bipartisan failure to address the issues of younger voters. I wonder why the writer would have that POV and ignore the democrats’ failure?..
By John Della Volpe
Mr. Della Volpe is the director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics. He runs a research firm that conducted polls for a PAC supporting the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris campaigns.
Here’s a suggestion by the brain genius.
To reignite the hope of the emerging generation, Ms. Harris should make a sweeping national call to both military and civilian service — name it the Generation Z Compact to Rebuild and Renew America. Such a plan would offer a sense of identity, community and patriotism, while providing economic stability and skill-building — things many young men feel they are missing.
Comments are off because of course they are.
Unironically, we do need some sort of jobs program to rehabilitate the US but 1) thatll never happen in the US. 2) It shouldnt happen under liberals
Americans are so stupid and brain warped at this point, everything is labeled as being communism anyway so you could definitely have someone do state owned enterprise and just call it state capitalism instead with nothing more than the usual pushback. Capitalism with American characteristics lol
Surprised it hasn’t been done already to be honest. They subsidize business super heavily already just in the dumbest way possible
The problem is that if dems suggested it republicans would call it communism and then dems would spend a year try8ng to “educate” them on whatcnommunism was, how.much they hated it and why thisnprogram deffinitly wasn’t that.
Where as if the dems instituted the program and then as soon as republicans started complaining about it call them lazy and weak and say they just don’t want to work it might actually take off.
Dems really need to learn how to message, they’re already full of shit they might as well bullshit for a meaningful benefit.
They wont do it, the time for that is long gone
I don’t think the federal government is actually capable of doing a jobs program any more. What would they have workers do, build IKEA furniture benches in 4’x4’ “parks” next to 500k cardboard exurb houses?
Unironically it would pribablly be installing anti homeless devices everywhere. Instead of planting rows of trees like the CCC it’ll be installing rows of anti homeless spikes on every flat surface below 6 feet.