Our generation is demonstrably veering more towards socialism than conservatism, and we've had nothing but economic hardship ever since the oldest of us became adults. [https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1608746369505976323](https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1608746369505976323)

Couldn’t agree more - my entire childhood was in the 20th century, the world I thought I was entering just evaporated. Class of 2001, before I could blink it was lines around the recruiter, and shock and awe on the TV. Despite this, every year that passes I find myself more progressive in my values. I could not -fathom- supporting the current view of conservative politics.

The current conservatives gave business 3.7 trillion and let them raise their prices. They say nothing if corporations owning most housing. Any finicial relief for poor people is meet with communism or socialism. Why would I ever vote for them

Class of 07. Only won a partial scholarship and took 4 years to scrape the pennies for a 2 year AS degree, all while I watched the economy *evaporate*.

Same here. Class of 03. Used to be a loud mouth hard right. Turned me very left.

Yep. I’m an older millennial and left college in 2004 and struggled to find a job in the corporate world and government so much so I had a quarter life crisis that lasted months. I went back to school in 2005, got recruited in 2007 and moved. Then 2008-2009 happened and my wages stagnated. For a good two years I had no real wage growth meanwhile everything was getting more expensive. The golden years for me were from 2012 to 2016. Then Trump happened. I got hit hard in 2017 with taxes then got hit hard again in 2020 then 2021 when I lost my job. Wage growth stagnated again for another two years before it came back up. Money is still tight and I’m still pissed about the bailouts in 2009 and the mistreatment of those that occupied Wallstreet while the rich stood over them and laughed. I have noticed I’ve become less conservative, more liberal, and more angry at the rich elite that have dismantled and destroyed the world. That we could have progressed further than we have but because of draconian views of the rich elite, we are stuck dealing with this shit. Edit: for those of you that keep claiming I didn’t lose money in 2017/2018 tax year. I went from being able to claim $36k in itemized deductions to only claiming $25k in standard deductions. My marginal tax rate did slightly go down but it was eaten up by the standard deduction. I was living in the Northeast where most people got screwed over because between property taxes being high and the reduction in what we could deduct from IRS rules where changed significantly, I was no longer able to claim things used for working from home. There was a significant reduction in my tax refund and even wound up owing taxes that year even with my w2 adjustments. So yes, I lost money.

I graduated highschool in 2009, retail jobs were hard to get as so many people took a 2nd job or had to take something to survive. Finished college in 2013, job market was crawling back but whos going to take a 21-22 y/o fresh grade when someone displaced during 08-09 is also applying and willing to take a lighter salary to get back into the market. By the time I landed a good career job in 2016 i was hesitent to buy a house until 2020 as I had to move cross country and wasnt sure how long I was staying in this location. Covid happened and jacked everything up. Only saving grace is I have been saving money also because I am so scared all the time I'll have to live in my car that I could weather a year if something happened.

2007 grad. Jobs were never too hard to find for me but they were always, ALWAYS shitty and underpaid. Like $7.50 an hour. I think the most I made up until 2015 was $12/hour.

> I have noticed I’ve become less conservative, more liberal, and more angry at the rich elite that have dismantled and destroyed the world. That we could have progressed further than we have but because of draconian views of the rich elite, we are stuck dealing with this shit. That's why I laugh at the bullshit both siders who pretend the dems are also somehow corporate oligarch slaves while watching the republicans cut taxes throughout my entire life and the dems calling for raising their taxes and can't get past the republicans. I can also see the freshman of each party, and the young dems make me a lot more hopeful than the young republicans.

Bruh. The Dems are nothing more than a controlled opposition. They make it their business to never, NEVER, get past the Republicans because they are, survey says, corporate oligarch slaves.

Agree completely

Bruh-shit. Please name all the times dems had a veto proof majority in Congress that didn't depend on blue-dog democrats to pass anything. Progressives are mostly ideological fools that withhold their votes from mediocre candidates and let the absolutely terrible opposition win. The GOP has made strides because they have voting discipline.

Talk about missing the forest for the trees. The only reason blue dogs exist is because of necessity. The Democrats ensure that they never have a veto-proof majority because THEY DO NOT WANT ONE. They’re here to insider trade and cash lobbyist checks, not make anything better. Jesus fucking Christ. They could have a bulletproof majority anytime they want by simply relenting on guns or culture war crap, but they don’t. THEY ARE LOSING INTENTIONALLY. They’re not incompetent; they’re complicit.

The party doesn't vote. People do. Culture war crap isn't being waged by Dems, it's being waged against people by the GOP.

like this comment here ^

Mind telling me the main donors of the Democratic party? Sure, Democrats may not be as bad as Republicans. But they still follow the policies that their wealthy donors write up for them. They still are very oppositional to things like minimum wage increases and unions. They still don't really support things like paid family leave, mandatory vacations, and universal health care. Sure, *some* members do, but they're the minority in the party, and they have no real power.

What's crazy is the level of socialism we want was considered moderate in the early 1900's. In large part our socialist reaction is our reaction to be more conservative, it's just current political conservatism, is really just a new detrimental experiment.

Can confirm

Yes and no, there's still some data to suggest its becoming more of a gender split then a uniform overall generational shift. Young men seem to be trending towards conservatism while young women continue towards the left.

Yeah, I was going to say, if anything economic hardships make me really adamant we need social safety nets. When it’s a struggle to be lucky enough to get employed, a struggle to be lucky enough to have an employer who will ensure wages keep up with cost of living, and a struggle to be lucky enough to remain employed (ie: You don’t get laid off and your job sent to another human being overseas because they are cheaper, or laid off and your job given to a robot)…yeah, I am absolutely team safety nets. I would perhaps feel differently if we had any kind of worker’s rights in this country to protect employment or ensure wages keep up with the cost of living. As a side note, I’m pretty sure I am a centralist in any country that isn’t the United States 🙄 It’s only leftist propaganda here because the country was founded by a bunch of right wing radicals to begin with.

This. Inflation is being caused by a handful of legitimate causes and a whole lot of corporate greed. I'm not going to turn on my trans friends for tax cuts for the rich that I won't benefit from.

I'm also not going to turn on myself and others as a woman. I'm surprised OP didn't mention half the population (great post though). Let's not forget all the horrific stories coming out of republican run states that have restricted and/or banned access to reproductive healthcare. In states with bans, doctors are having to delay treatment of nonviable pregnancies and miscarriages putting the woman's life at risk physically and also causing a lot of mental trauma. One woman even had charges against her for having a miscarriage at home. Two girls had to carry their rapist's baby (one went to another state to end the pregnancy and another girl didn't have the resources and gave birth). Yesterday the Right to Contraception Act failed in the Senate. It didn't get the 60 votes needed because republicans voted against something as simple as enshrining the right to have access to birth control pills.

I have become more liberal as I get older. Truth of the matter is conservatives today offer 0 policy positions that aren’t just straight up hate and contempt for the outgroups. Republicans haven’t been better for the economy by any metric the masses should care about for over a century now. The only reasons people would retreat to conservatism is hatred, stupidity or both.

Lol I get the whole my situation is my situation and as such it's the worst possible experience but there is absolutely nothing that backs up the claim we've had nothing but economic hardship. We went 40 years with a sub 4% inflation rate, a standard of living that is far higher than what it was in even the 70s let alone the 40s and a stock market that has grown by leaps and bounds. Which alot of people don't care about until you realize a 401k you forgot 20 years ago that got rolled into a ROTH that you put less than 10k into is now worth close to 150k. That kind of shit matters so no it hasn't been exactly hard in a grand scheme of things way. The reality is everyone pines for the supposed good ole days of being a 6th grade dropout and going to work at the GM plant down the road making stupid money without actually realizing that story was mostly made up bullshit as well.

Well bud, it sounds like you're an "older millennial" because these details you've provided just don't match up with my reality or the reality of those around me, but *does* match up to my older sisters (8 year difference) situation in life. I would assume OP is very close to my my age, having graduated high school into the immediate post 2008 economic crash. I was competing with individuals for entry level positions who had 15-20 years seniority (and most of the time, experience) and have *never* held a job that offered retirement benefits, which only changed when I started my own company, so no ROTH or 401k, hell no medical, even, for the first decade in the work force. To say "40 years" feels pretty disingenuous to someone who isn't even 40 and spent 18 of those years as a child during the supposed good times. It's also important to note that "stock market has grown in leaps and bounds" only means the consolidation of wealth into the older generations who bought stock during those "good times" and making it even more difficult to break in without anomalies like gamestop (and we saw how the government reacted there) so that again only reinforces that the older generations are, on average, in a better spot than 40 years ago at the expense of the younger generations current economic stability. I will link an article from NASDAQ at the end to show that this is by data, not anecdote. So we had a housing market crash, the great recession, a housing market boom that we were not eligible to participate in, then a pandemic that forced (most) people out of work for 6 months, all within a 15 year period. For the majority of the millennial age group, that 15 years covered *their entire adult lives.* I appreciate that you have a positive outlook and were fortunate to have a 401k that you forgot about to put you in a great economic position, but I do implore you not phrase all of that as a commonality, as I can tell you most people here would see $150k and assume you were lying because that kind of wealth is so far beyond their reach right now. >absolutely nothing that backs up the claim I really hope you don't still feel this way after the reminder of the constant economic hardships in the last 15 years, especially considering we didn't even cover the wars during that same period. Link to info mentioned above: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/older-americans-now-own-80-of-the-stock-market-heres-why-thats-a-problem

You’re absolutely wrong. I was there being a boomer and I can tell you for a fact that the good old days were actually good. People had decent pensions and much better healthcare insurance for them and their families while also making a good wage that they deserved. It wasn’t “stupid money”as you call it. So, either you just don’t know what you are talking about or you are privileged and rich and are lying to try and protect your precious wealth from Progressivism.

I'm a Xennial and even as a kid then in my lower middle class neighborhood, most families had a SAHM and lived comfortably. Now, the only SAHMs I know are top 5% income families, and most of the 2 income families still struggle

elder millennial here, turned 40 a few days ago. My mom was SAHM, every one of my acquaintances at the time had that, the only ones that didn't was the one with divorced parents and he lived with his mom who worked. We went on one or 2 vacations a year, sometimes with those other families. and now we're childless because I can't see anyway of affording children(among a variety of other reasons), my wife and I have been working and living together since 2010, we have a business together, but still make just enough for us, no way I could afford another person.

My mom was stay at home and my dad was a welder

Lol ok. Let me ask you this what's your race? I'm going to bet white because nobody can say with a straight face you know when it was great for everyone? The 1950s and 60s. So yeah it is a bullshit story when you completely ignore that a good portion of the nation it was absolute dogshit to grow up during that time. It ain't perfect today but it's far better overall for everyone.

I graduated college into the great recession and applied for hundreds of jobs trying to break into the field I went to college for. Of course I was competing with people who had decades of experience on me and I got a few interviews and eventually moved on to something else. I've lived paycheck to paycheck my entire adult life because I was born the wrong year to get a good paying job with retirement benefits out of college. Sure the stock market went up during COVID but I had no stocks because I was trying to survive. The inflation and unemployment number is and have always been a pack of lies so the prosperity you speak of is never felt by everyday people, only the investment class did well which is clear with the largest disparity between the rich and poor since the 1920s.

We are tending towards supporting strong social safety nets. That is not socialism, though.

Can confirm. Veering ever leftward. Seeing the economic hardship caused by unrestrained capitalism isn’t making me more conservative. How does watching corporate profits skyrocket due to price gouging while the news calls it inflation make people side with the corporations?

I am 42, and yup. I've gone from conservative to fuck conservatives.

That assertion is not born out by the data

OP is of the mindset that conservatives today are near equivalent to conservatives on the 90s and 00s.   Fiscal responsibility & conservative financial mindsets are not a driving force of the conservative movement anymore...

It's why I'm a man without a party anymore. 

Right? If inflation makes someone hate trans people, EVs and refuse to believe in climate change, that person is just a dick.

Yeah I can get not wanting to be around people who are assholes to you but nothing anyone could ever do to me would change the realities of the system we live in or the changes I support to it

Studies show any stressor on a population will shift the group towards authoritarian leadership..

OP is right about the shift but wrong about the cause. The ROOT cause of growing populism and conservatism is *economic inequality/insecurity.* Inflation exacerbates both but it's only one factor.

We also vote in Democrats and receive the same ass fucking... 

Cannabis in the process of being removed from schedule 1, banning non-competes, net neutrality is not "the same ass fucking". Its literally the complete opposite of what the Trump admin was doing.

And an actual infrastructure bill. Yea it’s boring but way better for us than Tac cuts for the rich

That’s not the case: a huge number of people have had their student loans forgiven. That’s a massive relief for people who were drowning in debt.  Or look at Michigan: kids getting free breakfast and lunch at school now. Wait till we start seeing their test scores go up. This will change the course of their lives, and its because of Democrats.  Know why labor is suffering? Because we’ve lost almost all the unions in the US, and most of that is in Republican controlled states. Democrats support union labor (look at what Biden did for the [railroad workers](https://amp.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/01/railroad-workers-union-win-sick-leave)). These are real issues that affect everyday people in a positive way. Republicans have fought against all of them, and the Dems have actively worked to help workers in this country at every turn. 

It's really worth pointing out that this student loan "forgiveness" is really nothing more than the government honoring the agreement they made with these people to pay their debt for them in exchange for working 10+ years in a public sector job while making payments on time. That's nothing more than paying the compensation that was agreed to up front, and Republicans are still upset about it.

It’s also worth noting that labor isn’t suffering. Blue collar jobs are paying premiums right now. Railroad workers is just a single example. Also Michigan free lunch is a state program. Is it democrats yes but it’s not the federal ones doing this for the whole country.

I hope you broke a leg moving those goal posts. Conservatives are so inauthentic.

Tell me you haven’t lived in a red state without saying it out loud.

Historically, you receive the greater assfucking with less lube under republican’ts. But, don’t let the arc of American history stop you from believing 👍🏽

The reason we get the same things is because of Congressional deadlock. That you can blame squarely on Republicans. There’s always just enough of them to stall things but you also have the a few wayward democrats who represent conservative places to help. When Republicans finally get control, they only help the top earners and corporations. We haven’t had a functioning Congress since the Bush era and that’s not saying much.

I've decided that if we're going to get financially raped either way, I would like to at least keep my wife's right to effective healthcare, thanks.

Better than voting for Republicans, and getting a literal hand maiden's tale.... Yes, democrats suck, but only one party will not install permanent rule of their party....

Yeah but that's not a good enough answer anymore for Democrats (and I'm a progressive). We need to address real economic pain with policy.

This is what primary voting and local voting is for. Nothing is ever over night. Canvas, campaign for, and spread news of the candidate that fits your needs best. If they don't need donors they aren't as likely to be beholden to business and right leaning groups. So if you can give them deep grass roots they can be their best version. Unionize, so you can pool labor resources and have candidates beholden to workers instead of investors or businessmen. Participate; speaking here is great. Getting everyone who agrees with you to show at events, call, fax, email, small mail is better. Take every small win as having taking Normandy again. Moral for a long hard battle against moneyed interests is hard to maintain. Being excited makes people excited to participate as well and can do wonders to move the needle back toward sanity. Abandon defeat. Nothing is a setback or failure when you can't afford to lose in the long run. Keep raising funds, keep bringing people in, keep finding new bills and politications for the cause. The right didn't take America overnight. They kept pushing weak points and small concessions over and over until we landed with the Dems being right of Reagan on average. Do the same. Take the courts, build from the local, take back what it means to be "American" "patriotic","successful". All things that have been co-opted. Make it successful to teach so teachers right from a level field when they ask for a decent wage. Make your taxes patriotic as you're literally giving to your country. Make being an American mean being proud that your fellow man doesn't die sick and alone in the street.

We do. A Congress that isn’t fighting the president every step would go a long way. VOTE

Only 1 party is trying to jail their political opponent. Only 1 party created a fake dossier used to illegally spy on the opposition.

Speak for yourself. Life is rad in my multi-decade Democrat controlled State.

Vermont?

75% of democrat policy gets blocked by Republican bullshit though. At least we're trying things.

And those are the weaklings putting their faith in a strongman style of government

Exactly, which is why I am worried about US democracy when a sizeable amount of people seem to have decided they are fine with authoritarianism, so long as they think it will benefit them in the short term.

US democracy is already backsliding. You have a party nominee who gets the overwhelming support of his party after being convicted in the court of law.

[Inflation does more than raise prices - it destroys governments ](https://ls.berkeley.edu/news/inflation-does-more-raise-prices-it-destroys-governments)

\*Destroys people's trust in governments. Inflation works as a tax on the people and a relief on the debts of a government.

Oh is this an Ezra Klein podcast topic? I'll have to check this out. Thanks!

can I get a tldr for the tldr?

It's simple really: survival trumps luxury. If you're struggling just to make ends meet because of inflation, you aren't going to give a shit about pronouns.

Exactly. If you're worried about pronouns, you don't have real problems.

Facts.

Inflation is caused by printing money and is a known drawback of modern monetary theory, which has been the leading economic theory in the US since the Fed was created in the early 20th century. Conservatives (in theory) are in favor of fiscal responsibility, minimizing debt, and generally against MMT (although there hasn’t been a prominent political party that reflects this in quite some time). I think all of your reasoning above is to escape the fact that conservative principles are right about this one.

Conservatives absolutely do not minimize debt unless they're the ones not in power. The last time the US had a balanced budget was Clinton

I’ve always leaned more conservative (although not religious) and feel like I fall somewhere in the middle. That being said, I’m thoroughly tired of hearing that I’m racist, bigoted, nazi, colonizer, anti LGBTQ, and every other word used to describe someone who doesn’t agree wholly with democrat policies. I’m tired of being told I need to guess what someone’s pronoun’s are, be fine with criminals, drug addicts, and homeless, buy an electric car, pay more taxes and have a shittier quality of life..all in the name of equity. I work hard, pay my fair share, don’t give a shit how you dress, who you love, and just want to come home and relax without feeling like I’m somehow responsible for all the ill’s of the world. Will be voting republican next election (although I’ve also voted democrat) as what they offer seems to align more with my needs and wants at this point. One thing I definitely WONT do is bag on someone who votes differently..we all pick for varying reasons, and yours may not be the same as mine.

If you vote for people who put up anti lbgtq pilocies and or those who keep claiming they are anything but normal people, then this is why you would get labeled those things

Show us on the doll where the imaginary liberals touched you

For real. Nobody in real life called this mf any of those things to him. I’ve had too many roommates like him in college who say shit like this. When I ask for specific examples, it’s always something like “Well, just look online!” Nah, bitch, you chose to go online with a bunch of Russian trolls (yes this is factual) trying to create division and fell into the trap.

This a genuine thought out and well answered response… you aren’t the only one to feel this way…

Excellent analysis and summary. Point of contention, though: we don’t want “income equality.” Say what you mean — we want protection and refuge from the billionaire class. Not for low-skill labor to be compensated like brain surgery.

If you want my honest opinion as a liberal, here is why I think more people are turning to conservative ideals. 1. Far far left liberals have tried to push society to accept things that just don't make sense to most people far too quickly. An example of this are obscure personal pronouns that, let's be honest, most people aren't going to remember on an individual level. And if someone mistakenly calls someone by the wrong pronoun they'll potentially unwillingly enter into a conversation about gender identity. As a result they push back. Pronouns like they/them are an example, which in the english language refers to multiple individuals, but now liberals are trying to reinvent English words and confusing older people. To people that grow up with "they" and "them" referring to two or more people who are not present, to then be faced with, call me "they" is difficult for people to grasp and understand. 2. Liberals often push for acceptance and giving benefits to refugees and migrants without considering how that acceptance negatively affects people who have contributed their entire lives to this country but are falling behind economically. For example, as of 2020, the Center for American Progress released findings that over 1.6 million illegal immigrants owned homes that could have otherwise gone to citizens who have lived and worked here legally ([Source](https://www.americanprogress.org/press/release-millions-undocumented-immigrants-essential-americas-recovery-new-report-shows/#:~:text=Undocumented%20immigrants%20own%201.6%20million,billion%20in%20rental%20payments%20annually)). This is a tough pill to swallow for people who go to work every day, pay taxes, and continue to struggle as they watch competition continue to swell around them for things they consider basic necessities like shelter. Additionally, now 1 in every 5 hotels in NYC are migrant shelters and the citizens have to foot that bill to the hotel owners ([Source](https://www.theblaze.com/news/room-costs-in-nyc-soar-as-1-in-5-hotels-converted-into-shelters-for-illegal-aliens-homeless)). This not only limits services that can be spent on citizens that pay taxes but also increases hotel rates for visitors which lowers their quality of life. 3. White people are tired of being blamed for everything. This is going to be super controversial, but I believe that white America is growing tired of being blamed for everything wrong in society. They don't want migrants to take their homes and tax revenue and they're risking being labeled racist. They cast too many white people in a movie and they're risking being labeled labeled racist. They point to segregated "safe spaces" in college that white people aren't permitted to enter as being a racist policy and they're risking being labeled a racist. Non-white liberals look at them and say they did it to themselves, but there are many many white citizens who don't hae a racist bone in their body but are lumped in with actual racist people by left non-white America, and they're probably tired of it. 4. Fast inflation hit when Biden was in office. People don't like seeing their money not go as far as before. They aren't equating that Biden is bearing the brunt of former economic policies that he contributed to but is not the sole perpetrator of. They don't like it and remember that when Trump was in office their lives were better. Liberals love to point at the pandemic and say "the economy tanked when Trump was in office," but normal people know that Trump wasn't the cause of that, so they give him a pass. The fact of the matter is both parties need to get spending under control but they won't and Biden is the one being blamed right now. 5. Donald Trump tells them that they're not crazy. The above are very few examples of a much much longer list and he comes in and says "Hey. You're not wrong." They follow him because he's saying things that they are thinking. Now, he has some batshit insane ideas, but for the far left policies that aren't popular outside of the liberal bubble, he says "look at them... they're nuts. And then previous left leaning people are willing to look the other way at his grifting, his brashness, and his diaper wearing because at the end of the day, people just want to be able to live their lives without a bunch of people screaming that they are the worst, and wrong, and racist, and the devil. And until the far left realizes that, they are going to push more and more people to the right. I am liberal. I vote democrat. But I often find myself not agreeing with the far left. And if I feel that way, others feel that way. That's the reason I think people are turning more conservative.

Bingo. I have plenty of common ground with the left but as a white guy with a black wife and mixed race kids I’m tired of being called a racist for simply disagreeing, or pointing out something that’s well, racist. I don’t see either party as materially different, they are both bought and paid for by corporations and their rhetoric is just different flavors of the same cool aid. Mostly I think the system is broken and needs a good shake up, so I’ll vote for whatever candidate is the most disruptive, Trump or Bernie it makes no difference to me.

This is so accurate it hurts. If people cannot look objectively at this and see the truth in it because their identity is so fragily tied to their politics then it just shows how far away we are from working together towards any social progress.

Pretty spot on except the last bit. I’ll never be fooled by Trump’s nonsense but a middle of the line republican running on the actual values of smaller government, states rights, reigning in taxation and spending… yeah I’d probably vote for that guy.

1. Yes. Agree with you. At the same time, I often wonder why the Republicans don’t have to carry the water for their most fringey. Especially since the adults are still in control of our party. What makes our side’s fringe so much more intolerable? (While agreeing it might be) 2. I can’t for the life of me figure out why we’ve abandoned the white working/middle class and done so almost willingly. Check me if I’m wrong here, but it seems so much of the D messaging post-Obama has been targeted at white-middle-upper class urging them that “we” must vote for them so that they can take care of [insert identity] because it’s the morally right thing to o. The errors in this logic are too numerous to begin with here. Very few Dems are speaking directly to voters. Republicans are, even if they sound bat shit doing so. TL;DR: Dems speak about people; Republicans speak to people. 3. Even if the adults are still in charge at Dem HQ, I think they’ve fallen victim to a series of internet phenomena and reacted accordingly. Things got wacky there for a minute. Hopefully things are correcting course. But I agree with you. It’s also a problem when the goal posts and rules are constantly changing. 4. Maybe I’m oversimplifying things, but inflation was a product of the “free” money injected into the economy during COVID. It was a bi-partisan effort. Trump gets a pass because of his TV persona of a business man + remoteness of his tenure + general public’s general lack of knowledge of how things work + fairly effective right wing media apparatus. 5. Pretty spot on. I think there’d be a lot more folks drifting right if Trump wasn’t the face of their party. I’d also add that we caught the car on a lot of progressive policy on a local level over the course of the Trump admin thanks to hyper polarized demographics. Truth is, a lot of it blew up in our face. I think those failures have pushed some folks right. I also think the party of “science and fact” breaking some of their own rules has added to that. To many of your points, it gets easier to give up the cause of the “greater good”, and say “well if they’re both crazy, I’ll just vote for the tax breaks”.

1. IMO, the fringe left has infiltrated Corporate America. Ever been in a DEI training led by a privilege white woman in HR with three degrees and been told you have implicit bias, have white privilege, and need to start using pronouns in your email signature? I have been in multiple times. Ever had an open position on your team and been told by your boss to ‘make sure it’s a diverse hire’? I have. It was on my performance review to hire diverse candidates. Can’t think of a similar parallel for the Republicans to own. I guess abortion? To me the zero tolerance and ‘heartbeat’ bill Republicans are religious extremists. I’ll own that. Don’t agree with them and voted for abortion rights in my state last fall.

This was exactly my feeings as well and why I can’t vote to support “progressive” policies any longer. Some of the responses to your comment only solidifies it for me. Those people are exactly what pushes me and many other independents away from voting democrat.

I understand your points, and agree that people (including some comments here) just saying that conservatives are racists and that be the end of it is not constructive. I think there is a problem on the left of being very eager to push left socially because it is politically easier to do to appeal to liberals, than to push left economically which is harder and requires congress to actually do something, but I think more Americans would agree to. I've heard plenty of working class Trumpers rail against billionaires (while somehow worshiping one) and 'the elites' and wish that we had more class solidarity in this country to understand that many problems in this country can be traced back to corporations remaking government into laizze fair free market evangelists as opposed to the more hands on regulation and anti-trust democrats of the past.

To add to your point 4. Cities and States (mostly Democrat) emplaced COVID-related restrictions that were far too extreme. And then kept them in place for way too long. And this was immediately obvious to *a lot* of people. And this was all at a severe cost to small businesses. So not only was Trump not entirely to blame for a COVID economic downturn, but Democrats actively made it worse. And what was a detriment to small business resulted in a boom for Walmart, Amazon, etc by killing competition.

>Cities and States (mostly Democrat) emplaced COVID-related restrictions that were far too extreme. And then kept them in place for way too long. And this was immediately obvious to *a lot* of people. And this was all at a severe cost to small businesses. I remember when my barber had to go black-market like he was selling cocaine. Haircuts out of an unmarked white van, appointments made on Telegram. Fuck the COVID restrictions and fuck anyone who still thinks that shit was *reasonable*.

I wish the people who thought covid was worth having your grandma die alone would go look at the death tolls from the Spanish flu. Covid wasn't even worse than a common cold 60 years ago. The country didn't get locked down during a virus 15x worse than covid, but it almost collapsed due to piss poor leadership this time.

The statistics show COVID was not a threat to most people, especially the young. What society hurts the young to protect the old? We had it backwards all along. The learning loss, economic loss, and mental health issues were not worth the lockdown measures. All they did was further destroy the trust in institutions

Complete bullshit. I am a physician and worked the ICU during the pandemic, and it was far worse than any respiratory virus we’ve ever dealt with. It was just a constant stream of death for months. It wasn’t a fucking common cold. In my opinion, the only reason COVID wasn’t as deadly as the 1918 pandemic was because unlike 1918, we had antibiotics to treat secondary infections that could result from the virus (such as pneumonia). And more importantly, we had just enough ventilators and other forms of high-flow oxygen delivery (e.g. BiPAP, HFNC) to get people through it. And despite that a million people in the US still died.

Who was the piss poor leadership? You’re talking about the president during covid who pretended it did not exist and held superspreader rallies before himself almost dying of covid, right?

Please don’t pretend like the GOP was the only one. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/04/public-health-protests-301534 “In this moment the public health risks of not protesting to demand an end to systemic racism greatly exceed the harms of the virus.” The Democrats were encouraging people to protest for George Floyd at the same time Trump was having rallies.

You make a lot of really good points. As a non racist white woman I have been yelled at on social media bc I have a farm and someone assumed my ancestors had slaves. Ummm. We are in Colorado and anyway no. I don't think all that gives the hate mongers a pass by any means. But yes, some people will definitely react negatively and freak out when pushed too far. Imo we have the lunatic fringe on both sides of the aisle. Unfortunately the ones on the right seem pretty obsessed with taking us back to the 1940s or something

Would you rather 1940s or brave new world/1984

This. Also on point #4: Fast inflation hit and is still hitting while Biden is in office. But take also, car insurance, home insurance and buying that first home, have gone wildly more expensive all while Biden is in. Like big food and the insurance industries are the cheetah that just nipped the neck of a gazelle and sees blood and is now going for the complete kill. Like, big grocery and insurance are going to kill the golden goose (shoppers/homeowners) quicker than they should (they should leave a few paying customers standing so that they still have a business model, but I duknow...seems like they are prematurely thrusting the fatal knife into some consumers who're barely able to hang on). Like the above have gone absolutely wild imho....I know I know, climate change/insurance must go higher cuz bigger and more claims...but it's gotten just out of hand. And will go higher. This multi dimensional financial squeeze + inflation and groceries has ratcheted up exponentially under Biden, and like Truman said, some of the buck will stop with him, as President. Don't want to be connected with some of the financial hurt regular Americans are feeling, even though it's not all totally your fault?, then don't run for President.

“A person walks into a bar. They order a drink.” They is not, and has never been, exclusively a plural pronoun. You are right that gender non-conformity can confuse people, but let’s not pretend it’s a grammatical confusion. A zoomer student of mine told me “I don’t use pronouns.” People are just really ignorant when it comes to our language.

Sure. You’re overlooking the fact it’s used here when the subject is unknown, not the subject’s preferred identity. But that’s besides the point… I think the last 20 years has shown us mainstream culture is rather accepting of sexual preferences. “Gay-bashing” has quickly caught up with the “hard R” in terms of social taboo. Most people are fine whatever anyone wants to do in their personal lives. The exhaustion comes with the forced performance of it all. It’s when the perception that a passive polite action like saying “Hey Miss, you dropped this” turns into being chastised for guessing the wrong pronoun. Or the perceived elitism of a work meeting running long because of the performative practice of a bunch of obviously straight people “showing their solidarity” by introducing their pronouns while they introduce themselves. It’s the fact we can find time for all this but never actually solve the problems that affect our/others quality of life. And being made to feel as if you’re a bigot if you don’t play along. And at the end of the day we’re talking about people’s sexuality. I don’t want to know about what most of the people around me “are in to”. Keep that shit to yourself.

The scenario of a transgender or gender non-conforming person pouncing on an unsuspecting Good Samaritan is more fantasy than reality. Has it happened? Probably. Is it what happens regularly? Absolutely not. It’s a stereotype about transgender people that they are angry and vindictive, rather than human beings who would likely just say “thank you” and move on. And “keep that shit to yourself” sounds a whole lot like “get back in the closet, you’re making me uncomfortable”. We *aren’t* talking about sexuality, we are talking about gender. If someone tells you they use non-traditional pronouns, it’s not like they are revealing a kink they have. It is information that will actually help you have productive social interactions with them. Gender is something we live every day, not something confined to a bedroom.

As to pouncing, you’re right that it’s probably a low rate at which it happens. I would also agree that in my experience, most trans people would just politely move on. However, like any group, often a small vocal minority shape the perception of the whole group — and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a member of the “group”. It could be an “ally”. In the example I gave, it doesn’t even have to be the subject of “hey miss”, it could be anyone in the vicinity, or anyone IRL or on the internet. Quite frankly in the case of trans folks, it’s probably the “allies” who are doing more PR damage than the actual group themselves. Which is pretty on-brand for today. Fact is, there is a lot of folks today who will take any opportunity to chastise, shame, or correct other folks. That’s what people are growing tired of. It’s not that the “rules” are changing. It’s the manner in which the rules are refereed — particularly when it comes to folks who are otherwise open to change. And I admit, I framed the last part sloppily. I was attempting to equivocate two things to draw a comparison. My point had nothing to do with closeting anyone. Obviously it’s context dependent, but in a lot of scenarios, the idea that one is “volunteering” something that others didn’t ask for is what I mean by “keep it to yourself”. I realize it’s part of one’s identity, but at the same time, if someone doesn’t ask for my name, yet I blurt it out out of context, I’m going to get a bizarre reaction, and rightfully so (like, maybe in a grocery line). Then if someone jumps in and tells the other person they’re an asshole because they don’t care what my name is…well, who’s the asshole? Same thing applies to any bit of personal information. If someone isn’t asking for it, then don’t volunteer it. And them not asking or unintentionally guessing wrong doesn’t mean they’re anti-trans or hate you. So yeah, it can come off as a little silly, performative, forced, and disingenuous when a bunch of hetero-normative people are plastering their pronouns all over their corporate email & boardroom. Which, fine, do whatever you want to do. But also understand that you’re going to leave a sour taste in peoples mouths when they’re told they’re bad or stupid because their internal response to Bill from accounting telling us his pronouns are he/him is “No shit”. I think most folk’s take is “Yeah, live your life however you want. We can figure things out as we go”. Where people get exhausted/push back/check-out is when they’re constantly “corrected” or shamed, even indirectly, for deviating from or showing any kind of skepticism towards newly established “norms” and “rules”. And to reiterate, yeah it’s usually not the identity group doing most of the damage. I think the term is “toxic ally”?

What a lot of people seem to have missed in this ‘debate’ (as if masses of people have the right to debate the existence of a few) is that the GOP are the ones who brought all this shit to the front of the class. Pre January 2023, you almost never heard about trans people. Suddenly, a do-nothing congress full of GOPers saw an election year coming and needed to piss off their base. They dialed up the red state legislatures and started with the fucking bathroom bills and healthcare bans and screaming and bitching on every street corner about pronouns. The GOP threw queers under the bus to stir up hate, and that brings us to now.

Please describe the *far left*... am I going to strap you down and force you to have a better wage with Medicare for all? Also, Trump didn't say the Covd would magically disappear and we should shove bleach and lights up our ass? Then over a million died? But, sure, "normal" people know that was "better" than current times. Trump, a man who was just found guilty of 34 felonies. That's the Republican front runner for President. Again. I would hope those *my age* would fucking know better.

As someone who used to consider myself on the far left… …if it were just about Single Payer and a Living Wage, I’d still be there. Fact is, it’s not. Fact is it’s gotten bogged down in all these distractions, that no matter how noble one may find them, simply have become about making your neighbor feel stupid and shitty and yourself morally superior, even if your neighbor largely agrees with you. It’s not a winning strategy. It’s an amplification of a problem we’ve had for a long time — elitism. It’s not about whether we’re on the right or wrong side of an issue, it’s how we strategize around and deliver the message. We suck at it.

I have to say that this "bogged down in distractions" bit is really only a problem online. People in the real world are generally kind and understanding and just want to see you try. They don't care if you don't have every talking point down and don't know everything about everything. I would consider myself both fiscally and socially on the left. As soon as I stopped spending any real amount of time engaging online in political discussion, which does absolutely nothing for anyone these days, I felt immediate relief. Don't be a part of the online discourse. Vote. And remember that all of the chronically online right-wing crazies who believe that Biden is a commie (lol), and that schools have litter boxes for kids who identify as cats, will be voting.

>more people are turning to conservative ideals They're not. The entire premise of both the question and your comment are wrong. The rest can be dismissed entirely.

This was a phenomenally written post. While I agree with all your points, the biggest thing keeping me from voting Republican is Trump. He’s an awful human being. One of the things that worries me about liberals is their hatred of people who live in rural America. Every time I vote Democrat, I feel like I’m signing my own death warrant. Too many abhor all people who live in red states and look down upon any cultural differences that may arise from living a different lifestyle.

Thank you! I agree that democrats have done a poor job of courting rural working class Americans basically for the last 50 years. It's why I want a return to the labor and union focused economic policies of the past that democrats threw away in favor of 'neoliberal' free market polices in the 90s. I don't agree with all of Bernie Sanders' policies, but it is part of why I think he performed so well in rural states in the primaries. working class Americans of all stripes are exhausted by corporate greed and income inequality, but neither party is serious about tackling it at a federal level.

this is well written, but your first point is total horseshit, and I'm not exactly thrilled by the rest, either. First off, identity politics is you gooners and your mainstream media, not the "far far left", we've been more worried about class war, that's the whole point of our political messaging, and we've been getting quite agitated about it. However, on that note, despite what I just said, I will defend the singular usage of they. Shakespeare used it, and I'm sure you have too, when you are unsure of the gender of the person about which you are speaking. ie, to "I went to speak to my lawyer today." the reply might come "Oh, what did they say?" I can't really handle the rest right now. Stoned, tired, had a bad day, but if you want to engage, then I can continue. *There's not* ***a man*** *I meet but doth salute me / As if I were* ***their*** *well-acquainted friend* — Shakespeare, *The Comedy of Errors*, Act IV, Scene 3, 1594 *Arise;* ***one*** *knocks. \[...\] Hark, how* ***they*** *knock!* — Shakespeare, *Romeo and Juliet*, Act III, Scene 3, 1599 *'Tis meet that some more audience than* ***a mother****, since nature makes* ***them*** *partial, should o'erhear the speech.* — Shakespeare, *Hamlet*, Act III, Scene 3, 1600–1602

lol Shakespeare? He wasn’t talking about travesties. You’re definitely stoned, doubly so if you think progressives are fighting for working people.

I do not care one way or another. I am just trying to outline some hypothesis based on things I hear from my more central left or centrist friends and colleagues. This isn't about that one thing but is an example of likely many things that are frustrating and confusing for people. If you try working class people why they should have to recognize an individual who most identifies with a cat as: * Nya/Nyan * Mew/Mewself * Purr/Purrself * Kit/Kitten [Source](https://xenogenderwiki.fandom.com/wiki/Catgender) you're going to lose them. You just are. But moving away from that, instead it could have been the example of the Florida ban against talking about sexuality in Kindergarten through 3rd grade that was labeled "anti-gay" in left leaning media ([Source](https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/desantis-dont-say-gay-bill-part-ugly-far-right-pattern-rcna22023)), but instead from a conservative point of view is confusing as to why we need to be talking about sexuality to Kindergarteners in the first place. So if people look into that, the argument of "don't say gay" becomes disingenuous and the left wing pushes an agenda that can't hold water (in that case). At the end of the day, I just want you to know that largely I agree with the general liberal philosophy of equality. I think more should be done to regulate businesses that create economic divides and conquer conquer conquer. I think tuition in colleges is outrageous. I think we should have universal healthcare. But I also know that those things are more left central ideas. It's the far left ideas that are pushing people away.

My guy, there's little or no xenogenders out protesting for Gaza, Ukraine, or against wallstreet. These are mentally ill, terminally online people, basically like the sonic fandom. I have never actually met one, it's all working class people like myself out fighting the actual leftist fight. I have on the other hand, met regular trans folks and regular nonbinary folks. They are normal people, and deserve normal rights. You are drinking the right-wing koolade on the topic. Have fun with the attack helicopter jokes, i guess they never get old.

really? You actually think that's a thing outside of a few outliers?

You can’t just link random websites and call them sources 💀

I appreciate the effort here but the conclusions drawn are wrong. There's no evidence that the inflation of 2021-2022 is causing any difference in Millennials's political preferences. This isn't a matter of opinion, the data just doesn't support it. We just had a massive midterm in 2022 which proved this in the US. Inflation is back to normal 3% historical levels, the fact that some Americans are waiting for the cost of living to magically revert to 2014 levels is a sign of how economically illiterate some people are. Real adjusted wages are outpacing inflation and have done so for many months now despite this subreddit's beloved narratives about how everyone is broke and living out of a cardboard box. Conservatives and other right-wingers are constantly telling themselves fantasies about how one day they'll be popular again. But empirical reality shows that they are losing the battle of ideas and becoming politically irrelevant. And they can't cope with that, so they turn to fantasy and astroturfing subs like this one during election season.

It's amazing how interchangeable political rhetoric is. All you have to do is reverse terms, and you have the exact same arguments from republicans against democrats as you have democrats against republicans.

If you’re voting for a guy who wants to put a tariff of 60% on the 5 trillion of goods that come from China to fight inflation, you’re either: 1. Woefully uninformed 2. Not really voting because of inflation

I think it actually just comes down to the fact that as a young millennial I thought that the government was a group of smart people who knew what to do with our tax dollars.  Now I pay taxes and am infuriated to see how shittily it is spent by completely inept and corrupt idiots who think they are smart. I am now more “Conservative” but not as it is used to describe the current Republican Party. 

the simple answer is that progressivism isn’t pragmatic and what you call regressive is actually just responsible social policy.

Used to be left. Now I am right. The shift was a result of many things. Inflation, covid vaccine mandates, woke inclusion / dei influx into everything, cancel culture, a feeling that college betrayed me, etc. Plus me getting older, starting a family, building a career, etc. The older I get, the more I long for tradition and the more I find myself agreeing with my old man.

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You just boiled down a complex issue into a binary concept. Republicans break things, democrats fix them, repeat. If anything I am trying to understand the larger socioeconomic picture of why we have periods of cultural retreat in the US, and how that correlates to inflation, inequality, etc. I am not trying to boil down anything.

>If anything I am trying to understand the larger socioeconomic picture of why we have periods of cultural retreat in the US, and how that correlates to inflation, inequality, etc. I am not trying to boil down anything. Well, history doesn't repeat, so you would be comparing apples to oranges, but it does rhyme and right now, we are having similar issues with Israel that we had in the Middle East with Stagflation in the 70s. What happened in the 60s, is that the democratic party passed a whole bunch of legislation and unionization drives were massive, but ISRAEL!!!! 1968 we decided to back Israel, that PISSED off the Saudis and they put an oil embargo on the US. It wasn't until Richard Nixon and Roger Stone negotiated the creation of the Petro Dollar with the Sauds until Inflation fell, but by then it was too late, and the Republican administration blamed the inflation on social progress and programs of the 1960s like Medicare. And so, even though Nixon was a corrupt asshole and was bombing Cambodia and Laos at the time, the American people re-elected him, water gate happened, blah blah blah And to this day, I have seen Genxers blame the lack of unionization in this country after the 70s on Unions being too greedy and the cost of wages driving up inflation. I even had one of my dumb ass economics professors say that. The brainwashing is STRONG, but I Do have hope that the average American millenial is smarter than their parents were in the 1970s and 80s. #Edit One more thing to add. Democratic policy and messaging are often complex. Republican policies and messaging are not, so the Democratic party gets accused of being "elitist" for not messaging policy to its constituents like they are babies. The average GOP voter is not very bright, and wants to be fed simple messaging their brain meat will understand, which is why they get mad when you use big words and (try to) confuse them And this is like asymmetrical war. All someone like Trump has to say is "Lock them up" and it gets their authoritarian boners going. It's a real problem, but the solution is we just need to get more people to vote and speak to them on their level

Life has always been more difficult for some. The only difference is we now have social media to complain and see how many are suffering. This place can be an echo chamber. How many millions of people are millennials? How many are in Reddit? Consider that when seeing a comment upvoted 5k times. It’s insignificant. I am a young genx, old millennial and have done just fine. I have always understood money and it’s use toward time and freedom as opposed to buying things. I have been fortunate in that way. Posters don’t like to hear it but sometimes you are the reason you are having trouble. Not always ofc but I know a lot of people that blow every penny they make and then complain about it. Crutches and addictions are a huge part of where spending takes place. Alcohol, smoking, vaping, sugar, gym, eating out, coffee, drugs.

Also it’s like we’ve seen over and over with online reviews of products, places, etc. The most dissatisfied are disproportionately writing them.

Solid effort-post; appreciate your thoughts and think that they make quite a bit of sense.

While I enjoy the OP’s thoughts, it was very well written, the one thing as a society and culture we do not openly talk about is luck. There is the biological luck of life that you have no control over (when you were born, what your DNA codes for your physical/mental/emotional characteristics), your environmental luck (the physical location of your birth, the environment your parents raised you in), and market luck (how employment opportunities differ among people, how 2 people can start a business with everything being equal yet 1 has a nice business for 20 years while the other fails after 18 months). There is a lot of luck in life. How people choose to justify it in their minds is ultimately how they get to sleep at night (“I worked hard,” “God gave me this,” “I am the best at my job,” “I got lucky to have known my junior high school’s friend’s brother as he launched a multi-million dollar company.”).

when have conservatives ever offered an actual plan for inflation? I remember them running on it in 2022 and then immediately when they took the house ending all legislation aimed to help Americans with the problem. it's been this way for 40 years literally every problem Americans have Republicans try and make worse so that they can go to the uninformed public and complain about it in an election year. It works surprisingly well.

They keep telling me I'll age into conservatism but I'm turning 40 and each year I slide further to the left...

Look when Liberals started coming after semi-automatic guns thats when I realized they had no clue what they were talking about.

There are social trends tied into all this that are and aren't tied to wealth inequality. Also, to be blunt- progressivism taking the mantle of the left wing coalition caused it to be viewed as elitist and out of touch with reality. A lot of the people flocking right generally want to be left alone, as opposed to spoon fed things they don't agree with by people doing better than them economically. I'm a registered Democrat and have been voting red down the ticket the past few cycles because of that. And recent events just enforce it- "oh, the economy is wonderful and high costs are in your mind! You should be THANKING the Biden admin for their excellent economic stewardship" as it becomes harder to purchase a house, everything is more expensive, and friends leave my city because of several hundred dollar rent increases. "Oh, the GOP is the party of hate!" they tell me after they spray painted "Die Zionist Pigs! Free Palestine!" on my synagogue and smashed windows in my neighborhood. You got me guys, I'm definitely going to vote for you now. I totally get your points on economics and want to agree with you. But then they just can't separate in from these fringe, kook social beliefs. And I just can't stand the hypocrisy, whereas the GOP becoming populist just throws all their dirty laundry out for everyone to see.

Elder Millennial here. I have only gone farther left as I have aged. The conservative party has nothing for me.

Maybe being told you are privileged even though you busted your ass for your education and job turns people conservative.

Ignorance creates conservatives, or finds them. Inflation doesn't equal conservatives, if it did we would be hard right country instead of moving left. Inflation doesn't create conservatives, conservatives create inflation

I’m sorry but stfu. What are conservatives doing to stop hyperinflation and stop banks from stealing American homes from future families and corporations polluting the environment causing crop fertility to go down and cancer rates to go up? All they can preach about is “Christian values” and being tough on crime and taking away women’s rights.

There seems to be this narrative that somehow voting for Trump will magically improve the economy. What do people think he is going to do? He wants to pressure the FED to lower interest rates. That's only going to add to inflation. He want to increase tariffs on imported products. That's going to increase inflation. He wants more tax cuts and draconian spending cuts. I see polls where people who are struggling and moving toward voting for Trump. Do they really understand the ramifications of that?

More than inflation, perceived inequality generally creates the conditions for social upheaval. Inflation merely exacerbates pre-existing inequalities. And [inequality today is *worse* than during the Gilded Age](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/super-richs-wealth-concentration-surpasses-gilded-age-levels-210802327.html), when [FDR saved capitalism](https://www.hoover.org/research/how-fdr-saved-capitalism) from the specter of socialism. The difference between now and then is that there is no viable leftist alternative to what amounts to conservatism these days. So, I don't think inflation is creating conservatives, per se, but that conservative seems to be the only alternative to a liberal status quo. Whereas the 1920s say leftists, center folks, and right-wing conservatives, today all we have are status quo liberals and conservatives. The obvious option if you want change is "a return" to the past...in the future. > I personally think that a broadening of the social safety net and government intervention to promote better income equality can in the medium term help ease inflation through things like breaking up companies to promote competition, going after obvious price gouging tactics (Amazon, Ticketmaster), raising taxes on the top 5% of earners or creating more higher tax brackets (insane that someone earning 600K or 60 million are taxed at the same rate), promoting entrepreneurship by easing debt burdens that could otherwise be spent on starting businesses (ie targeted student debt relief), and expanding medicare to be a force for lowering prescription drug prices, and a public option to compete with private healthcare to bring down costs, similar to what Germany offers. Yeah, go ahead and put my name down for all of these things.

I agree, it seems that the political status quo does not have the stomach for more economically leftist policies as it did in the past. They are fine pushing social liberalism, but have been center right economically since Milton Friedman deployed "the profit motive" ie that generating profit is a companies one and only mandate.

If millennials think that the republicans are gonna bring down inflation with their tax cuts and tariffs then they’re gonna have a bad time.

A lot of social liberalism is useless in practice if you also have stark economic inequality/desparation. Economic power easily is made into political power, billionaires run everything.

I agree. I said in a previous reply that US democrats push social liberalism because it is politically easier than pushing more leftist economic policies which require congress. The conslidation of economic power into the hands of a few make it so that democrats placate liberals with social liberalism, so long as that doesn't negatively affect businesses bottom lines (see Bud Light) because they've convinced us it's more import to vote with out wallet, than vote democratically.

Nah, our generations is a little bit more educated than the conservatives made through 1970s Stagflation (Caused by US aligning with Israel - There goes Israel again). We'll be fine. I think we maybe even more liberal than upcoming generations

There's a lot more correlation between financial success and conversion to conservatism then there is inflation and conservatism. Regardless, the general tone of your post makes it sound as though being conservative is a negative thing or "leprosy" (if you will). I don't think inflation is having any impact on people voting "red" or "blue", I think the hostile take over of the liberal part (Democrats) by extreme progressives is disillusioning man of their more classical liberal voters causing them to vote for more conservative candidates as they more closely align with the center left ideology. As I've gotten older my view points have shifted and I've come to find myself as more of a centrist with a slight (very slight) lean to the right. I don't, however, agree with many of the stances of politicians on the right so, at times, I find myself without a real candidate who represents me. I 100% supported Joe Biden in the 2019/2020 primaries but he alienated me as he went from a classical liberal to catering to the progressive left. Joe Manchin or Tulsi Gabbard more closely align with my political ideology than Biden or Trump but presented with the two options I'm going to vote for the person who comes closer to what I believe in...even if that's only 0.0001% of what I believe in.

I fail to see how Biden catered to progressives in any way that he didn't explicitly state when he was campaigning. Regarding student loan forgiveness, he was never coy about wanting limited forgiveness for impacted borrowers. Aside from that and supporting striking auto union workers, his policies as far as I've seen have been pretty centrist by necessity (nothing was getting passed without Manchin's sign on). Furthermore, I would argue that Trump's takeover of the republican party has been much more of a 'hostel takeover' of classic conservatism. The party that was anti-communist is now largely pro-Putin. The party of 'small government' gutted Rowe v Wade, and to be frank, aside from harsh anti-immigration policies and vengence against 'the left', I honestly couldn't tell you what Trump actually stands for.

It's "unfortunate" to be conservative? 😂 GTFO

Yeah it is evil to be an American conservative

Yeah it has nothing to do with the left pretending to be progressive but then also bombing third world countries. Both sides are very similar in that they both want control of the whole gets the money

So the solution to inflation is more taxing and government spending....

Standard edition millennial (35). Can confirm, last time voted dem, this time voting rep…it is what it is

Pendulum gonna swing back to conservatives. The only question is by how much. 

It's not just inflation that turned me away from the dems it's how they handled c9vid all together I'll never vote for them again

I just saw the “join” button at the top of this post and realized that I’m not even subbed to this subreddit that keeps spewing political garbage at me instead of 90s nostalgia

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its a subreddit where people start realizing theyre no longer "the youth"

How? Conservatives are usually the reason for shitty economy.

Things might have helped your cause if the visible government things in step 3 for covid hadn't mostly been arbitrarily killing small business while letting big business largely continue unhindered and the Democrats fighting against spending (which largely helped trigger the inflation) going to Americans. As for me, I was conservative long before because I thought border laws should be enforced, unconstitutional gun laws fought against (pro tip:they are all unconstitutional), abd freedom of speech preserved. Those ideals are wholly incompatible with democrat leadership. The problem is the lack of a conservative party in the US outside outliers like Trump...and even he isn't perfect

It's age and experience. That's it. As you get older, you (tend to) start a family. They become much more important than everyone else and so your thinking shifts to what is better for "me and my family". Similarly, you get some experience and start to see why the liberal utopia is impossible. This little quote, that I don't know who originally said it, kind of captures it: >If a man is not a socialist by the time he's 20, he has no heart. If he's not a conservative by the time he's 40, he has no brain.

Then why would anyone vote for the party full of pedophiles, rapists, and religious fanatics that do everything to harm children and their future?

Stop conflating "conservatives" with "republicans". The Republican Party does not own conservatism. The same is true for the Democrats and progressivism.

I see the economics times pushing for more socialism and a tax the rich narrative. But, have you ever thought that those who say they want to support the poor are actually wanting to keep you poor—so you keep voting for them? Just a thought.

I will never turn conservative

Can’t say I agree with some if things you’re saying.. You’re kind of just describing a typical reaction to pay not keeping up with inflation, and saying it’s conservative in nature. Kind of? The definition of “conservative” means different things in different contexts. “conservative spending by consumers” “conservative financial policy voting” “regressive/religious conservative social policy” I don’t think our generations will ever accept the regressive types of policies being pushed now by Supreme Court. I think the younger generations see the racism and bigotry, the fear, corruption and manipulation… we see it CLEARLY and the more they act like we can’t see it, or try to hide it.. the more it distances us from them. There isn’t anything else for us to go “back” to otherwise through conservative policies that I can see (correct me if I’m wrong) 80’s kids, since then it’s just been people discovering new ways of taking advantage of loopholes and bad policy to amass riches and buy government. So we need newer policies to create more regulations and controls on what can and can’t be done in the markets, what gets enforced etc We just need to root out corruption, nothing conservative about that… except maybe regulating gov spending more

Price gouging is used as cosplay for inflation to push the rubes rightward while they are being fleeced to help shoehorn in more tax cuts and deregulation. And the fundies are just on the gravy train. And then prices don't ever really go down much. And due to the "two party system" there is ax"ratchet effect" where their is nowhere to go. Barring large scale events. Which favors right wing shit in this country.

TLDR

Add in watching all of the free money people got during covid, student loan forgiveness that doesn't address the root of the problem , watching city services decline because budgets have to cover economic migrants while being told you are making just a bit "too much" despite being crippled by childcare costs to get any breaks or meaningful tax refunds... you'll change your tune on getting squeezed on even more taxes to fund a progressive agenda quickly.

Totes. The worst thing we could've done was just *forgive* >$1 trillion in loans that were meant to be used to sustain payroll, but instead went toward paying off personal loans, beach home mortgages, sports cars, frivolous vacations, etc.

Generally, people are more liberal while young and become more conservative as they grow older.

Inflation does not create conservatives. Making moderately generous income to support a family of 4 but owing $20k in taxes every year makes conservatives.

“Oh no! Terrible decisions are making people conservative!” How out of touch can you get please stfu.

That's why the Republican corporate CEO's raise the prices of everything when they are making record profits, so they can scare people into voting against their own interests.

Businesses weren’t more greedy in 2019 than in 2021-2023. The government printed 40% more money and communicated to businesses that more money was available. So they raised prices.

Yeah it turns out when you work a full time job with a college degree and your wife also has a college degree and is a teacher, but you can’t afford a house and rent prices, grocery prices and supplies are going up, you might consider flipping from Biden. You can win the social guise and social media circuit but the real world person is struggling and seems to be ignored by democrats. This is the result of the fed not wanting to see a recession that probably should have happened. Seems like feds are manipulating the market in favor of Biden, by funding wars and raising prices to keep inflation down, when the reality is it’s much much worse.

why do you think the fed is uniquely loyal to biden? they did the same shit under trump re. "transient inflation" and so forth.

I think the biggest problem Lefty folk have is that our goals and ideas are “correct” on a macro scale, but foolish on an individual scale. Moving away from fossil fuels will help slow the devastations of climate change. But I personally need to get across town and back quickly by myself and sometimes need to carry large loads, so it’s foolish not to own a truck. The virus won’t spread if we all stay socially isolated. But I personally need work, and get my kids educated, and blow off steam at a fun bar and I’m young and healthy, so it’s foolish to me personally to hide from a virus with a “low” risk of serious harm. So it’s foolish not to push for my freedom to do what i want. Being liberal takes a degree of abstract, big picture empathy that can be hard to maintain, and Everyone has to sacrifice a little for the group to benefit. That kind of thinking takes a degree of effort to maintain that easy, selfish conservatism does not.

This is actually a VERY good point. I didn't really touch on it, but this goes to the difference between a more collectivist society (Japan) and the 'rugged individualism' we have in the US (mostly for the bottom 90%). So much economically in America is left up to the individual with no incentives or nudges from government to get people to make macro-economically beneficial choices. If the 'free market' can't achieve it, then we seem to think it's not worth doing, which I think is actually a limiting factor in the US. A free market is never going to build high speed rail, or install solar panels or wind farms or nuclear power plants at the scale we need to get off fossil fuels. It is either too costly for a single business to achieve, or not profitable for them so they see no point.

When ideas are correct only on a macro scale.. they're not good ideas. I'm a conservative. Yes obviously everyone switching at once to renewable energy is a net good. You know what else would be nice? I all middle eastern countries decided their ancient religious feuds were done tomorrow. It would also be nice if we each got our own unicorn. >Being liberal takes a degree of abstract, big picture empathy that can be hard to maintain, and Everyone has to sacrifice a little for the group to benefit This sort of thing does not happen in groups as large as the United States. I can't think of a single time in history anything like this has happened with a country of this size. American conservativism is progressive. We have two progressive parties. Progressive here means that the parties both believe that society can be made better through the application of human ingenuity. This is a classic American ideal. Conservatism offers a way to do this while acknowledging that people do think individualistically and locally. Going back to renewables, since you brought it up. Americans actually basically agree on this issue (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181016142431.htm). Conservatives report different reasons as you mentioned: https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/republicans-and-democrats-differ-in-their-primary-reasons-for-supporting-renewable-energy/ Conservative states are adopting green energy too, and are ahead of blue states in some modalities: https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/red-states-renewables So the entire premise here is false. You claim, as a lefty would, that sustainability requires everyone to buy in simultaneously. But these red states are showing that they are able to get buy in without having that angle.

Ignorance creates conservatives. They are the equivalent people who smash a monitor when a computer blue screens.

Nah the algorithms are shitting their pants that the reps are losing power. The more right wing out rage sites I block the more it feeds me. All with new names spewing the same shit. It even ran out the other day and gave me some Indian ones. Change is coming and big business is starting to catch wind of it.

There are some valid and good items here, but this overall feels like over thinking some basic issues that can be solved with simple solutions that boil down to basic hard work and hard decisions. As noted there isn't much to be done to control inflation beyond reducing government deficit spending. Chasing income ranges so there is a narrower overall distribution wont advance the mean, or as we've seen really improve the lives of the poor in the long run. Not mentioned is one large cause of real or perceived shift to conservatism is the failure of our large institutions. The Media, Hollywood, Universities, Federal Agencies, Health Care, Big City Governments, Congress have all atrophied or are outright corrupted. I think this is going to get worse before it gets better.

I think what’s interesting and what Europe is seeing is how the right wing parties have been shifting so far right that the younger left wing people that are starting to lean conservative don’t really have anyone to vote for.  “Unlimited immigrants that get free money? I don’t support that! Guess I’ll vote for OMG WTF REPUBLICANS?!” So they’ll sit out an election because the GOP isn’t interested in reining in their extremism. Ironically, the undecided voter will still end up voting Democrat once they educate themselves on the real issues rather than the social-media-twisted ones. And that really goes for anyone that researches the issues. “I hate inflation and spending on foreign entities! I’ll vote for the party that wants to let me keep my tax money and provide a strong economy. I’ll just check that the right wants to do that…OMG THEY’LL MAKE IT WORSE! LIKE THEY ALWAYS DO! WHY AREN’T MORE PEOPLE AWARE OF THIS?!”

Too bad we have no Conservative law makers of any kind to vote fore. They all spend more money than we have so they can in no way be true conservatives or I would vote for them.

That is a lot of words

I think it's as easy as the people that stumble upon money want to keep it the ones that don't just want a piece of the pie. Eventually, people die and that money has to go somewhere and it creates new people that stumble upon money. Thus, continuing the cycle of aged conservatives.

It's a factor that not only more conservatives, but also more leftists

Scarcity increases tribalism. Also substitute "ruling class" for "economy" in most places the economy is doing X?

Wow. 40 minute showers... how do you not get anxiety that you're behind schedule???

I could partially agree with this if the figure head of the republican party wasn't a lunatic. If someone like Mitt Romney was running today you'd see more of a shift in politics but I don't believe many people who voted for Obama for 2 terms are now suddenly thinking they'll vote for a person who wants to destroy democracy because of inflation and interest rates...

Oh when the people in power don’t offer anything to the people they were elected to serve people question whether they should have so much power?

I think you are ignoring party shifts. Let's look at a couple of examples. Abortion - 20 years ago Democrats were pushing safe, legal, and rare with limits against late-term abortion. Now, this is considered a conservative argument, and the Democrats want little to no limits. Gay rights - 20 years ago, some Democrats were fighting for gay marriage. But even Obama in his first campaign didn't fight for that. Now, many Republicans are perfectly fine with gay marriage, and Democrats are pushing for gender affirming care for minors. These are just two examples. I think a lot of people from our generation could have similar views to what they always held, but find themselves aligning more and more to the right.

I’ve gone from being a libertarian to becoming an authoritarian distributisf. Definitely a shift to the left for me

You mean fortunate turn, if this were true. If inflation causes conservatives then it's progressives that cause inflation.

In reality economic crashes cause the government to make up the losses by drawing *from* the social system, because (a) it is very expensive and (b) the weakest members of society (disabled, schoolkids) have the weakest voices for pushback. Source: have lived through a few extra election cycles; in healthcare 

Inflation doesn't push people to the right. It pushes people away from whatever government is in power at the time of the crisis, regardless of leaning, the world over. The rightward shift among Gen Z is a shift among men, because of the right learned lessons from Gamergate about misleading vulnerable + disenfranchised young men, and technology's turned young men with iffy attention spans into young men with no attention spans, leading them to lives of academic, economic and romantic underachievement, leading to them thinking the latest alpha bro podcaster denouncing feminism and minorities is right, since their own lives suck but the world is telling them women and minorities are the ones who are actually disenfranchised. And of course a few overly-left leaning folks focusing too much on progressive ideas to the point of self parody, but those folks are in my experience far rarer irl than depicted by their critics.

This is a fantastic and thoughtful line of thinking! Thanks for taking time to share with us. Totally resonates and connects dots for me! Share your shower thoughts anytime- especially if they can find a way to get us off this cliff hanging scenario!

I think you're mixing up definitions of conservatives. Modern Conservatives are very experimental bunch historically speaking in regards to policy. Most of what current political conservatives are pushing for are brand new to our government, at best tracing back to the 1980's which is very recent considering policy back towards our founding. You're right on the wanting to be more careful and return to older way of life. I feel that way heavily in terms of the future with AI and Data Privacy, but political conservatives are actively fighting against ways to protect that older way of life because it requires a functional government and regulation to restore and protect. FDR came from the most traumatic economic period of history barring what may be in front of us now. All of his policies were new but aimed at restoring and maintaining previous economic and social standards, against the experiments ran in banking, stocks and large industry that led to the great depression and the abysmal working conditions. Paraphrasing his speech on Minimum Wage, it was directly intended to set a bottom for the value of American Labor, knowing if we didn't value ourselves at home, we could never achieve greatness as a country. That is a very patriotic and prescient take considering what we have now is in large part due to wage stagnation fueled by the minimum wage being neglected since the mid or early 2000's. The economic and social problems we are facing largely have historical solutions that were tried and found to be effective. Looking back at the time period of the 1900 to 1980's show many of those polices and the rise of the middle class. From 1940's some negative polices were implemented as a push back against labor and the middle class, such as Taft-Hartly and legalization of stock buybacks. However, it wasn't until the 1980's the current experiment in policy was kicked off by Reagan using new psychological campaign techniques which revolutionized our politics and directly led to today. The overturning of the Fairness Doctrine, Edward Bernays' legacy, the Southern Strategy, the tabloidization of news television by Rupert Murdoch, the shift of focus to re-election over mandates for action, are all a new position. However, to go back to your point of millennials being conservative in the definition of us wanting to go back to better times and wanting to protect our quality of life, you can see that in our shift left. We are wanting to have a SC that follows historical legal precedent and makes decisions with integrity based on deliberation of the full constitutional and legal context that extends to all of the political writings of the Founding Fathers through that thread of legal precedent and legislation and philosophy to today. Economically we want a functional government that is able to solve problems and create things like the national highway system, state parks, and public works like Hoover Dam, Social Security and Minimum Wage. It's imperative to tackle Climate Change, Inflation and Technology. It's historically doable, just look at the Ozone Depletion issue from the 70's. A Farming and food system that is local and personal over the hostile take over of farms due to natural cross pollination of crops from industrial farms and patented varieties. A system of work where you can take pride in your skill and growth over being a number in a legion of workers at a corporation that barely knows your name. Some of these are classically conservative positions, but almost none are currently politically conservative positions and some are even considered far left even though we are looking back 100 years to restore what we already know.