What Do Young Americans Believe?

Sir Winston S. Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1940 to 1945 and 1951 to 1955
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Library of Congress/United Nations Information Office

“Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy; its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” – Winston Churchill in a speech at the Scottish Unionist Conference, May 28, 1948
“The Inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.” – Winston Churchill in a speech in the House of Commons, October 22, 1945

If this time were 20 years ago, I would have little doubt Republicans would blow the Democrats away in the 2016 elections. The last eight years gave us a failed Democratic presidency that saw secular stagnation of the U.S. economy (by the estimation of eminent Keynesian economists!); an increasing vulnerability to jihadist attacks while the jihadists increase their hold on many countries world-wide; a tempting of Russia to reacquire their old possessions of the Baltic States and Eastern Europe by a weak U.S. President; and an increasing tendency for authoritarian government and corruption of the Democratic Party. No matter where a citizen looks, Democratic policies have created failure after failure.  

However, the intervening 20 years have granted a leftist academia and mainstream media a period to indoctrinate the young in their impressionable years. As a result the younger generations (Gen X and the Millennial Generation) have traveled farther to the Left than their elders. Evidence for this can be seen in a YouGov poll that showed the percentages of different age groups who favored socialism over capitalism or vice versa. Listed from the oldest age group to the youngest, the results were as follows:

• Age 65+   : 59% for capitalism, 15% for socialism
• Age 45-64: 59% for capitalism, 24% for socialism
• Age 30-44: 50% for capitalism, 26% for socialism
• Age 18-29: 39% for capitalism, 36% for socialism

Somehow, the younger an age cohort is, the more they have lost the wisdom of Winston Churchill, whose visage graces the top of this post. This fact is particularly interesting given the very bad historical results of socialism, such as the fall of the Soviet Union, and at least the partial turn away from socialism toward free-markets of India and China. If the parents of each cohort passed their beliefs onto their progeny, what else could have caused the large scale move of the young toward the Left other than the influence of the nation’s intellectual elite?

We also have from the same YouGov poll a listing of preferences for capitalism or socialism according to party identification. Those results are shown below.

• Republican  : 79% for capitalism,  9% for socialism
• Democrat    : 43% for capitalism, 43% for socialism
• Independent: 52% for capitalism, 22% for socialism

For the total population the breakdown was 52% for capitalism and 26% for socialism, very similar to the independents’ preferences. Comparing the two lists, one would have to conclude the young disproportionately identify with the Democrats.

At least believers in free-markets still hold an overall two to one advantage over the socialists, but the trends are ominous. If the intellectual elites continue to proselytize for the Left, how long before socialists can muster an electoral majority? That the faculty of colleges and universities, and the main-stream news media are predominantly controlled by leftists seems beyond debate. Since current faculty members of colleges hire new faculty members, it is hard to see how faculties can become more ideologically diverse in the short term. The same would be true for the mainstream media, except for the discipline of the marketplace. In an August 2015 Mediaite ratings, the conservative Fox News Channel was number one in all primetime cable news media, while the very leftist MSNBC was dead last. Politico came to an identical conclusion. Since advertisement revenue depends on audience share, TV news can continue to sell what they offer only if people like what they see. Once the audiences decide that a news program is biased and inaccurate, they can put a news show out of business simply by not watching.

In the end reality will determine what the views of the intellectual elites are, but experience is usually a very harsh way to learn reality’s nature. These elites generally believe in Keynesian economics because they favor state management of the economy, but reality is currently telling us that Keynesian ideas do not work very well. Read Central Planning for Chaotic Social Systems, Failures of New Keynesian Economics, and Why Socialism Does Not Work to be persuaded. But will elites and the younger generations that are beginning to dominate the electorate learn fast enough to spare us a very painful stint of national socialism? National socialism – now there is an ominous phrase to remind us of the era of Winston Churchill!

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