Wednesday , December 11 2024

What to make of Great Britain’s Generation Y.

Previously, I had written about how Britain’s young tend to be, according to polling, the most libertarian of generations. This has positives and negatives for me.

On the positive side, Britain’s young are not awe of the Welfare state like many their elders were and are. They rightly see through the charade of an omnipotent government that claims to be able to handle everything. They see government state intervention, especially the quasi-socialist PC meddling of the New Labour years of their upbringing, as what it is- shallow and not effective government. They want government out of the way as it is the biggest impediment to their success. Encouragingly for the Conservatives, support for the Tories is on the rise, and Boris Johnson is a hero among the youth. This is good to see, because in America the left has dominated, by a share of 2 to 1, the youth vote and it is very distressing for the direction of my country.

On the negative side, the young’s cynicism towards government (and institutions in general, besides the Monarchy) seems to have turned towards a cynicism towards politics in general, which I see as a bad thing. In general they don’t like Labour, Conservatives, UKIP and they have all but abandoned the Liberal Democrats. While smaller turnout among a cynical and arguably uninformed age group isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it is worrying if they get older and still don’t take an interest in politics. Further worrying, is I don’t know if the young, educated in a PC era, have a proper appreciation for the great tradition and proud history of Great Britain and its democracy.

Writing in Conservative Home today, Conservative MP Chloe Smith offers a sort of Conservative manifesto for the young. She is a very young, bright MP and has some interesting ideas, some are blunt and possibly cyncial, others more hopeful. As a member of Generation Y, I think many of her arguments are applicable to Generation Y here in the US.

But what do you think? What is your opinion on Generation Y in the UK, and how do you see them ruling Britain once they they become the age group in charge?

About Ted Yarbrough

Ted is the co-founder and editor of the Daily Globe. He is a long-time blogger on British politics and has written a thesis on Thatcherism.

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