In the mid-2000s, Napster had a futuristic slogan: “Own Nothing, Have Everything.” You know, hang out at Starbucks with your laptop and your iPhone, with all the world's music, and videos, and books, and free information at your fingertips, and no physical stuff to worry about. On the Road, 21st-century style.
Well, the future has arrived faster than many people expected, and millennials are being asked to internalize the Gospel that life has never been sweeter. I may not have a house, as my parents did, but hey, I have to move around a lot anyway, and I don't have the hassle of furniture and a mortgage. And I may not have a car, but it's cool and healthy to ride a bike. And I make be bunked up with four roommates, but look at all the people I get to meet. I can pick up and travel, if I can afford a ticket. And with all the great cheap eats, I don't even need a kitchen. My parents sure got it wrong (and could they please send me a check?).
It's a great lifestyle, in your 20s, maybe. But what happens when you are 35 and want to have kids? What happens when you are sick of gig jobs and the itinerant life?
Though some millennials may have swallowed this story in order to make a virtue of necessity—nobody likes to be the loser generation—the reality is that millennials are the most downwardly mobile generation since the Great Depression. And I haven't even mentioned student debt.
Alexa, find me a decently paying job. Oh, Alexa can’t do that.
The progressive politician who becomes the voice of the Screwed Generation, who gives voice to deep and shameful frustrations and stunted dreams, who offers something better, could be the next president.
