Millennials are More Libertarian than the Political Duopoly Wants to Believe

As far as the David Frums and Paul Krugmans of the world are
concerned, talk about a “libertarian moment” in America is baloney. Why? Because beyond
legalizing pot, young Americans don’t care about government
intervention in the economy.

But this represents a serious misreading of the millennials
based on cherry picked poll data, I note in my morning column at
The Week. A careful reading of the Reason-Rupe polls shows
that millennials are not some 1960s-style hippies who want to move
to a commune, toke up, and read Das Kapital. “Indeed, they
are aspiring entrepreneurs who want worldly success — along with
legal pot,” I note.

Millennials are children of the twin wars on drugs and
terrorism. Hence, it makes sense that they care more about their
personal freedoms and the growth of the surveillance state and
America’s foreign adventurism.

At the same time, the rise of the internet economy has shielded
them from the worst excesses of government economic
interventionism, making similar resistance unnecessary for now.

But that doesn’t mean that they’ll stay quiet forever as the
government runs rough shod over their economic liberties. Their
fight for legal pot might have only primed them for a future fight
to keep the Internet economy free.

Go
here to read the whole thing.