I don’t think young people are embracing socialism at all. If they were they’d have little use for college, which is on the top of their wish list. I believe they just have a better understanding of the role of government and don’t go bat shit crazy every time someone suggests that their government might actually benefit them. They don’t conflate capitalism with “freedom” as so many of us boomers have been trained to do reflexively. One cannot consider themselves “free” if they are homeless and starving, or stuck living off their parents with no chance of ever having a family or a decent life.
Government spending for the “common welfare” isn’t socialism, no matter what the intellectually lazy Libertarian wing of the right says. It is the “job” of government to organize the economy around its currency and see to some measure of equitable distribution. Those who can only see extremes are those intellectually lazy and misinformed that have found refuge in the GOP that lets them harbor their wild west fantasies while not having to actually live them. No one is holding them here and there is no shortage of places where they can practice their version of “freedom” without inflicting suffering on the rest of us or having our “socialism” inflicted on them. They just need to leave their socialist money at the door.
Millennials are much more likely to know their peers in other countries than their parents are. They know better than to tell their friends that they are somehow less “free” than Americans because they can get sick or injured without going bankrupt, even though Americans pay twice as much for healthcare. It’s also difficult to convince them that their healthcare is somehow substandard because they obtain it via their government when they are likely to live longer and more healthy lives than Americans. Convincing them to give up their mandatory sick leave and vacation in the name of “freedom” would also be an uphill battle and would be met with laughter and a suggestion to lay off the pipe.
American boomers bought into the lie that they were somehow exceptional because they were free, and then their capitalist masters framed the definition of freedom to make sure they never actually would be. The kids are showing great potential in their desire to not remain stuck on stupid. Call it socialism or whatever you wish, as long as they manage the effort to catch up with the civilized world by demanding that their government actually work in their best interests.
