As Millennial conservatives know, conservatism gets a bad wrap in our generation.  Conservatism is a hard sell on the young in general because it begins by challenging our natural inclinations towards innovation, novelty, and the pursuit of progress and revolution over gratitude and reform.  And far too often, older conservatives fail to understand the unique historical inputs—the Great Recession, 9-11, our increasingly digital and automated world, the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street—that have formed our worldviews.  As such, they tend to dismiss Millennial concerns as trite, unappreciative, ignorant, or dangerously unpatriotic instead of engaging our concerns head-on and offering better solutions.  We’re depicted as the “kids these days” and largely written off as hopeless causes who will eventually swing to the Right when we learn what’s good for us.

 

But the oldest Millennials will soon be forty—which hardly qualifies as the “kids these days”.  And as Millennials age and eventually take charge, are we in danger of repeating the same mistakes of our elders?  Do we understand the unique inputs that are forming the next generation of Americans—COVID-19, civil unrest and police misconduct, the Trump era—and how the message of conservatism might be tailored to meet their concerns?

 

To that end, Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis (a Millennial) welcomes Nate Hochman (Gen Z) to the podcast to discuss conservatism through the eyes of younger Americans.

 

Nate Hochman is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Athwart, an online publication that offers a platform for dissent from Colorado College’s political orthodoxy.  Hochman is currently majoring in political science with a minor in journalism at Colorado College.  He has interned at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. and National Review and has been published in National Review.  He is currently interning with Steve Hayes and Jonah Goldberg’s media start-up The Dispatch.  You can follow Nate on Twitter @njhochman