Attributed to Alyssa Ahlgren

I’m sitting in a small coffee shop near Nokomis trying to think of what to write about. I scroll through my newsfeed on my phone looking at the latest headlines of Democratic candidates calling for policies to “fix” the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continue to look around. I see people talking freely, working on their MacBook’s, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we’ve become completely blind to it. Vehicles, food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose. These things are so ingrained in our American way of life we don’t give them a second thought. We are so well off here in the United States that our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty. One. Times. Virtually no one in the United States is considered poor by global standards. Yet, in a time where we can order a product off Amazon with one click and have it at our doorstep the next day, we are unappreciative, unsatisfied, and ungrateful.

Our unappreciation is evident as the popularity of socialist policies among my generation continues to grow. Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said to Newsweek talking about the millennial generation, “An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity.”

Never saw American prosperity. Let that sink in. When I first read that statement, I thought to myself, that was quite literally the most entitled and factually illiterate thing I’ve ever heard in my 26 years on this earth. Now, I’m not attributing Miss Ocasio-Cortez’s words to outright dishonesty. I do think she whole-heartedly believes the words she said to be true. Many young people agree with her, which is entirely misguided. My generation is being indoctrinated by a mainstream narrative to actually believe we have never seen prosperity. I know this first hand, I went to college, let’s just say I didn’t have the popular opinion, but I digress.

Let me lay down some universal truths really quick. The United States of America has lifted more people out of abject poverty, spread more freedom and democracy, and has created more innovation in technology and medicine than any other nation in human history. Not only that but our citizenry continually breaks world records with charitable donations, the rags to riches story is not only possible in America but not uncommon, we have the strongest purchasing power on earth, and we encompass 25% of the world’s GDP. The list goes on. However, these universal truths don’t matter. We are told that income inequality is an existential crisis (even though this is not an indicator of prosperity, some of the poorest countries in the world have low-income inequality), we are told that we are oppressed by capitalism (even though it’s brought about more freedom and wealth to the most people than any other system in world history), we are told that the only way we will acquire the benefits of true prosperity is through socialism and centralization of federal power (even though history has proven time and again this only brings tyranny and suffering).

Why then, with all of the overwhelming evidence around us, evidence that I can even see sitting at a coffee shop, do we not view this as prosperity? We have people who are dying to get into our country. People around the world destitute and truly impoverished. Yet, we have a young generation convinced they’ve never seen prosperity, and as a result, elect politicians dead set on taking steps towards abolishing capitalism. Why? The answer is this, my generation has ONLY seen prosperity. We have no contrast. We didn’t live in the great depression, or live through two world wars, or see the rise and fall of socialism and communism. We don’t know what it’s like to live without the internet, without cars, without smartphones. We don’t have a lack of prosperity problem. We have an entitlement problem, an ungratefulness problem, and it’s spreading like a plague.

With the current political climate giving rise to the misguided idea of a socialist utopia, will we see the light? Or will we have to lose it all to realize that what we have now is true prosperity? Destroying the free market will undo what millions of people have died to achieve.

My generation is becoming the largest voting bloc in the country. We have an opportunity to continue to propel us forward with the gifts capitalism and democracy has given us. The other option is that we can fall into the trap of entitlement and relapse into restrictive socialist destitution. The choice doesn’t seem too hard, does it?

Attributed to Alyssa Ahlgren

I’m sitting in a small coffee shop near Nokomis trying to think of what to write about. I scroll through my newsfeed on my phone looking at the latest headlines of Democratic candidates calling for policies to “fix” the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continue to look around. I see people talking freely, working on their MacBook’s, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we’ve become completely blind to it. Vehicles, food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose. These things are so ingrained in our American way of life we don’t give them a second thought. We are so well off here in the United States that our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty. One. Times. Virtually no one in the United States is considered poor by global standards. Yet, in a time where we can order a product off Amazon with one click and have it at our doorstep the next day, we are unappreciative, unsatisfied, and ungrateful.

Our unappreciation is evident as the popularity of socialist policies among my generation continues to grow. Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said to Newsweek talking about the millennial generation, “An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity.”

Never saw American prosperity. Let that sink in. When I first read that statement, I thought to myself, that was quite literally the most entitled and factually illiterate thing I’ve ever heard in my 26 years on this earth. Now, I’m not attributing Miss Ocasio-Cortez’s words to outright dishonesty. I do think she whole-heartedly believes the words she said to be true. Many young people agree with her, which is entirely misguided. My generation is being indoctrinated by a mainstream narrative to actually believe we have never seen prosperity. I know this first hand, I went to college, let’s just say I didn’t have the popular opinion, but I digress.

Let me lay down some universal truths really quick. The United States of America has lifted more people out of abject poverty, spread more freedom and democracy, and has created more innovation in technology and medicine than any other nation in human history. Not only that but our citizenry continually breaks world records with charitable donations, the rags to riches story is not only possible in America but not uncommon, we have the strongest purchasing power on earth, and we encompass 25% of the world’s GDP. The list goes on. However, these universal truths don’t matter. We are told that income inequality is an existential crisis (even though this is not an indicator of prosperity, some of the poorest countries in the world have low-income inequality), we are told that we are oppressed by capitalism (even though it’s brought about more freedom and wealth to the most people than any other system in world history), we are told that the only way we will acquire the benefits of true prosperity is through socialism and centralization of federal power (even though history has proven time and again this only brings tyranny and suffering).

Why then, with all of the overwhelming evidence around us, evidence that I can even see sitting at a coffee shop, do we not view this as prosperity? We have people who are dying to get into our country. People around the world destitute and truly impoverished. Yet, we have a young generation convinced they’ve never seen prosperity, and as a result, elect politicians dead set on taking steps towards abolishing capitalism. Why? The answer is this, my generation has ONLY seen prosperity. We have no contrast. We didn’t live in the great depression, or live through two world wars, or see the rise and fall of socialism and communism. We don’t know what it’s like to live without the internet, without cars, without smartphones. We don’t have a lack of prosperity problem. We have an entitlement problem, an ungratefulness problem, and it’s spreading like a plague.

With the current political climate giving rise to the misguided idea of a socialist utopia, will we see the light? Or will we have to lose it all to realize that what we have now is true prosperity? Destroying the free market will undo what millions of people have died to achieve.

My generation is becoming the largest voting bloc in the country. We have an opportunity to continue to propel us forward with the gifts capitalism and democracy has given us. The other option is that we can fall into the trap of entitlement and relapse into restrictive socialist destitution. The choice doesn’t seem too hard, does it?

The current generation is getting screwed and they know it. The undeniable fact is that they do not have the opportunities their parents and grandparents did. for the baby boomers a career with healthcare and an old age pension was a birthright, unions made it so people could effectively bargain with huge corporations. A person could work their way through school without amassing crippling debt due to government subsidies to higher education. And most importantly a single 40 hour a week job would support a family. This working class prosperity did not come from the gilded age or from the trickle down generosity of the robber barons it came from anti trust laws, the new deal, the GI bill the great struggles of the labor movement breaking up monopolies and a graduated tax system. Returning to that is not some sort of socialist panacea it is the common sense solution that a majority of Americans desire.

Ummmm....... still have anti trust laws
Ummmm........ GI bill is still available
Ummmm........ still have graduated tax system

Ummmm........ a person who works hard and tries to better themselves and doesn’t have to have 2 $70,000.00 cars and live in a 500,000.00 dollar home and have boats and 4 wheelers and Starbucks coffee 4 times a day and a smart phone and cable tv and on and on, can still support a family on 40 hrs a week. You know, my grandparents had 1 car, and my grandmother didn’t have a drivers license until after I was born. It is the entitlement that this generation has and their desire for a bunch of stuff and the idea that all of these things listed above is what makes it seem like they can’t make it on 40hrs a week........... by the way, I have never worked a 40 hr work week in 30 years in the work force. I have always had a side hustle and worked hard. My wife has never worked outside the home though I. The 24 years we’ve been married cause we felt like it was more important to raise our own children then letting the government do it

As far as crippling debt from school, how bout we teach our children about finances and borrowing money and how interest works instead of teaching them how it’s ok to be gender fluid? I bet if they really understood debt and hard work and sacrifice for what they wanted, they would realize you don’t have to leave college with a mountain of debt. It might take longer and might require actually trying to get good grades, but I know in Georgia, with a 3.7gpa, you can get all of your undergraduate tuition paid by the Hope scholarship. The crooked government is not your friend. Why are you so hell bent on redistributing wealth through the heinously corrupt mountain of stupid spending we call capital hill?!?!?!

The current generation is getting screwed and they know it. The undeniable fact is that they do not have the opportunities their parents and grandparents did. for the baby boomers a career with healthcare and an old age pension was a birthright, unions made it so people could effectively bargain with huge corporations. A person could work their way through school without amassing crippling debt due to government subsidies to higher education. And most importantly a single 40 hour a week job would support a family. This working class prosperity did not come from the gilded age or from the trickle down generosity of the robber barons it came from anti trust laws, the new deal, the GI bill the great struggles of the labor movement breaking up monopolies and a graduated tax system. Returning to that is not some sort of socialist panacea it is the common sense solution that a majority of Americans desire.

Ummmm....... still have anti trust laws
Ummmm........ GI bill is still available
Ummmm........ still have graduated tax system

Ummmm........ a person who works hard and tries to better themselves and doesn’t have to have 2 $70,000.00 cars and live in a 500,000.00 dollar home and have boats and 4 wheelers and Starbucks coffee 4 times a day and a smart phone and cable tv and on and on, can still support a family on 40 hrs a week. You know, my grandparents had 1 car, and my grandmother didn’t have a drivers license until after I was born. It is the entitlement that this generation has and their desire for a bunch of stuff and the idea that all of these things listed above is what makes it seem like they can’t make it on 40hrs a week........... by the way, I have never worked a 40 hr work week in 30 years in the work force. I have always had a side hustle and worked hard. My wife has never worked outside the home though I. The 24 years we’ve been married cause we felt like it was more important to raise our own children then letting the government do it

As far as crippling debt from school, how bout we teach our children about finances and borrowing money and how interest works instead of teaching them how it’s ok to be gender fluid? I bet if they really understood debt and hard work and sacrifice for what they wanted, they would realize you don’t have to leave college with a mountain of debt. It might take longer and might require actually trying to get good grades, but I know in Georgia, with a 3.7gpa, you can get all of your undergraduate tuition paid by the Hope scholarship. The crooked government is not your friend. Why are you so hell bent on redistributing wealth through the heinously corrupt mountain of stupid spending we call capital hill?!?!?!