In today’s whirlwind of political discourse, there seems to be one standout debate that’s catching everyone’s attention: the American Dream is under threat, or so they say. The crux of the argument is the dramatic decrease in the number of young folks who, by the age of 30, are both married and own a home. Compared to one generation ago when this figure was at 55%, today’s significantly lower percentage is causing a stir. People are wondering if the promise of prosperity and stability that their parents and grandparents experienced is slowly slipping away right under their noses.
Enter the critics of this trend, those with a penchant for colorful language and scapegoating. They have set their sights on a new villain in town: the inaccessibility of homeownership and family-starting for millennials and Gen Z’ers. Some voices in the media are actually suggesting young people should simply up and move if their hometown has become an unrecognizable wilderness. To Ben Shapiro, for instance, the answer lies in packing bags and seeking opportunity elsewhere, as if the modern-day young adult is some sort of 21st-century pioneer.
Critics argue this “just move” mantra is not only dismissive but almost laughably out of touch. They believe that there’s something inherently valuable about living where your roots are, where great-grandpa settled after sailing across the ocean or trekking across the plains. Houses and families, they argue, are not only about brick, mortar, and biology; they’re about legacy, community, and history. But it seems that some commentators are treating them like just another piece of real estate on a Monopoly board where you simply trade in your deeds for new, shinier opportunities whenever things get tough.
These critics point out that insisting people move for opportunity is essentially a pitch for open borders—an ironic twist given the usual anti-globalist rhetoric. It’s almost as if they’re putting a fresh coat of hypocrisy on an age-old idea. While these media voices demand patriotism and decry globalization, telling young folks to abandon their hometowns in search of personal gain sounds suspiciously like the tune sung by the very globalists they claim to despise.
At the end of the day, the narrative is comically contradictory. The idea that kicking the American Dream can down the road, just enough to repurpose it for convenience, risks unraveling the threads that are supposed to stitch communities and families together. Maybe the answer isn’t as simple as moving across the map. Maybe, just maybe, the solution lies in not just changing where we plant our flags, but in fixing the backyard we already have.
