It’s a cliché of modern Western life – “youth” rebel against their elders.

Since the dawn of western “youth culture” right around 70 years ago, that’s pretty much always meant a leftward tilt – and in much of the world, it still does.

But something interesting is going on in Canada:

If an election were held today, Canada’s Conservative Party would win in a landslide and bury the Liberals, led by Justin Trudeau. This may not seem impressive after ten years of Liberal rule; most governments wear out their welcome long before then. What’s unusual here is that Conservative support is strong in all demographics—and is strongest among youth. An astonishing 47 percent of those aged 18 to 34 would vote Conservative, and only 24 percent and 17 percent would vote Liberal and socialist, respectively. This represents a complete reversal of the upwelling of youth support that brought the Liberals to power in 2015.

Why has the electorate soured on the Liberals? First, nothing has been a greater turn-off to voters than contemporary progressive activism. Think of the constant bloviating about structural racism and colonialism, the “crisis of whiteness,” and self-accusations of genocide. Twenty years ago, you might have heard such things in a sociology department or undergraduate student lounge; now it emanates from Canada’s top political leaders and cultural institutions. One of the Trudeau government’s first moves was to announce a plan to “decolonize” Canada. In their own telling, the Trudeau Liberals manage a civil service and a military riven by systemic racism and white supremacy, respectively. Everyone knows that such claims are ridiculous, but few have dared say so in public. The predictable result is that only about one-third of Canadians have confidence in the federal government, and 70 percent now agree with the statement “Canada is broken.”

 

I can remember the general feeling of fatigue with what seemed like the ongoing collapse of the world that prompted so many people my age to vote for Ronald Reagan when we were in our 20s.

I can’t imagine the world doesn’t look a whole lot worse right now.

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Thursday, October 3rd, 2024 at 5:00 am and is filed under Conservatism, Western Civilization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.