I write this in the days after a group of Democratic Socialists won key New York races to represent their districts in Congress. This follows on the heels of Zohran Mamdani’s surprise (to some) victory in the mayoral election in New York City in 2025.
And the meltdown has commenced.
So-called progressive Democrats have warned of doom at the polls unless the entire party tacks to the center, and folks who are apparently already in the center are talking about the imminent dissolution of the party.
I say “so-called” progressives because, frankly, they are a worn-out lot of wealthy Dem influencers and talking heads who hold all the right positions on everything from poverty to climate change to abortion, but actually spend most of their time making sure their privilege and wealth are protected.
I know this type very well—in my youth, they were called “Cadillac Liberals,” and they have always said the right things in public, but lived their lives with a completely different set of values, including NIMBYism, disdain for unhoused people, and personal choices that deny the reality of a warming planet.
My home state of California is full of them, and as a former elected official, I know some of them by name.
The handwringing is predictable, but sadly misplaced. As Dylan sang, “Oh the times they are a’changin.”
What we are seeing in New York is the future, and I, also, thankfully, know some of the people who are going to make it happen. My sample is biased, but less so than it might initially appear. I work with early 20-somethings on a major university campus. They are not all politically active, but they are all engaged, and they see and inhabit a world so distant from their elders that they might truly be living on a different planet.
The reason I say the sample may not be all that biased is that these people do not hail from the guided shores of the Golden State, but from its Central and Imperial Valleys, its wild Northern Coast, and the foothills and mountains that create the great barrier between California and the rest of the US.
They are not homogeneous, and though educated, their families are not. And they do not forget where they came from. They are the first generation of college students born after 9/11, and they cut their teeth on constant surveillance, overt xenophobia, the unkept promises of a hyperconnected world, the explosion of the military entertainment complex (in a time of peace) and, in these latter days, the wholesale destruction of the state that they know has the means to deal with the important social problems of our day including houselessness, food insecurity, and lack of childcare, but gleefully chooses not to.
They are far past the anthem of their forebears that sang of not being fooled again. They know that AI slop is designed to fool them, and they even choose, at times, to be fooled in order to have fun and escape the carnage of a country gone mad.
For the most part, they are not “activists,” but they will stand up for their trans friends, immigrants, and victims of the destructive arms that their country turns out en masse. They are tolerant of everything and everyone, but will call out bullshit when they see it. They don’t see empathy as even potentially toxic, and if they are “triggered,” it is because they FEEL so much for a hurting world.
I ask myself why the aging “centrists” of the Democratic Party want to lead them so quickly down the path of cynicism and disengagement, because that appears to be the goal. “Grow up and realize that your self-interest lies in the direction of maintaining the status quo” seems to be the operant message here.
But they have grown up—way before their time, in fact. They see the world with an unwavering eye. Climate change is and will be their challenge. When they were young, the idea of an energy system independent of hydrocarbons was a distant dream. But in their lifetimes, it has become an achievable goal. And they are ready for it.
They already know that budgets are moral documents, and that the false binaries placed before them about such things as national security versus food stamps, or universal health care versus a secure border, are all propaganda. They know they are being manipulated by fearmongering, and while they will accept certain kinds of manipulation for fun, they know when they are being jerked around for someone else’s profit. They know how hard their families back home work and how hard it is to squeeze the American Dream out of three jobs and 80 hours per week. They are done with the false choices and the respected elders who peddle them. I am not talking about the insane cultists of the Republican Party; I am talking about self-respecting Democrats.
They are voting now and learning how to vote.
They are pondering the issues and weighing the choices, and they are ready and willing to make a break. They don’t admire AOC because she is young (though that does not hurt), they admire her because she is willing to call out everyone and everything, the whole damn thing, and not run to the center to grasp the talisman of relevance or power, or whatever.
The stakes are extremely high for them. The world is not doing well, and it will soon be their world, alone. They are less and less willing to leave it in the hands of aging sycophants of a system that has handed it to them on the road to perdition.
Most importantly, I think, they have multiple ways of saying “I love you” with their hands and fingers. They don’t need the signs of “Make Peace, Not War” of yore. They have their hands. And with those hands, and with that love—yes, dammit, I said love—they are going to lead this nation forward.
Stop crying, aging centrists, faux progressives, and lefty influencers in your oh-so-tony townhomes and stylish walk-ups, the kids are all right, and they are coming for the future.
Traveling at the Speed of Bike 