{"id":1023,"date":"2026-10-30T09:41:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T09:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/?p=1023"},"modified":"2026-10-30T09:41:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T09:41:46","slug":"slackers-to-saviors-gen-x-resists-the-left-and-our-skepticism-can-save-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/?p=1023","title":{"rendered":"Slackers to saviors: Gen X resists the left \u2014 and our skepticism can save America"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Last week a New York Times\/Siena poll found that Americans of every generation shifted to the left over the last two years \u2014 except for one: Generation X.<\/p>\n

Liberal Boomers, Millennials and Gen Zers were gobsmacked. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with Gen X?\u201d they demanded.<\/p>\n

As a member of that generation I\u2019m here to tell you: Absolutely nothing.<\/p>\n

In fact, we\u2019re the only thing standing between this country and communism \u2014 the break-glass-in-case-of-emergency generation.<\/p>\n

In the \u201990s they called us slackers. Now we\u2019re middle-aged<\/a>, menopausal and holding the door at the Alamo.<\/p>\n

Have you even said \u201cthank you\u201d?<\/p>\n

No mystery why we\u2019re like this: It\u2019s because we were neglected \u2014 latchkey kids who ate saltines for dinner.<\/p>\n

Many of our parents got divorced and forgot they had children, which was fine because we were busy getting blackout drunk in hayfields and smoking weed in garages.<\/p>\n

We also bullied each other \u2014 and it made us resilient.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m only half kidding when I say the anti-bullying movement launched this country\u2019s decline.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nobody came to save us, so we never expected the government to, either.<\/p>\n

Our whole political philosophy could fit on a bumper sticker: Leave us alone.<\/p>\n

And we vote on the basis of which party is more likely to do so.<\/p>\n

Also, we\u2019re the ones who are working; we\u2019re in our peak earning years, which means our peak taxpaying years, too.<\/p>\n

Boomers are collecting Social Security, and younger generations are trying to afford a one-bedroom \u2014 the people writing the checks are us.<\/p>\n

Oh, you mean to tell me the people paying for everything don\u2019t want everything to be free? Shocker.<\/p>\n

Nothing makes you more skeptical of \u201cfree\u201d like being the one forced to pay for it.<\/p>\n

Plus, we\u2019re tired. Not like social-justice couch-warrior \u201cI\u2019m tired,\u201d I mean literally and physically<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We have toddlers, plus teens, plus kids in their 20s who moved back home.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget aging parents: Not just two, because they all got divorced and remarried, but four. Sometimes six.<\/p>\n

Divorce never ends.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Gen X women are hitting menopause, meaning we\u2019re in that famous \u201czero-effs\u201d era.<\/p>\n

Layer that atop our default \u201cwell, whatever, nevermind<\/a>\u201d attitude, and it\u2019s zero-effs on steroids. Or, hormones.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t shame us into voting the way you want; we\u2019re immune to that emotional manipulation and bullying.<\/p>\n

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Generationally, we\u2019re the middle child.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got Boomers on one side<\/a> going \u201cjust get a good job at the factory,\u201d Millennials on the other asking \u201cwhat if the factory were a co-op?\u201d and Zoomers off filming TikTok dances on the factory floor.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re the ones who remember the Cold War and the internet before it ate everyone\u2019s brain, so we don\u2019t fall for every Russian psy-op<\/a> that gets injected into the discourse. Thank you, \u201cRed Dawn.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

And yes, I know Gen X is irritatingly obsessed with itself. In our defense, nobody else was paying attention to us.<\/p>\n

Also, a 2022 study found that almost everyone born in the \u201960s and \u201970s was exposed to harmful levels of lead from car exhaust and of course those yummy paint chips.<\/p>\n

So some of this may be brain damage.<\/p>\n

But I have hope for the kids.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not some fair-weather podcast bro<\/a> that will red-pill Gen Z \u00a0\u2014 it\u2019s a house, and their first real tax bill.<\/p>\n

Nothing turns a socialist into a libertarian faster than that FICA line on a paycheck.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I do think housing is America\u2019s biggest problem: Lawn care takes time.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t put on a keffiyeh and riot<\/a> when you\u2019ve got gutters to clean and three trips to Home Depot to complete the same project.<\/p>\n

A mortgage is the most counter-revolutionary force in America, and young people can\u2019t afford houses, so they have nothing to do on Saturday except become communists.<\/p>\n

Of course they want to abolish private property. They don\u2019t have any.<\/p>\n

Now, you may object that Gen X\u2019s political stance is nothing special.<\/p>\n

After all, people do tend to drift right as they buy homes, raise kids and pay taxes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s the case, then the cure for communism is right in front of us: The most anti-communist thing this country could do is build houses and make it easy and affordable<\/a> for young people to buy them.<\/p>\n

Until then, somebody\u2019s got to hold the line.<\/p>\n

So leave it to us, the slackers.<\/p>\n

The latchkey kids raised on divorce, hose water and indifference, now caring for four sets of aging boomers, paying for everyone\u2019s benefits and mowing the lawn on Saturday.<\/p>\n

We didn\u2019t ask for the job. We never ask for anything. That\u2019s kind of the point.<\/p>\n

Give a guy a 30-year mortgage and a backyard, and he won\u2019t want revolution.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll want a Traeger grill.<\/p>\n

Bridget Phetasy is the host of the \u201cDumpster Fire\u201d and \u201cWalk-Ins Welcome\u201d podcasts.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week a New York Times\/Siena poll found that Americans of every generation shifted to the left over the last two years \u2014 except for one: Generation X. Liberal Boomers, Millennials and Gen Zers were gobsmacked. \u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with Gen X?\u201d they demanded. As a member of that generation I\u2019m here to tell you:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bd24.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}