Donald Trump’s best choice for his vice-presidential going partner was J. D. Vance. This is not because he served respectfully in the martial, attended Yale University, shows great intellect, or understands the situation of the working group after growing up poor in small-town Ohio, although all these features are definitely useful. Vance’s major virtue is that, at 39 years older, he is a real young.
Being part of the same generational cohort ( I’m the same age as Vance ), I’m well aware of how millennials are characterized. In his book The Dumbest Generation and its movie, The Dumbest Generation Grows Up, English teacher Mark Bauerlein laments that teenagers are mostly ignorant, lazy, vulgar, emotionally fragile, deep, and selfish. They have no compassion or emotion because they have grown up watching Marvel movies and using the internet, which has stunted their age and intelligence.
I concur with Bauerlein and had stated this in a positive review of The Dumbest Generation Grows Up in terms of his examination. Also, most social science data now supports this conclusion: Compared to previous years, youngsters are far less likely to marry, own children, go to church, or even have companions. And despite having the highest level of education, the several millennials I know really read books, go to social events, or exhibit strong reasoning and conversational skills. Instead, they usually occupied themselves with social media, music society, and creature comforts like avocado toast and Costco pie.
These issues with my technology alienate us from both the good life and the rest of the technology. Generational spaces will always exist, but the internet and smartphones have bribed this difference. Teenagers have grown up in a greatly different world, affecting their understanding of all: their politics, their lifestyle, their associations, and themselves. Yet the technology straight before teenagers, Generation X, may struggle to understand their methods.
But, like most criticisms of teenagers, Bauerlein’s research falls short of offering alternatives. Not all of us have abandoned our less ambitious peers into the electronic ether and never thought or act really once, as I have already stated in my review. There are those of us who support him and are working to change the society, even if we’re in the majority. Some of us did get married, have children, go to church, and function to take our brother teenagers, and now the Zoomers, apart from acidic makes jeopardizing their well-being. We hope to be the role models that many of us did n’t have as children.
Vance’s Early Living
Which is why I, and plausible most young liberals, have trust in Vance. His tale, as depicted in the now-classic Hillbilly Elegy, is not just about poor white trash who struggle to make a living in Appalachia and the Rust Belt; it is also about millennials growing up in a multinational, isolated, and masculated world with some authority figures to guide them through life’s some traps. In the absence of intact families, local community, a vibrant church life, and even dignified work, many millennials in these parts of the country who did n’t have the privilege of moving somewhere else ended up wallowing in failure, supporting themselves with government checks, opiates, and endless excuses.
By the grace of God and the strength of his grandmother, Vance escaped this fate and joined the U. S. Marine Corps. This provided him with the structure and discipline necessary to eventually go to college, find a good job, fall in love, come to Jesus, and get the heck out of his hometown. What’s remarkable is that once he had stability and prosperity, he made the decision to move back to Ohio and serve as the downtrodden’s representative.
Obviously, this story matters, and it’s precisely what makes Vance so appealing. There were other millennial VP contenders, such as Vivek Ramaswamy ( 38 ), Tulsi Gabbard ( 43 ), Elise Stefanik ( 40 ), and Sarah Huckabee Sanders ( 41 ), and all of them can speak eloquently to the millennial condition. They were all born into the American elite class, shielded from the dysfunction of the working and middle classes, without exception. By contrast, Vance experienced every bit of it— and still succeeded. In this way, he is both the most relatable and trustworthy among his peers.
Rob Henderson’s Parallel Story
It’s worth noting that this story plays out almost beat for beat in the recent memoir of Rob Henderson, a younger millennial. Henderson was placed with his single mother and her lesbian partner as he navigated adolescence after spending his early years in foster care. A working-class couple in rural Northern California eventually separated him. Like Vance, he also joins the military ( Air Force ), gets his life together, and then makes it into Yale University.
It’s still to be seen if Henderson will run for office and join the GOP of today, but with Vance being made a potential vice president, it’s not difficult for him to do so. He has already spoken out against the “luxury beliefs” of powerful leftists and the pressing need for American children to have stable homes, both of which are common issues facing young people today.
Vance Embodies Unifying Values
Despite my different background ( growing up in North Texan suburbia and not attending an Ivy League school ), I recognize Vance’s world, habits, and challenges. We all have grown up in a country where there are more people, more culturally diverse, wealthier, yet there are n’t as many economic mobility, institutionalized, but still have much less trustworthy institutions. People may see his insistence on personal accountability, homemaking, community building, and honest work along with a rejection of elitism, globalism, and radical feminism as merely tenets of the populist conservative movement. However, in many ways, this is merely a convenient term that we use to describe what many millennials on both the left and right now think is a better way to live.  ,
In contrast to the contenders for Trump’s running mate, Vance better embodies the political and cultural principles that will successfully bring the majority of Americans together. More importantly, he is a great example for millennials and younger generations to follow. He does n’t just speak for the people featured in his memoir, he speaks for all those adults who feel exploited by Baby Boomers, dismissed by Gen Xers, and exasperated by Zoomers.
Naturally, this does n’t mean Vance becoming Trump’s VP or Trump’s successor in the MAGA movement will save the world and bring about a new golden age. It simply means that all of us under the age of 43 have a chance to finally inherit the world and work toward its improvement. Vance has become the first consequential conservative millennial politician, much like St. Carlo Acutis became the first millennial saint. Fortunately for all of us, he understands much of what is wrong and reflects much of what is best about his generation. What they represent should inspire the rest of us to follow their example and live fully in the present moment, even if he and Trump lose the upcoming election.
