There's much to worry about in the U.S.'s current
state. Allow me to channel my inner David
Brooks and take heart from a more hopeful trend.
Writing
at Vox,
agricultural economist Lyman Stone flips the script on a widespread trope about
America's young adults. The American Millennial – that most curious
of species, with a smartphone glued to one hand and a slice of avocado toast in
the other – is not the wayward flake we all think. Our perception is
skewed. The average Millennial isn't actually living in an urban
co-op with ten roommates, juggling six different freelance jobs, devoid of
possessions other than the 21st-century staples of an iPhone, a laptop, a
pallet bed, and a laundry bag of expensive clothes.
Millennials,
it turns out, are far more rooted than the stereotype implies. They
aren't switching jobs on a whim; they aren't peripatetic in their living
habits. "By a number of measures, Americans today, including
millennials, are less mobile, less likely to switch jobs, and generally more
rooted in specific geographic areas than their predecessors," Stone
observes.
The
statistics bear this out. The job tenure rate has remained stable since
2006. The average amount of time a young American adult spends in a
locale is 12 years, which is an increase from nine in the
1960s. Even the number of evenings Millennials spend at home with
their families is rising, while time spent with friends is falling.
In a
more surprising twist, the city-bound Millennial is starting to give way to
those seeking a more pastoral life in the country. Beginning in
2012, urban net migration has plummeted, while its rural equivalent has
risen. Jackson
County, Ga. is the new Brooklyn.
Stone
refers to himself as a social conservative but admits that the trend the is
troubling. He writes, "[A] shift toward increasing rootedness
is a worrying break with the historic American norm of dynamism and
mobility."
No,
it isn't. And I can't think of any genuine social conservative who
views rootedness as a problem for the country. Not to commit the no
true Scotsman error, but an attachment to place is one of the first principles
of conservatism. It is sine qua non with what is
considered the philosophy of Burke, Kirk, and Scruton.
It's
true that America does have a tradition of restless discovery that has driven
much of our economic innovation and growth. Manifest Destiny, the
Wild West, the Dust Bowl exodus, the Great Migration, Apollo 11 – all were
events that improved not just our way of life, but the shape of our nation.
In
fact, the U.S. was founded upon the express purpose of excavating roots from
the Old Country (Europe, namely England) and planting them elsewhere, shedding
a previous identity for a new one. In a letter to
Moritz von Furstenwarther, a German immigration researcher, then-secretary of
state John Quincy Adams implored newly arriving Americans to "cast off the
European skin, never to resume it." More so, he urged them to
"look forward to their posterity, rather than backward to their
ancestors."
An
antipathy toward establishing deep roots was baked into America from the
beginning. And while it has leavened our rise into both an economic
powerhouse and the world's foremost rule-enforcer, it has warped our sense of
place, the value of having a defined, unmoving point on a constantly spinning
globe. "To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least
recognized need of the human soul," wrote French philosopher Simone
Weil. Establishing roots happens only through "real, active and
natural participation in the life of a community," which, in turn,
"preserves in living shape certain particular treasures of the past and
certain particular expectations for the future."
You
can't plant yourself in a place you're already thinking of leaving. Deep
connection is established not with nomadic laborers for hire – it's formed by
those willing to put in the investment to cultivate that indefinite but still
real sense of belonging. In a word, it's commitment.
Does this mean that America will lose
its dynamism to another up-and-coming nation like China, where peasants are
leaving farming villages in droves for big urban centers? Perhaps;
perhaps not. But even if our newfound stagnation results in a lower
GDP rate, the trade-off may be worth it. Forgoing a slightly cheaper
2019 Ford F-150 for the sake of having a friend from church you trust enough to
watch your kid while you and your spouse enjoy a date night sounds like a
pretty good deal.
Whatever the cause behind more
Millennials staying put, it's a welcome development. There's more to
life than crisscrossing the country in search of a better paying
job. And who knows? Settling down could teach Millennials
to revere those antiquated values of family, faith, and country.
They're surely better than avocado
toast.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/07/a_hopeful_trend_among_millennials.html
