Millennials Didn't Abandon Our Institutions — Our Institutions Failed Them

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/22749-millennials-didnt-abandon-our-institutions--our-institutions-failed-them

he Pew Research Center recently released a study finding that the Millennial generation – those born between the early 1980s and 2000 – is increasingly alienated from the major institutions of American society. Many are turned off by religion and see little difference between the two major political parties. They’re less trusting of strangers than previous generations. Fewer are tying the knot. Less than half consider themselves patriotic.

But rather than blame those crazy kids, we can look at some social trends that make their detachment seem perfectly rational. One of Ronald Reagan’s favorite lines about his switch in partisan allegiance was, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.” The reality is that America’s institutions have become a lot less worthy of the Millennials’ trust.

Pew found that whether it’s faith in religion, trust in politics or sense of patriotism, every subsequent generation since World War II’s “silent” one has less of it than the one that preceded it.