In a world where the American Dream is getting a bit harder to find, young folks are feeling pretty frustrated. The cost of living is soaring while dreams of owning a home and starting a family seem almost mythical. Just one generation ago, around 27% of 30-year-olds were both married and homeowners. Fast-forward to today, and that number has hovered at around 19%. It’s like the American Dream has become an elusive unicorn, and in the background, some voices are telling young people to simply pack up and move elsewhere if they can’t afford to stick around.
Enter Ben Shapiro, a guy with some bold ideas about geography and opportunity. He’s suggesting that, if you’re a young person struggling to make ends meet in your hometown, it’s time to consider other pastures. It’s a bit like saying if you can’t afford dessert, you should just switch restaurants. Shapiro points out that America’s history is filled with folks chasing opportunity across the land—a nod to pioneering spirit and adaptability. Yet, this notion demands young folks uproot themselves, leaving behind the community ties and family legacies that have grounded them for generations.
Critics are none too pleased, countering with passion that people are indeed entitled to live where their roots are—and not just metaphorically. The land where their grandparents, and maybe even their great-grandparents, lived and toiled is not just dirt; it’s heritage. There’s a comfort in shared values and histories, they argue, something that comes from knowing your neighbor’s granddad played checkers with yours. Suggesting a mass migration away from one’s hometown is akin to saying local legacies have an expiration date.
This heated debate also raises a prickly point about borders and identity. While Shapiro’s view might hint at a mobile and dynamic America, critics fear it treads too closely to globalist territory. That’s where communities lose their distinct identities, and borders blur in the name of opportunity. It sparks anxiety about losing not just family connections but cultural ones, too.
In the end, the divide is clear: one camp advocates for adventure, embracing the vast possibilities of this big country, while the other stands firm, clutching onto the soil enriched by family stories and hometown heroes. It’s a clash of ideals about what it means to be an American and the value of stability versus mobility, all while the unicorn, known as the American Dream, continues to gallop out of reach for many.
