Most people are aware that there is often a generational pendulum when it comes to politics. Not so long ago, the youth of the age were getting tattoos and piercings, experimenting with sexual freedom at music concerts, and donning awkward-looking bandanas. Like most cultural phenomena, two things happened: The youthful revolutionaries who attended Woodstock eventually got married (then divorced) and put on business suits; and the generations that followed were subsequently expected to go through a rebellious phase that looked very much like their parents’ some 18 years prior. (READ MORE: In Sum, Trump’s Defense Focuses on Accounting, Prosecution Obsesses Over Adultery) And they did. They experimented with drugs and promiscuity on college campuses, dabbled in activism, and even broke a window or two when the Left told them to. It became a right of passage for Gen Xers and millennials. Of course, it’s hardly a harmless right of passage. It turns out that religious moralists, bespeckled cynics, and your church-going grandma were right all along. When Western society rejects age-old Western sensibilities, it starts rolling down a slope that grows steeper the closer we get to societal hell. But the pendulum inevitably swings. I’m a young conservative. I grew up in conservative circles. I graduated from Hillsdale College. You could credibly accuse me of living in an echo chamber, but hear me out. In Europe, an uptick in support for right-wing political parties has the mainstream “centrist” politicians worried, according to the European Conservative’s Tamás Orbán. Which population is driving votes for conservatives in Europe? Gen Z. That’s true in Germany, France, Italy, Holland, Portugal, Belgium, Finland, and Spain. It’s also true in the U.S. While Orbán admits that there is a massive divide between young men and women (one that is echoed in the United States), he concludes that “Europe is turning more right-wing with every passing year and it is not despite but because of the established parties’ awkward efforts to cling to power in a world that no longer wants them.” (READ MORE: De Niro Lectures Trump Voters Outside Trial Courthouse) And the youth of the world have plenty of reasons to rebel. Gen Zers are now in their 20s. They’ve mostly graduated from college, they can’t afford to buy houses, and there’s a good chance their graduation ceremonies were canceled due to the pandemic or social unrest. When they speak out, the ruling class promptly silences them — a rather ineffective tactic when dealing with the youth. “The stronger an attack on an idea, the more support it gets among young people, because that’s how it works. Nothing can make the phrase ‘Germany for Germans’ more appealing to a 20-year-old than knowing it’s banned,” Orbán points out. That brings us to the U.S. My colleague Nate Hochman is always quick to point out that young men on college campuses are far more right-wing than they will ever admit to being outside of the privacy of locker rooms and frat houses. In terms of numbers, “Gen Z teens are twice as likely to identify as more conservative than their parents” when compared with millennials, Rachel Janfaza reported on her Substack page the Up and Up in March, citing numbers from Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation’s Gen Z Panel. While it’s certainly true that women (especially single women) tend to vote Democrat (The American Spectator’s Scott McKay likes to point this out constantly), it’s also true that young women are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the role assigned to them by feminists of previous generations. It turns out that sitting in a cubicle for eight hours a day, five days a week doesn’t make for a fulfilling life for the feminine psyche, which is hardwired for motherhood. It’s not inconceivable that politics will follow. (READ MORE: The Hero Who Saved a Cathedral) Whether they’re in Europe or the U.S., that original generation — the ones who listened to Elvis when their parents said not to and who chose to defy traditional Western cultural sensibilities — have clung to their revolution even when it ceased to be revolutionary and became mainstream. Now, as the pendulum swings back, they find themselves shocked that Gen Z wants to have a revolution of its own. The post The Youth Are Revolting. This Time, They’re on the Right. appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.