Gen Z could be catalyst that restores critical thinking to our nation
By State Rep. Trish Ladner
There are those special moments in life when you meet someone who renews your faith in the next generation and gives you hope for the future. That is exactly what happened to me at the closing of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Annual convention in Salt Lake City a couple of weeks ago.
One of the keynote speakers to close out the conference was a young woman named Rikki Schlott. Rikki, is a beautiful, articulate young woman who is a 21-year-old junior at New York University. Six months ago, she was just your typical college student keeping her head down and as she put it, simply trying not to get “cancelled!”
She was always quietly political, but after the pandemic hit, simply going along, to get along became impossible for her. For the first time in her young life, she saw the liberties and freedom she had always taken for granted, suddenly in question and ultimately, in jeopardy of being taken away and she found herself speaking out more and more.
Gen Z’s were raised in the “lessor of two evils” era where communities and Thanksgiving tables were torn apart by partisanship and as a result, Gen Z’s political window is very narrow however, they are still open, receptive and independent thinkers and are actually more moderate than we are led to believe by the radical fringes. Did you know that forty percent of Gen Z college students consider themselves moderate and over half are registered Independents?
As the pandemic dragged on, Miss Schlott became a bridge or moderator between Zoomers (Gen Z born between 1997-2012) and Boomers (born between 1946-1964). Her message resonated with many and her role began to quickly expand with speaking engagements around the country and writing articles for the NY Post and the Wall Street Journal.
After listening closely to her, I had to wonder if this upcoming Gen Z generation could be the catalyst that restores critical thinking and normalcy to our nation? Something that we have all been longing for.
I share this story of new found hope with you because you have a chance to judge for yourself. Rikki will be the key-note speaker at the upcoming Pennington County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner on 9/11 in Rapid City. This is an amazing opportunity for you and our young people to hear her speak and learn what the next generation values, thinks and believes. It gave me new hope in the upcoming generation, and I believe that it will encourage you too.
Rep. Trish Ladner
District 30
Generation X is the key to a future where mass surveillance and anti-human technologies are used more responsibly.
Generation Z should follow Gen-X, and we should not pass up Gen-X lest we get into a Hitler Youth scenario wherein the lessons learned by Gen-X are intentionally forgotten to allow this sordid and ineffective system to continue failing us.
Gen X is the smartest generation, the strongest generation in my view. We have been fed garbage information and garbage food, yet we deconstructed and reverse engineered global systems of exploitation. We endured a hidden, silent war and were given no quarter. We were subjected to insane “cradle to grave” philosophies of human management, yet our minds remain free. We were flooded with mind altering drugs .. and it was all just a failed experiment.
We were treated like animals; like livestock.
Despite everything, strangely, we are not ready to kick the can just yet.
Generation X has much, much work to do having survived the gauntlet, as this system tries to sweep us under the rug in an embarrassing moment of self actualization.
Gen-Z and millennial would do well to let us keep cutting the barbed wire before running onto the field of battle.