I think it’s time we talk plainly about generational imbalance—particularly in how our government allocates resources and political influence. If we’re serious about keeping communities alive for the long haul, we need bold local action. Not just federal rhetoric.
Here’s what I propose, at the county level:
- We eliminate property taxes for anyone under 40 earning less than $100,000 a year.
- We provide heavily subsidized (free) daycare for working parents.
- And we restrict housing incentives—grants, tax abatements, or low-interest loans—for people under 40 who are buying single-family homes.
All three of these ideas are local. We don’t need to wait for Congress. Counties control property taxes, zoning, childcare grants, and local incentive structures. This is about political will. The hard truth is that young people don’t vote at the same rate as older generations, and so their interests are not equally represented. This is the root of the problem.
We live in a country where retirees vote in droves, and their lifestyle has been heavily subsidized—often by borrowing from the very people who can no longer afford a home or daycare. The numbers don’t lie: we are not a rich enough society to support non-wealthy, non-working adults living alone, indefinitely. We’re simply not. And we haven’t been for a while.
Instead, we need to embrace multi-generational housing—not as a step backward, but as a return to interdependence. That requires families to get along, yes. But more than that, it requires acknowledging a painful truth: one generation handed off a country with rusted-out infrastructure, the long tail of globalism, a student debt crisis, and inflated asset prices. Saying “I wasn’t in charge” doesn’t cut it anymore. You didn’t need to be a billionaire to benefit. Americans of a certain generation got a better deal—cheap college, affordable housing, stable pensions—and many voted to keep it that way, even as it disappeared for others. A lack of wealth in retirement doesn’t absolve someone of having supported or profited from a system that burdened those who came after.
I used to be quieter about all this. More “go along to get along.” But after my daughter Vienna was born, something shifted in me. The stakes feel clearer now. Generational responsibility flows in both directions, and I want Vienna to inherit a world where that burden is shared fairly. Of course I don’t want older people to suffer. I’d love for everyone to afford dignified care until the very end. But we can’t build a society on what we wish we could afford. We have to build on what we can.
My fear is that Gen X, squeezed in the middle, will be blamed for a crisis that began before them and worsened under them. And while blame is easy, it doesn’t help. What helps is naming the problem, suggesting local solutions, and getting more young people to see themselves as political actors with power—if they use it.
I don’t write this to provoke. I write it because I care. Because I think there’s still time to realign our local priorities. And because if we don’t start soon, Vienna and her generation will be paying off debts—economic, social, and environmental—that they never agreed to take on.
