My name is Tristan and I used to be involved on the old Fourth Turning forum back in the day. I was born in 1983 and currently live in Hobart, which is in the Island state of Tasmania. I have been busy with my life in recent years, however the saeculum still remains on my mind. I have to admit William Strauss and Neil Howe's predictions have been extremely accurate so far and my faith in the saeculum is stronger than ever. I am a short to medium term pessimist, however a longer term optimism since winter will end eventually and spring will come.
Generationally I would see myself as a late wave Reactive or Nomad, since Australia is about 4 years behind North America when it comes to turnings. I do see people a few years younger than me in a different generation, which I find hard to relate to.
Personally, I do feel I have become a “young fogey”, which Strauss and Howe did predict that for Generation X as they entered midlife. I am concerned about the appetite for authoritarianism which the Millennial generation I have observed certainly have. Especially when it comes to the curtailing of free speech which is considered offensive. This is a concern I share with some X’er and X’er peers have including Jordan Peterson (b.1962). Because once the financial crisis hits Australia, authoritarianism will certainly emerge, especially given the failure of our political class to address the concerns of voters so far.
I am not sure when the Fourth Turning started in Australia anytime between 2008 and 2012 roughly, there was no bang like there was in Europe with the Global Financial Crisis (which we escaped so far). What has happened political since then, at least federally has been shambolic to put it.
We have had in eight years, five separate prime ministers and six changes of Prime Minister. Also there has been hyper-partisanship which has characterized federal politics, this has led to an unprecedented apathy towards our political class. I do believe this has to do with the Boomer peers in their elder stage having dominated the legislatures for quite a while and the country having four Boomer Prime Ministers from 2007 to just a week ago (Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull). However, their political power has definitely peaked, For example the current Prime Minister (Scott Morrison) and every state premier is a Generation X peer and that generation definitely have the majority in Federal and State parliaments. Our Silent generation peers have been gone from public life for quite a while now and sorely missed.
There pessimism in society about the future, there are concerns about climate change, cost of living and increasing inequality in the economy. Also there is a lot of frustration at our political leaders about not addressing their concerns. The last couple of decades has been characterized by a housing boom of epic proportions which has led to the Millennial generation so far being shut out (unless their parents can assist them financially) of the housing market because of unaffordable prices. While the economy has been growing for nearly three decades now. Since the GFC wage growth has been pretty much non-existent in real terms and unemployment (especially youth unemployment) has been high. Public opinion in recent years have been incredibly concerned about the opportunities (or lack therefore) of the Millennial generation in both the labor and housing markets.
All a while in this time, Australia has been running very high levels of immigration (as an attempt to keep house prices rising by stimulating more demand), which has fueled significant anti-immigration sentiment among the public. Also, we had a commodities boom during the earlier part of this decade, which lead to an over-inflated currency and hollowing out of our manufacturing base. Once the housing market crashes, Australia I predict will undergo an economic depression on the scale of what Greece has suffered. Right now, I am predicting our current party system is going to collapse (along with the economy) like it did in Italy and new political parties rise up in the place of the former ones. Authoritarianism and demise of our liberal democracy with an ‘illiberal’ one like that current in Hungary could happen, if the Millennials believe it is price worth paying for seriously addressing the country’s issues. There has been a increasing amount of what I see as authoritarianism through limits on free speech which has occurred in Australia in recent years and it will probably get worse in my opinion.
So far, the Millennial generation have not been engaged very much in politics like they have in the United States (Obama and Sanders), also in the United Kingdom (with Jeremy Corbyn). No political figure or party so far has managed to tap into the power of the Millennial vote and people I speak to are very dismissive of my opinions. However, their activism has certainly been in evidence. For example; a left-wing activist group GetUp has more members than either of our major political parties (Labor or Liberal). Also, Millennial activism little doubt played a part in a high turnout (80%) and success of (61.8% voting Yes) a plebiscite last year to allow for same sex marriage to be legalized federally. However, I do believe the Millennials here are very politically radical, however I don't know which politician or party will tap into their power.
Generationally I would see myself as a late wave Reactive or Nomad, since Australia is about 4 years behind North America when it comes to turnings. I do see people a few years younger than me in a different generation, which I find hard to relate to.
Personally, I do feel I have become a “young fogey”, which Strauss and Howe did predict that for Generation X as they entered midlife. I am concerned about the appetite for authoritarianism which the Millennial generation I have observed certainly have. Especially when it comes to the curtailing of free speech which is considered offensive. This is a concern I share with some X’er and X’er peers have including Jordan Peterson (b.1962). Because once the financial crisis hits Australia, authoritarianism will certainly emerge, especially given the failure of our political class to address the concerns of voters so far.
I am not sure when the Fourth Turning started in Australia anytime between 2008 and 2012 roughly, there was no bang like there was in Europe with the Global Financial Crisis (which we escaped so far). What has happened political since then, at least federally has been shambolic to put it.
We have had in eight years, five separate prime ministers and six changes of Prime Minister. Also there has been hyper-partisanship which has characterized federal politics, this has led to an unprecedented apathy towards our political class. I do believe this has to do with the Boomer peers in their elder stage having dominated the legislatures for quite a while and the country having four Boomer Prime Ministers from 2007 to just a week ago (Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull). However, their political power has definitely peaked, For example the current Prime Minister (Scott Morrison) and every state premier is a Generation X peer and that generation definitely have the majority in Federal and State parliaments. Our Silent generation peers have been gone from public life for quite a while now and sorely missed.
There pessimism in society about the future, there are concerns about climate change, cost of living and increasing inequality in the economy. Also there is a lot of frustration at our political leaders about not addressing their concerns. The last couple of decades has been characterized by a housing boom of epic proportions which has led to the Millennial generation so far being shut out (unless their parents can assist them financially) of the housing market because of unaffordable prices. While the economy has been growing for nearly three decades now. Since the GFC wage growth has been pretty much non-existent in real terms and unemployment (especially youth unemployment) has been high. Public opinion in recent years have been incredibly concerned about the opportunities (or lack therefore) of the Millennial generation in both the labor and housing markets.
All a while in this time, Australia has been running very high levels of immigration (as an attempt to keep house prices rising by stimulating more demand), which has fueled significant anti-immigration sentiment among the public. Also, we had a commodities boom during the earlier part of this decade, which lead to an over-inflated currency and hollowing out of our manufacturing base. Once the housing market crashes, Australia I predict will undergo an economic depression on the scale of what Greece has suffered. Right now, I am predicting our current party system is going to collapse (along with the economy) like it did in Italy and new political parties rise up in the place of the former ones. Authoritarianism and demise of our liberal democracy with an ‘illiberal’ one like that current in Hungary could happen, if the Millennials believe it is price worth paying for seriously addressing the country’s issues. There has been a increasing amount of what I see as authoritarianism through limits on free speech which has occurred in Australia in recent years and it will probably get worse in my opinion.
So far, the Millennial generation have not been engaged very much in politics like they have in the United States (Obama and Sanders), also in the United Kingdom (with Jeremy Corbyn). No political figure or party so far has managed to tap into the power of the Millennial vote and people I speak to are very dismissive of my opinions. However, their activism has certainly been in evidence. For example; a left-wing activist group GetUp has more members than either of our major political parties (Labor or Liberal). Also, Millennial activism little doubt played a part in a high turnout (80%) and success of (61.8% voting Yes) a plebiscite last year to allow for same sex marriage to be legalized federally. However, I do believe the Millennials here are very politically radical, however I don't know which politician or party will tap into their power.