What If There is No Great American Comeback?

Stay with me—I’m going somewhere here.

I was recently listening to what’s quickly become one of my favorite YouTube channels: the Rufo & Lomez Show. (And yes, I know Chris a little bit, so I’m biased.) In it, they were having a great discussion about what’s driving the lunacy on the left these days, from Marxism to Mamdani. Among the several debate points, one of the most contentious was tied to some online trolling Chris was doing about who was objectively more oppressed: an assistant manager at Panda Express or a black antebellum slave. Lomez rejected the question outright, and Chris pressed him on it doggedly.

At the heart of it is the culture of resentment in the U.S.today. Young people are frustrated with their station in life, feeling that the American Dream they’ve been sold is out of reach. The generational divide crosses traditional party lines, with many on both sides adopting the mentality of “they did this to me.” At one point, Chris sums it up brilliantly: “We just want someone to become the father and pay the rent.”

Okay, buckle up—here comes the ugly part.

The resentment is real. The justifications for it may not be, but that doesn’t matter all that much. What if the real reason for the lack of advancement and achievement comes down to a sobering realization:
YOUNG AMERICANS JUST AREN’T THAT SMART?

I know, that sounds mean. And yes, kids today know a bazillion ways to use the gadget in their pocket—a device with a million times the knowledge once housed in the Library of Alexandria. But surely, we have to acknowledge that, over the last 30 years, the “long march through the institutions” has been particularly successful in education. And go ahead and ignore the indoctrination curriculum that now permeates the educational spectrum. If the K-12 system hasn’t been successful at teaching basic skills and facts about the world, and the university system long ago gave up genuinely challenging our young citizens intellectually, then should we be surprised by the results?

Of course, there are spectacular individual exceptions to the contrary. Something doesn’t have to be uniformly imposed to produce outsized effects. If the prevailing ethos is to de-emphasize or delay basic algebra—as San Francisco public schools did for more than a decade starting around 2014, a policy only reversed in March 2026—while teaching that the explorers and founders of the American experiment were evil oppressors, should we really be surprised by the resulting frustration and inability to create a successful and fulfilling path in adulthood?

I was having an engaging conversation with a former officeholder about the state of affairs in Washington state politics, especially regarding the legislature’s recent passage of a new unconstitutional income tax. This person was lamenting the lack of backbone from the big business community and, especially, its abdication of any role in standing up for free markets. “While I agree,” I asked, “do you really think there’s a chance for success given the state of our K-12 system and the mass consolidation of all decision-making through OSPI?” The sigh of exasperation on the other end of the line was clearly audible.

If there’s a silver bullet out there to solve this, I’d love to hear about it. Until there’s a mass realization of this entrenched problem by enough voters to demand real change, it’s hard to imagine how we stop this slow creep toward mediocrity. And the good news? Once that happens, it will only take another 30 years to reverse it…

Of course, this could all just be in my imagination.