First, it was the snowflakes. Later, they evolved into disciples of wokeology. But now a new crop of children is stepping into the political arena, ready to solve the world’s most contentious issues. They’re dramatic. They’re loud. They’re Mendacious. And more than anything else, they’re performative. They are the theater kids.
These young minds have climbed to the upper echelon of higher education, majoring in the deconstruction of behavioral economics through a Native American transgender lens. These whippersnappers have studied history by watching every speech by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) about the United States becoming an oligarchy since the 1990s. These upper-class folks have learned about the struggles of the working class by visiting a nearby air-conditioned Starbucks and observing how baristas interact with the public.
So, it is only natural that theater kids have the cure for all that ails our society.
Theater Kids Infiltrate Society
Today’s activists and politicians – usually affluent millennial and Generation Z crusaders – engage in performance-based radicalism that extends beyond passive virtue signaling. They seek public validation, aim to transform the political infrastructure, and want to turn societal norms into perverse conventions that would make the denizens of Sodom and Gomorrah blush.
Abolishing prisons, promoting abortion-on-demand, urging microshoplifting, confiscating wealth, and championing polyamory are just some of their common causes. Rob Henderson, an increasingly popular conservative commentator and bestselling author of Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class, calls these positions “luxury beliefs.”
Since they are highly educated, these theater kids are more likely to endorse political violence to impose their value systems. A 2025 American Political Perspective Survey found that support for political violence increases with educational attainment, suggesting a link between higher education and willingness to endorse the use of force in politics.
The Western justification for using violence to achieve political ends can be traced to the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, who argued in the mid-20th century that oppressive structures could only be dismantled through terrorist acts. In other words, if you think you are being held back by those who hold power, then force is warranted.
"For violence, like Achilles’ lance, can heal the wounds that it has inflicted. Today, we are bound hand and foot, humiliated and sick with fear; we cannot fall lower," Sartre wrote in 1961. "Thus the day of magicians and fetishes will end; you will have to fight, or rot in concentration camps."
But it is rarely leaders who do nasty work. Like the Soviet Union’s “useful idiots,” the theater kids are the ones carrying out these dirty deeds.
Cosplaying as the Working Class
A plethora of theater kids, many of whom are affluent but cosplay as the proletariat, have ascended to power or are actively seeking public office. It is no surprise that many of these uprisings occur at elite post-secondary institutions. Washington Monthly published data looking at this phenomenon, writing in May 2024:
"Protest activity has been common, however, at elite schools with both low acceptance rates and few Pell students.
"When you separate out private and public colleges, the difference becomes even more stark, as the next chart demonstrates. At private colleges, protests have been rare, encampments have been rarer, and both have taken place almost exclusively at schools where poorer students are scarce and the listed tuition and fees are exorbitantly high."
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to abolish the prison system, calling it a face of white supremacy. Mamdani’s parents are wealthy: One is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, and the other was a chaired professor at Columbia University.
Disgraced Maine US Senate candidate Graham Platner demanded a 5% wealth tax on assets over $1 billion. He is a prep-school alumnus. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Party’s Senate candidate in Michigan, believes he and his family’s net worth “add up to something like” millionaire status.
Hasan Piker, who has yet to declare any political candidacy, has been a public fixture in democratic-socialist politics for years and has advocated the motherlode of bad ideas. Piker is not only worth an estimated $10 million, but he also comes from a well-to-do background.
Give credit to democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier, who recently toppled an incumbent in New York's 13th congressional district. Although the Mamdani-endorsed candidate wants the government to seize private property from landlords, Avila Chevalier comes from humble means.
Bringing Forward Utopia
These individuals say the right things that appeal to the masses, particularly disgruntled young voters who want to dismantle capitalism and install a socialist utopia. But their track record indicates that when they come to power, they achieve little. Sen. Sanders has howled at the moon about millionaires, billionaires, and trillionaires, but what has he done? Thankfully, nothing. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) complains about the Democratic establishment but toes the party line time and again. Mamdani promised free buses, but his campaign’s cornerstone commitment has ostensibly been postponed.
Perhaps they cannot enact their agenda because they have few allies at the federal or state level. This could change in the near future as more democratic socialists become groupies in Mamdani Mania. If or when this occurs and they impose these policies, young voters – millennials, Generation Z, and Generation Alpha – will learn why these endeavors always receive F grades.
College campuses and city streets, meanwhile, will have to endure the theater kids’ antics.
