Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders is the darling of young Americans. If “you want to win an election,” he said, “you rally young people who have given up on the political process.” Indeed, Sanders won 84% of the millennial Democratic vote in Iowa and then won 83% in New Hampshire; last Saturday, he carried 80% of voters under 30 in Nevada—while Hillary Clinton seduced two-thirds of those over 45. It is very unlikely Sanders will defeat Hillary Clinton, but his popularity with the young is intriguing as he’s managed to appeal to millennials, oftentimes derided as apathetic and cynical, with a 1960s “revolutionary” style.

Symptoms of a troubled political era: Bernie Sanders (left) and Jeremy Corbyn

In appearance, Sanders stirs enthusiasm among younger voters because he has chosen to address their needs and concerns like no other candidate. His agenda includes making tuition free at public colleges and universities and raising the minimum wage: both issues are of utmost concern to today’s youth. He also offers the young a face of authenticity and integrity that they believe is absent in other candidates. Like the equally insurgent Jeremy Corbyn, who became the new British Labour leader a few months ago, Bernie Sanders is an old man rising from the margins who appeals to the younger generations because he addresses their most pressing concerns.

Indeed, whereas Hillary Clinton is the baby boomers’ favorite, the Sanders campaign is all about corralling young people back into the political process. The task is daunting. A poll by the Harvard Institute of Politics recently showed that political engagement has declined since 2011, with “78% of millennials describing themselves as not politically active.” That’s the subject of a new book, Running from Office: Why Young Americans are Turned Off to Politics by Jennifer L. Lawless and Richard L. Fox, which also addresses the fact that they aren’t interested in running for office. Very few millennials dream of a career in politics, and those who do are rarely the most ambitious and talented. Young people are so fed up with politics that only radical innovation, such as the promise shown by Obama in 2008 and 2012, could manage to inspire them.

Billionaire Mark Cuban: “Millennials EXPECT capitalism to reflect a socialist element…Socio-Capitalism is who they are and what this country will be. Whether you like it or not.”

This is the reason why a self-proclaimed socialist like Bernie Sanders was probably the needed solution for attracting the younger generations back into the political process. As recently pointed out by Mark Cuban, millennials don’t find the word “socialism” as repulsive as older people. Many among them associate socialism with the idea of solving problems for the general public. Oddly enough, in the age of Donald Trump and dysfunctional institutions, a substantial part of America is moving to the left and rediscovering politics as the way to change things for the better. It certainly helps that today’s socialism is exemplified by Northern European countries such as Sweden: as Nate Silver recently wrote, “Sweden may not be your cup of tea, but it isn’t scary in the way the USSR was to people a generation ago.”

Yet another trend, the rise of entrepreneurship, leads to the opposite conclusion. Yes, young people want to solve problems, but they see entrepreneurship, not socialist politics, as the preferred and most effective way of achieving that goal.

There are structural reasons why young people are not about to count on government again: like in many other developed countries, the share of public spending on long-term programs for future generations like education and infrastructure (see John Oliver on the subject) has been falling for decades, while the programs that foster economic security to baby boomers are about to take up more than half of the total federal budget. So naturally the young are skeptical about what politicians can do for them.

Different generations, conflicting interests

There are also structural reasons as to why young people are attracted to entrepreneurship: millennials have less wealth, more debt, higher unemployment, and less access to home ownership than the previous generations at the same age. They don’t even expect Social Security to still be there when they grow old. They have become used to rising inequality and stalled upward mobility. As baby boomers dominate the political process, entrepreneurship is seen by the young as both the means to climb up the social ladder and the lever to effectively solve their problems that tired politicians don’t want to tackle anymore. As explained in “Entrepreneurship Is the New Politics” (TheFamily Papers #008),

overcoming politics is the number one reason why we need the Entrepreneurs more than ever. Our political leaders have not adjusted their worldview to include the digital transition. Meanwhile, Entrepreneurs are rediscovering the virtues of voluntarism and restoring the will to make things happen. With Entrepreneurs, it becomes possible again to do great things together. Entrepreneurs inspire us and see the big picture; while politicians always defend the status quo, Entrepreneurs seal an alliance with their users and aim to radically change the world.

Many millennials do expect their future to improve, but only because they feel empowered by the many new opportunities generated by technology and entrepreneurship. Hence the chasm with traditional politicians: contrary to their younger constituents, elected officials are not familiar with technology; they always ask voters for more sacrifice and more resignation to the current state of affairs instead of doing whatever it takes to achieve the impossible; and above all, they favor vested corporate interests over radical innovation. Is this the way to regain the confidence of younger voters? What did they expect?

The famous ‘Bern It Up’ hip-hop remix, by DJ Steve Porter

The paradox is that it took an elder, marginal, off-beat socialist from Vermont to reveal that trend. Even though Bernie Sanders doesn’t express the slightest interest in technology and entrepreneurship, he contributed like no other to revealing how much the young are devoted to the goals of entrepreneurship in the digital age: solving problems at a large scale, against all enemies. Bernie Sanders, like Jeremy Corbyn, may be more a symptom than the man for the job. Fortunately we don’t have to bet everything on any political outcome: like many young people, we at TheFamily believe that entrepreneurship is currently a more effective way than politics to solve problems. Even Bernie the socialist is no match for Elon the rocket builder.

The President, the soldier, and the Entrepreneur: who most effectively serves society’s long term interest?

(While “TheFamily Papers” series is made of long-form stories, this new “TheFamily Notes” series presents shorter reactions and highlights related to current events. Thanks to Laetitia Vitaud and Kyle Hall for suggesting the format and reviewing drafts.)