These young adults see no future for themselves. Of course they are longing for stability. It guarantees a roof over their heads, food on the table, and education in case economic conditions become more favorable.

Perhaps if enough power and money were threatened to be taken from the 1 percent by democratic socialists, they might become frightened enough to actually trickle down some well-paying jobs.

ADRIENNE L. RAINER FRIEDES

East Hampton, N.Y.

To the Editor: Is it really amazing that so many young people “want to mimic a continent that has been sluggish for decades” and “want a country that would be a lot less vibrant”? David Brooks should climb out of the bubble.

Most young people I know are hindered from enjoying American vibrancy because they’re a bit busy with their $9-an-hour jobs, trying to pay off their $50,000 student loan debt while hoping that they don’t get sick or injured because they have no health insurance.

Future American vibrancy depends on eager and educated economic participants; we cannot create them when we cling to an outdated social model that builds barriers to success.

LISA CALEF

Portland, Ore.

To the Editor: David Brooks’s column evokes the most fundamental question facing us in the election: What is the purpose of government? He lists the ways in which Senator Bernie Sanders proposes to push American economics and politics in the direction of European “social democracy” and sees disadvantages to the United States in every one. He is surprised that “so many look to the future and want a country that would be a lot less vibrant.”

Is “vibrancy” the overriding goal of government, regardless of the social milieu that it fosters? Are we to measure the success of our administration by the number of multibillionaires it produces, the vast size of our armed forces or the number of Nobel Prize winners, when the great majority lack access to quality education, guaranteed medical care, unchallenged voting rights and a fair, nonpolitical legal system; when scientific findings vital to mankind’s future are ignored and the country’s infrastructure at every level is in decay?