Even the sharing economy isn’t safe from the unwanted advances of partisan politicians, as GenFKD’s Justin Dent learned during his recent visit to South by Southwest (SXSW).
From New York to San Francisco, short-sighted attempts to limit popular app-based services like Uber, Lyft and Airbnb have hinted at larger questions about government’s role in the new economy.
These regulatory battles suggest we need to update our thinking for the Internet age. While we endure the growing pains of our new economy, it’s imperative that we embrace the future rather than fear it – and millennials may be best suited for the job.
A divide along generational lines
Rather than the usual tale of red-versus-blue, the divide in tech policy has sprouted along generational lines.
“We’ve seen an inclination from certain lawmakers and special interest groups to regulate this emerging sector of the economy across the country, which is estimated to bring in $335 billion by 2025,” said Dent, co-founder and policy director of GenFKD.
“However, many of these regulations are being advanced by individuals who have never interfaced with these products and are more concerned with maintaining the status quo than they are advancing the benefits these innovations are poised to bring societally.”
Dent recently attended a panel on tech policy at the SXSW festival, which discussed millennials’ role in “disrupting the partisan divide on the emerging issues of the new economy.” As political independents and Internet natives, millennials are thought to have “pioneered a ‘post-partisan’ governing environment that embraces innovation” as opposed to stifling it through regulations.
We’re seen as a bi-partisan breath of fresh air, countered by an older generation largely fixated on enforcing the outdated rules of the old economy.
This falls in line with millennials’ disdain for party affiliation, as well as our tendency to vote based on issues rather than right versus left. With a political climate ravaged by party polarization, this perspective is somewhat of a rarity.
It’s also a sign of what’s to come.
This generational divide suggests a departure from the political and economic “norm” of the last 50 years or so, with our new tech-based economy leading the charge. New political and economic leaders face a battle with those wishing to use legislation to attempt to control a changing labor market they no longer understand.
“The core value that [the millennials] can bring is pragmatism,” said Steven Olikara, co-founder of the Millennial Action Project, in an interview with NPQ. Olikara, a millennial himself, sees millennials as the “bridge over troubled political parties” when it comes to economic policy.
Our take
While millennials may be “entitled” and “lazy,” we’re apparently the only ones able to transcend party polarization in the name of social and economic progress – something that’s easier said than done for most politicians on Capitol Hill.
As we congregate around new issues like the sharing economy and tech policy, we will continue to drive a wedge in our traditional political platforms, gradually reshaping them for a new economy.
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Photo courtesy of Justin Dent.
