Newsweek The Josh Hammer Report: How Can Conservatives Improve Young Americans’ Lives? August 06, 2025

 Newsweek

The Josh Hammer Report: How Can Conservatives Improve Young Americans’ Lives?

August 06, 2025

Josh Hammer

Newsweek Senior Editor-at-Large And Host,

"The Josh Hammer Show"

Younger Americans, and Gen Z above all, are increasingly pessimistic about their economic fortunes, their dating and personal life fortunes, and the fortunes of the United States as a whole. I've been spending time this week at a private political retreat focused in part on these issues, and I have been thinking a lot about possible ways to turn this around.

America needs young people who are happy, confident, and eager to marry and bring children into the world. It thus follows that every single public policy we ponder and propose must be filtered through the prism of what would be most effective in making young people likelier to wed, raise children, and then support those children on a steady and dominant single income. There are no easy one-stop-shop public policy panaceas, but I have some ideas to hopefully get us back on track.

Above all, we need to fix the male-female dynamic which makes the world go 'round but which is also increasingly broken. Young men are waiting far too long to ask out young women on dates. Men and women alike are putting off marriage for far, far too long. These are complex issues, and there are numerous reasons for the state in which we currently find ourselves.

First, we must crack down harder than ever on pornography, which utterly destroys vulnerable young men's impressions of women and dissuades them from maturing and asking out women on dates—treating them, that is, not as objects but as romantic pursuits. Other distracting vices that disproportionately target men, such as legalized sports gambling and marijuana, must also be severely curtailed or banned in the name of the common good.

Similarly, we have to double down on making our federal tax code as pro-marriage and pro-family as possible. Getting married and having children should be directly rewarded by the state—these, after all, are private activities that have positive social externalities and contribute to the common good of the polity. Anything that we can do to try to raise America's fertility rate must be considered, and fiscal concerns are some of the most frequently cited reasons why Americans put off dating, marriage, and child-rearing.

Closely related to this is the issue of the four-year bachelor degree-granting university—namely, that far, far too many people attend them. By taking out debt to earn bachelor degrees—often in subjects of dubious relevance to future wage-earning potential or career development—young men and women typically put off dating and delay learning a useful trade or craft. The opportunity cost of mass American higher education is considerably higher than many realize.

National service, similar to Israel's military conscription policy, might also help foster solidarity and cohesion, and instill warm sentiments of national pride—and thereby happiness and confidence about the American future. Not everyone necessarily has to pick up a rifle or command a battalion, but some sort of mandatory national service is a sound idea and in line with Trumpian, MAGA-style American nationalism and ought to be considered posthaste.

Finally, we really need more Americans to attend church. There is simply no substitute for religion in giving human beings meaning and purpose in their lives. Any and all policies to encourage both religiosity in the public square and private, personal engagement with religion should be considered. A new "Great Awakening" would do wonders to solve our many societal problems.

There is much, much more to be said on this front. But hopefully these ideas could, if implemented, make an impact. We owe it to younger Americans to give it a shot.

To keep up with me, follow me on Twitter/X, Instagram, and Facebook. You can listen to all episodes of "The Josh Hammer Show" at the Newsweek website or on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts—as well as select radio stations across the country. Make sure to also order my new book, Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West! (Signed copies are available for purchase!)

Our additional highlighted recent Newsweek op-eds include selections from Governors Kevin Stitt (R-Okla.) and Wes Moore (D-Md.), former Rep. Michael Patrick Flanagan (R-Ill.), and former Amb. Jeffrey Gerrish.

Have a great rest of your week, everyone. We'll see you back here next week.