Staff Reports
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro found himself under fire this week after telling hosts on the Triggernometry podcast that young Americans who cannot afford to live in expensive cities should consider moving to places with more opportunity. His blunt argument — that American history is a story of people moving to opportunity rather than expecting their hometowns to subsidize their lifestyles — touched a raw nerve and was quickly seized on as proof, by critics, that conservatives don’t care about communities.
The online reaction was immediate and loud, with left-leaning outlets mocking Shapiro and even some on the populist right expressing unease at the way he framed the point. Social media threads lit up with takes ranging from predictable outrage to genuine agreement that Americans have become entitled to geography, not opportunity.
Let’s be clear: there is nothing cruel about telling young people the truth — that opportunity often flows where policy, taxes, and business climates make it possible to prosper. Conservatives have long argued that mobility and economic freedom are the engines that build prosperity, not entitlement narratives that demand federal handouts or punitive price controls. The Washington Examiner’s column defending Shapiro’s common-sense observation is right to point out that migration has always been central to American life.
Shapiro himself has lived this reality, moving where the environment suited his family and career, and he’s not alone in encouraging younger Americans to make pragmatic choices instead of waiting for politicians to engineer miracles. That personal example underscores the conservative preference for individual responsibility and seeking better opportunities rather than relying on government fixes that never materialize.
Meanwhile, the circus of outrage from entertainers and media figures — including viral clips and clickbait headlines — tells you more about the state of our culture than it does about Shapiro’s point. Prominent online personalities have a habit of turning debate into performance, using anger as currency while offering no workable solutions to why cities have become unaffordable in the first place. The same hosts who shout the loudest about fairness refuse to talk honestly about zoning, regulation, and the tax incentives that drive capital away from struggling towns.
If conservatives are going to win the argument for a prosperous future, we need to stop apologizing for basic economics and start offering real answers: unleash housing supply, cut needless red tape, and promote state-level competition that rewards sensible policies. Telling people the truth about the choice between staying in a stagnant place or moving to opportunity isn’t cruel; it’s practical, patriotic, and aligned with the founding American ideal of striving for a better life. No smiling pundit’s outrage should distract us from that reality.
At the end of the day, Americans know the difference between hand-wringing and hard work. The left’s insistence that everyone must “deserve” geography above opportunity is a recipe for stagnation, and the conservative message — however blunt — should be to restore dignity through work, mobility, and policies that expand opportunity for every hometown, not to hand out empty promises. That’s the argument worth making to hardworking Americans right now.
