Why Do Liberals Assume the Moral Authority of Youth?

Perhaps it is because liberals place an inordinate amount of importance on feelings when making moral judgments, or perhaps it is due to the depreciation of rational thought in doing so, but I’ve long been perplexed by liberals’ fixation on the supposed moral authority of young people. 

I see Greta Thunberg has joined the Pro Hamas movement.
I’m beginning to think she was full of SCHIFF when she was complaining about not being in school. 🤔
How Dare You! pic.twitter.com/PE1dYsUXr8

— Clyp Keeper (@DGrayTexas45) May 13, 2024

When liberals went gaga over an autistic teenager who dropped out of school to lecture us about global warming, I was genuinely perplexed by the claims that I should care a whit about her opinions or be impressed with her moral certainty. 

Yet the transnational elites bowed down to her, pretending that she had some special moral authority to lecture ordinary people about how we should live, what sacrifices should be made to please her, and that her angry lecturing should be viewed with reverence. 

All I saw was a spoiled brat. Even if she were correct, it would only be by accident, since she had neither the scientific knowledge to make an argument, the relevant experience to make what amount to vitally important economic judgments, nor the personal experience to judge the appropriate trade-offs between competing goods. 

She was annoying, but that didn’t particularly bother me except for the fact that the elite shoved her in our faces. What really got me going was the fact that liberals thought she had some magic moral authority because she was an angry child. 

Remember: at no point in your history books have the people who oppose college students engaging in protest ever been the good guys https://t.co/32UHZoEvOA

— Dean (@matzar3lla) May 26, 2026

We see much the same phenomenon in many moral debates, where we are told that young people are untainted by cynicism or self-interest, and hence have a purer moral compass. 

It’s bollocks. In fact, a certain level of cynicism is appropriate when making moral judgments, because cynicism stems from important lessons that come with life experience. And while practical judgments can indeed be corrupted by self-interest, they are also a vital component of making moral decisions. 

Good intentions don’t lead to good results. Practical judgments based on good intentions do. 

The Nazi book burnings were famously led by …

The Germany Student Union.

Many university students are moral morons. https://t.co/EIxA4WUtCt pic.twitter.com/EzbveNxOeq

— Ben Greenfield (@benzgreenfield) May 28, 2026

A child is much more likely to see the world in black and white, swallow idiotic ideas whole, and be completely unaware of second-order effects because they have never seen them. 

They are also more likely to become fanatical, favor revolutionary change, and be moved by antics like those of Just Stop Oil. 

It’s not that being an adult automatically makes your moral judgments sound, but at least you are better equipped to see the world’s complexity. 

Moral authority is something acquired over time and should be earned. We should be skeptical of anyone who tells us what is right or wrong, not because we have nothing to learn from others on the topic, but because moral clarity is rare even among adults. It is pretty much nonexistent in the young. 

That’s not a dismissal of young people as dolts or anything, although most are doltish often enough. It’s just a reality of life: good judgment comes with experience, if it comes at all. 

Every time a child is trotted out in order to pluck my heartstrings to persuade me of some moral or political point, I can’t help but roll my eyes. It is an admission that you don’t have a persuasive argument, and an appeal to nonexistent authority and labile emotionality. 

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