Sweeping political and cultural transformations occur during times of crisis. Our nation is in such a time now, and significant change may soon be coming whether we want it or not. Whether America reaffirms itself as a land of Constitutional freedom or whether it becomes just another plot of ground in a new socialist world order remains to be seen. This is a time for choosing. How we address this crisis in the next few years will define who we are as a nation for the rest of the century. The consequences for all Americans will be enormous, and especially so for Millennials.

Exactly what crisis are we in, you ask? Well, consider the staggering debt and looming economic collapse. An ever more aggressive China threatens confrontation and possible war. The Covid pandemic continues to rage around the world. Big Tech and Big Media are restricting free speech and fixing elections with the compliance of the administrative state in Washington. The border is being overrun. Schools no longer teach our history or what it is to be an American. At the head of it all is Joe Biden and his gang of race-baiting socialists purposely dividing the country, driving it into collapse, so the great reset into a Marxist world government can begin.

So yes, we are in a crisis where the future of our way of life hangs in the balance.

In their seminal 1997 book, The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy, William Strauss and Neil Howe surveyed history through a generational prism. Their chronicle forms Anglo-American history into recurring sequences over the generations. The authors make a weighty claim that generational characteristics follow a similar series of phases, or turnings, that climax in a major crisis every 80 years or so.

In their book, each cycle is characterized by the First Turning or the High (which most recently occurred from 1946 to 1964); followed by the Second Turning or the Awakening (1964-1984); then the Third Turning or the Unraveling (1984-2008); and finally, the Fourth Turning or the Crisis (2008 to late 2020s). Each generation comes of age during a different time and consequently views the world differently than the other generations.

The last historical crisis we faced was the Depression and World War II, where The Greatest Generation was forged. These trials brought about significant changes to the entire world, and especially to that generation. We are now 80 years past that crisis, and it now appears the nation has entered into another time of tribulation.

Our nation has experienced existential upheaval during the American Revolution, the Civil War, and the Great Depression and World War II together. Over the past 500 years, western civilization has repeated the pattern of four turnings seven different times. Hence, the title of a new book, The Seventh Crisis – Why Millennials Must Re-Establish Ordered Liberty, by Bob MacGuffie and Antony Stark. Their book updates and refreshes The Fourth Turning narrative to the crisis we face today.

While the turmoilwe face will affect all ages, it will fundamentally impact young people. Like the Greatest Generation, this new crisis will have a defining effect on Millennials, whose response will have a defining impact on the future direction of the United States.

According to the U.S. Census, Millennials have become the largest living generation in 2019. By 2050, the Pew Research Center projects about 25 million more Millennials than any preceding generation.

Millennials' notable aspects are that they are more racially diverse, more sensitive to racial discrimination, and more likely to back Democrats. Unlike the Greatest Generation in their youth a century ago, a large percentage of Millennials come from broken homes. On the whole, they have not been raised to rely on the stable influences of family, community, and the church.

According to Pew, they are 43 percent non-white and stand out for their liberal views. In a 2018 survey, 52 percent of millennials said racism was the main reason black people could not get ahead, while 79 percent believed immigration strengthened the country.

The word "equality" has become almost sacred to Millennials. They want a level playing field. They want everyone treated fairly. And they want to leave behind our discriminatory, racist past. All that is positive, but to spearhead a conservative renaissance in the Seventh Crisis, Millennials will need an epiphany regarding all the anti-Americanism they have been fed by popular culture since childhood. While this prospect may be somewhat unlikely, an existential crisis to one's way of life has a way of making a stark back-to-basics awakening happen. We will see.

All generations must come to realize that while leftist groups pretend to stand for tolerance and egalitarian Socialism, they represent repression of free thought and a form of brute nihilistic fascism not seen since the 1930s in Europe.

Today's fight against the deep state should follow the example of the tea party movement a decade ago on how to organize an effective campaign based on organic power. Today, we call it the MAGA movement, and it is difficult for the deep state to control because deplorables embrace hatred by the deep state as a badge of honor.

At some point, the left will ramp up some incident triggering a full-on conflagration of street riots, accusations of racism, political correctness, and critical race theory designed to undermine and bring down all that is considered the foundation of American life.

According to MacGuffie and Stark, only the Ordered Liberty of the Constitutional process that limits government power can prevent systematic oppression by the self-appointed elite to permanently maintain control by exempting themselves from what they seek to enforce on everyone else.

Young people should not kid themselves. They are the main target to be subverted, and they need to understand the attack on traditional culture is an attack on both them and their future. The left intends to destroy Ordered Liberty by deceiving Millennials into believing the state will provide all they need. They should neither want nor need freedom, capitalism, traditional family values, and Judeo-Christian morality.

The Seventh Crisis has arrived whether we are ready to face it or not. It will probably resolve the ideological struggle that has been waged in this country since the 1960s. The multiple attempts at compromise through the years have all failed. This time one side will win, and the other side will lose.

Courage is contagious, and great courage by all will be needed in this critical time. Once a few heroic individuals make a stand, we can only hope a rising tide of patriots will follow their lead to save the country. The only question is, will all generations – and especially Millennials – be able to overcome the peril that confronts us, or will we fail. We have a rendezvous with destiny, and we must gird ourselves to win the battle ahead.

Jeff Lukens is a West Point graduate, a U.S. Army veteran, and a Baby Boomer. He can be reached here.