BONUS - America’s Lost Generation – Cameron Cowan

Why are so many people exhausted, cynical, or disengaged from politics — even as the stakes keep rising?

In this episode of Outrage Overload, David Beckemeyer is joined by journalist and author Cameron Cowan to explore the deeper forces driving generational inequality, institutional distrust, and political disengagement in the United States.

Cameron is the author of America’s Lost Generation, which examines how economic change, labor markets, and policy decisions have reshaped opportunity for younger Americans who did what they were told and still found themselves falling behind.

Rather than focusing on daily outrage or partisan blame, this conversation looks at how lived experience — not ideology alone — fuels cynicism, burnout, and withdrawal from civic life. David and Cameron discuss what happens when institutions stop feeling accountable, how concentrated power shapes public trust, and why disengagement may be as dangerous as polarization itself.