Studies show that gen X, my generation, is the most rabidly right wing generation. The millennials are bucking the trend of turning conservative as they get older.

Many people attribute this to economic prospects.

But hear me out here, because there’s an alternate theory.

The romans used lead in plumbing. It was used continuously from then on until the 20th century in plumbing, building, paint, even makeup.

In the mid 20th century they added it to petrol, to improve car performance, filling the air with lead.

Until the advent of the Boomers, it was in paint and water. Slowly it was replaced, but added to the air we breathe. As traffic increased, lead poisoning in the developed world got worse and worse and worse. We know lead poisoning turns humans, well, nasty and unpleasant.

The concentrations peaked in the late 70s to early 80s when traffic levels got huge.

And then it was replaced. The plumbing became copper and plastic. We didn’t use it in paint. It was phased out and banned in petrol.

This happened around the point the millennials were being born. They are the first generation in two thousand years without societal level lead poisoning.

What if humans are better than all this hateful right wing bollocks that is now peaking? What if it is not our natural state to be like this? What if we are just …broken by growing up in an environment in which this poison, which we know to cause violence, hatred, and all the worst qualities in humans, was utterly ubiquitous?

And what if, when my generation and those of us who came before die out in a few decades, and the damage from lead goes with us … what if things just get better?

Maybe the future will be ok.