Young voters are becoming more socially liberal and are reportedly less combative in their politics than the old GOP white guys on Capitol Hill. The Republicans, as they currently stand, are more and more becoming ancient relics of yesteryear, and now symbolize old grandpa whose incoherent rants about the good ol’ days are shrugged off by the younger family members.
Though not exactly similar to the 1960s mantra of “don’t trust anyone over 30,” young people’s’ aversion to modern American conservatism is rooted in three main tenets: working instead of fighting, accept peoples’ differences, and don’t make us pay more money. These millennial political ideologies seemed to have developed out of the GOP’s sins dating all the way back to the ill-fated Dub-ya years.
AlterNet noted that millennials are “racially diverse, pro-pot, pro-marriage equality” and a substantial number of them, 74 percent, want the government to guarantee food and housing to all Americans. Pew Research Center found that 56 percent of American millennials think the government needs to do more to solve the country’s problems.
The fossils in the Republican party, however, are not delivering on the desires of younger people. They should be, however. The old adage of “our children are our future,” has been used ad nauseum by countless politicians so much that the phrase has become a parody of itself. But as cheesy as the phrase sounds, it’s true.
Politicians should be courting young people by becoming attuned to the existing, emerging, and eminent struggles that face most 18-29 year-olds. But instead, they scream and shout try to pin young people with antiquated policy. Republicans are guilty of saying “this is for the youth.” But they are doing that without asking the youth what it is they want.
Young people are becoming more and more progressive as the generations go on, and the GOP’s refusal to fall in line has turned them into Pleistocene period mammals awaiting the Ice Age. Hopefully it will come sooner than later.
Josh is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. Follow him on Twitter @dnJdeli.
