Blogger Note, the following is by Ian Tanner, a blogger at the Progressive Republican.
I was sitting in my office listening to Pandora,when I heard a song that started me thinking. The song was called “1985” by the band Bowling for Soup. The song got me thinking about the current shape of the GOP with regards to the newest generation of voters, the millennials. In case no one is familiar with the lyrics, here is the passage that struck me the most:
Springsteen, Madonna
Way before Nirvana
There was U2 and Blondie
And music still on MTV
Her two kids in high school
They tell her that she’s uncool
Cuz she’s still preoccupied
With 19, 19, 1985
The Republican Party of today is stuck in the 1980’s. I think every candidate who ran for the republican nomination somehow, one way or another, referenced the presidency of Ronald Reagan. I understand that Reagan was an idol/rock star to a lot of the politicians on the GOP side, but its one thing to pay respect to his leadership skills and another to be the “next” Reagan. I’m not the only GOPer to think that Regan needs to be left on the sideline in future political discussions. People like former Florida GovernorJeb Bush, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty , and even an unknown GOP senator.
Ronald Reagan was a great president, we understand that. We understand he helped us with the cold war. We understand that he is in the past. My generation was born in the middle to late 1980’s and beyond. Not many of us were even born in the Reagan-era. We barely remember the first President Bush. The GOP is still stuck back in 1985 way before Nirvana, Madonna was still the Material Girl, and I’m not even sure if there was an MTV. If the GOP wants to “modernize,” meet the needs of a diverse millennial generation, or in Michael Steele’s words “hip-hop makeover” to the GOP, Ronald Reagan needs to be left on the sideline. We need to move on before our party will ever move up.