As I can now number the days until I turn 40, I’m starting to realize the generation that is coming up behind me. The Millennials, the generation born after 1980 or so, is starting to enter adulthood and take their place on the world stage. What I’ve noticed is how more tolerant this generation is on social issues and how much they are hungry for change. If Generation X, my generation, is the one that is cynical and suspicious of life, then this generation is defined by hope.
Hmmm…hope and change. Sounds like the theme of a certain presidential candidate.
Which is my point. It was this young group that voted overwhelmingly for President Obama last year and the Republicans were caught short handed in trying to reach this new group of adults. There has been much talk about how the future for the GOP is very bleak if it can not reach the Millennials.
But what I am noticing is that a new generation of Republicans are coming forth and demanding that the GOP change its ways. Maybe the most famous of these twentysomethings is Megan McCain, the daughter of the Senator John McCain. But there are others who are making some noise. Ian Tanner, a Republican blogger in Ohio and Martin Rybicki who blogs at the Progressive Republican both write with a passion that might be lacking in my own age cohort. All of them basically say the same thing to older Republicans: change or die.
And now we have a young Republican from Minnesota who is making that same case for change. Madeline Koch writes in the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the GOP must find ways to reach her generation and to do that it means changing their stance on some issues such as gay marriage:
We want gay marriage. Though we may not all be willing to march in the Pride parades or even send fiery letters to our congressmen about it, most of us believe that gay couples deserve the right to be legally wed. I can guarantee you this: The issue of gay marriage is not going to go away, and unless you start shifting within the Republican Party, you will not gain our support.
Read the entire article. She is not simply calling for the GOP to be nice to gays, but to change their tone and sell their stregnths.
As I enter middle age, I reflect my own generation in being wary that the GOP will change its ways. But I am thankful that there are young firebrands out there who are full of hope and optimism that are working to make the Grand Old Party a better place.
Hats off to the Millennial Republicans.