Grand Old Party: The Next Generation
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.
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9 Responses to “Grand Old Party: The Next Generation”
Thanks Dennis for your post. Your observations and questions are observations and questions that (IMO of course) should be universal. And, people from all sides of the debate know that soon, with us or without our support, they will be.
Oh and Happy Birthday in a couple of days.
Dennis… 40 is a piece of cake and if you do comfortable with yourself… so is 50 and 60 (don't know about 70 yet but hope to keep you posted)
It seems to me in a multi-party system that there should be a place for differing viewpoints, including on social issues. If the Dems promote gay “marriage,” and the GOP promotes gay “marriage,” then what's the difference? And you can extend this to a dozen other issues: size of government, abortion, defense spending, etc. The fact is that we have two parties (or more) shows that we are a diverse country. That's a strength, not a weakness. If Megan McCain or others want to see gay marriage, fine. There's a party that believes that way, and they can join it. And when it drifts from its historic positions – like fiscal restraint, such as under George W. Bush – it takes a beating in elections. The GOP should besmart enough to know that it can't be all things to all people. Conservative Millenials – and there are plenty – will stick with a party that sticks with them.
If Megan McCain is the future of the Republican Paryt, then the Republican Party should go out of business today. If the idiot daugther of privledge who is only a Republican because her idiot father is a Republican, then there is no future for any conservative policy in the U.S. It is easy to know what Megan McCain supports, it is whatever her hip Democratic friends tell her to support.
I find it odd that the after years of telling the Republicans that they need to appeal to blacks and Hispanics, that the rich white, trust funders argue that the the Republicans need to appeal to rich, white, urban homosexuals while alienating blacks and Hispanics.
The Republicans would be much better off if they would show the idiot children of the rich out the door and concentrate on being the small government, fiscally conservative, individual responsibility party that live the hip or the pork barrelers or the nanny staters out.
Sw2itch daughter with son and this sounds alot like W – LOL.
Clearly there are some here who do NOT want the republican party to reflect diversity. SD, you have often lamented and predicted the demise of the republicans, well I can guarantee that with static attitudes like yours and redbus's, that will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. There is not necessarily strength in all diversity, but some changes are inevitable and appropriate, which is something the GOP is struggling to learn. For some the struggle is greater than others, and I believe (as Dennis points out) the younger republicans (anyone under 40 is young to me) have already figured it out.
ROTFLMA…
Without the Wealthy and their children, there is no point to the Republican party. The sole purpose of the Republican Party is to make sure that the wealthy stay wealthy. Any thing else is just pablum to attract the suckers.
Every new generation is defined by hope. It's called being young. My daughter is about to turn 20 (at the end of September), she is starting her junior year in college, and she's filled with enthusiasm, energy, a passion for social justice, and hope for change.
Me, I can only stand back and admire her –stand in awe of her, actually.
I just turned 59 (on July 4), and although I still have some hope, it's rapidly being overtaken by a sense that nothing ever really changes.
Your comment about not wanting to march in gay pride parades, and not writing firey letters to your congressman to show your support for gay marriage was interesting. I'm a gay man, and support marriage equality, and every other type of equality, but I don't have the desire to go out of my way to show my support for it either. It should be granted to us through a court of law.
Why should we need to ask permission from absolute strangers, via a vote, for permission to get married?
Thanks for your support, and be well!
The generation x comment was entertaining. We were 10 years old when Madonna felt like a virgin, and she showed us what liberation meant!
Gay marriage is way down the list of most people's concerns.
Health care, science and technology, economic issues, etc. are more important to most people.
The reason the Republicans are only 20-25% of the country these days, (and only 10% of the 18-35 year old age group), is because Republicans don't seem to have any new ideas on issues like universal health care (which every developed country has, with better health care stats than the U.S., for less money per-capita). and new science and technology (including alternative energy, which will be a large part of the future economy).
The young and middle aged people I know believe that Republicans are mainly just old rural people or old southern people, who haven't adjusted to 21st century realities in regards to health care, science, economic regulation, etc..
(the only age group where Republicans are as numerous as Democrats is the 65 and over age group. The Democrats do better with the 18-65 year old age group).