172 Comments

1. Nick Knight:

Down with the Republican Party, the father of lies, corruption and evil. It should join its master, Satan, in hell!

Nov 30, 2008 - 2:47 am 2. KG2V:

Pushing the beliefs we believe in would be a lot easier if we hadn’t just spent 8 years running up a huge debt, and when we were in control of Congress not being total pork piggers. Hard to run on the big ideas when we don’t follow them

Nov 30, 2008 - 3:53 am 3. Nan:

Little Nicki, #1

He strikes me as a child positively enamored of “lies, corruption and evil.” Thus liberal to the core.

We really don’t want to attract a vote like this one. Let’s focus on rational, reasonable, intelligent voters. Those we know we can attract.

Nov 30, 2008 - 4:34 am 4. Gary Ogletree:

Nick is off his medication again.

Nov 30, 2008 - 4:43 am 5. Mary Grabar:

Justin, you give me hope for the future. Keep writing and speaking up!

Nov 30, 2008 - 4:52 am 6. Kevin:

I’m hoping Nick is just sarcastic.

Republicans can’t sell themselves to the youth, because they don’t want people who advocate personal responsibility. Young people are also not fond of thinking.

Even when a Republican uses Democratic ideas he’s a crazy far right winger.

I know young people, because before I became a grumpy old man I was just entering my twenties.

Nov 30, 2008 - 4:58 am 7. Gary Ogletree:

I’m 57, but Justin’s approach appeals to me, a life long Democrat until the Clintons exposed that racket. Yet, I refer to myself as an independent conservative, like many others, finally willing to vote for Republicans without becoming a member. It’s the corruption and the old boys’ network. That’s why I am enthused with the appearance of Sarah Palin (Sarah! Sarah!) Bobby Jindal and Michael Steele. I have no patience for manmade global warming Newt, amnesty for MS13 McCain, etc. They are poison to building an integrity-idealism based party. Empowering the individual, confronting the Democratic Big Brother agenda. That rebel streak runs deep in the idealistic youth. It got me going when I was a punk kid.

Nov 30, 2008 - 4:58 am 8. Dallas:

I agree totally with Nick. Down with the GOP.

Nov 30, 2008 - 5:15 am 9. Jim from Pittsburgh:

I’m afraid the Republican image is damaged beyond repair. I, for one, believe that one of a handful of unscathed Republican stars MUST seize hold of a new party.
If they embrace fiscal conservatism and place it over social conservatism when deciding policy, I would embrace it fully.

Nov 30, 2008 - 5:16 am 10. Louise:

Let us not dwell on the angry trolls. We have an enthusiastic Young Republican club in, of all places, San Francisco. There are growing, active College Republican clubs everywhere. We just need to be mobilized.

Nov 30, 2008 - 5:17 am 11. Business as usual and the problem with “moderates” « Mark’s Musings:

[...] making the GOP “sexy” is not the answer. The answer is far more complex and farsighted than emotive [...]

Nov 30, 2008 - 5:51 am 12. SaraforAmerica.com:

It’s Not Complicated.

If you don’t want to be seen as the party of old, rich, white guys, then stop nominating them as candidates. And if one ends up sneaking through somehow, make sure he hasn’t lost his Crest Whitening Strips and the will to fight.

Nov 30, 2008 - 5:53 am 13. Pajamas Media » How the GOP Can Take Back the Youth Vote:

[...] Pajamas Media » How the GOP Can Take Back the Youth Vote The Republican Party hasn’t captured a majority of the 18-25 demographic for decades now, and with President-elect Obama renewing the debate about youth in. [...]

Nov 30, 2008 - 6:25 am 14. Thinking Person:

I think the article’s author summed up the GOP’s problem in the last election….He said the idealist younger generation were watching the news and reading the newspapers. Ugh. All propaganda machines I’m afraid. No wonder they were all reeled in like tuna. Until the mainstream media can be unbiased, I’m afraid the GOP will have to find other methods to reach the younger voters. It won’t matter what the message is if it doesn’t get heard.

Nov 30, 2008 - 6:25 am 15. Sonnabend:

Sara: as far as old rich white guys are co9ncerfned, may I kindly remind you that a former Grand Kleagle of the KKK is a long time, member and revered mentor of the Democrats.

“Sheets” Byrd.

Remember Gov. Wallace? The man that set the dogs on MLK? A Democrat.

Which President has had a black SecState for the last eight years? A Republican.

Which President-elect has asked a white woman to be his SecState and has played the race card form day one?

Which President – elect has not even had the common decency to ensure his grandmother gets a proper burial?

Obama.

Nov 30, 2008 - 6:43 am 16. Blog Honor Roll - November | Ft. Hard Knox:

[...] The Republican Party hasn’t captured a majority of the 18-25 demographic for decades now, and with President-elect Obama renewing the debate about youth in politics, it’s about time we ask ourselves, “How can the GOP capture its fair share of the youth vote?” As a rare member of that demographic who votes Republican (Obama won the youth vote 66-32), I have a few answers — and they all have to do with some fundamental differences in mindsets and rhetoric. The disconnect is more about words and less about policies…Continue reading from Justin Higgins on Pajamas Media [...]

Nov 30, 2008 - 7:01 am 17. GM Roper:

Justin, I’ve read your blog for some time now, and you have ALWAYS come across as a bright young star in the Republican sky. Even as I am a “grumpy old man” of 62, I am confident that if the Republicans follow your advice, they will indeed capture the young vote. Way to go young fella, way to go.

Nov 30, 2008 - 7:04 am 18. Tere:

Most everyone is missing the faq’s, Most of the USA wanted CHANGE.
They are tired of seeing war torn people, Accusations throughout the world that the USA is a WAR CRIMINAL.
They didn’t really want ‘Bailout’ they wanted the companies to become solid, again and the same as politicians become ‘accountable’ for thier actions.
They want PRIDE in USA again in the Democracy system as a whole and ‘OLD FASHIONED VALUES’.
Try fighting to keep the word GOD in the pledge of allegence.
Build up the reputation of the republican as a ‘good guy’ you can win.
Bush only has shown us that we can attack people and use lies about weapons as a excuse for it.
Go against the UN when planing this attack. Threaten the relations between how many countries now in 8 years, let see off the top of my head, N Korea, Afganistan. Iran, IRAQ France, UK, Russia and venezuela and how many more now send accusations and threats against the USA??? and WHY??? REPUBLICAN BUSH and his ‘anti what’ war?.

Did I want then to let people not be accounted for after 9-11, NO.
But this war was a bad idea and it killed way more innocent people than the trade center did and it has damaged our image almost beyond repair.

How do we leave without a white flag, We need out, we don’t belong there. We need to send in crews repair their city, water, power ect and get out.
How do we now save face even.

So many issues now. This is in the thoughts of the young americans, and this is why we voted for change.

Don’t get me wrong, I love America but we need to help the ones on our borders, not alienate.
Make work visa’s more realistic and impose a tax on wages to them to cover the aditional cost of Immigrations type things, for both parties, The ones coming to USA and the citizens working outside the USA.. Make friends and build bridges to Canada, Mexico and some other places, instead we are creating a world that hates the USA and that will leave us standing alone and holding the bag.
The USA was admired for good morals, Values, Fairness, and the Awsome next door neighbor, and MAKING PREDJUDACE against a race or color, age religion ect. a thing of the past, only now we have become the mean guy (USA=Bush)at the end of the street holding hostages in echange for power and oil.
Put simply we could visit most any other country and they smiled, and said ‘ Welcome’ now they run or hit us and tell us to get the hell out.
Signed, “young voter’

Nov 30, 2008 - 7:18 am 19. Capturing the Youth Vote!:

[...] studying Political Science at The Ohio State University has an excellent article on entitled How the GOP Can Take Back the Youth Vote.  This is Justin’s first article in Pajamas Media so go read it and make a comment.  Great [...]

Nov 30, 2008 - 7:20 am 20. Roger Godby:

Want young GOPhers? Demonstrate belief in personal responsibility: decriminalize marijuana. Pound home how their Social Security won’t be there, that they’re paying for the ’60s hippies to hose them. Remind them of which party usually involves the US in big bloody wars, including Vietnam. Lampoon the DNC in video files that can circulate by cellphone. Junk the old bores, downplay or shun the Religious Right, close most foreign military bases (especially in Europe). Cut all Federal funds to universities that refuse ROTC, because I recall students–US and foreign–going on ROTC one-day outings to climb rocks and whatnot and having a great time that left a positive image.

Obama’s forced public service, if it comes to fruition, will bring in young GOPhers.

Nick Knight, relative of coach Bob Knight the chair-thrower, or just a howler monkey?

Nov 30, 2008 - 7:49 am 21. John the Libertarian:

First of all, stop calling it the Grand OLD Party. We freed the slaves. We freed the Kurds. We free the oppressed.

The American Conservative movement is a revolutionary ideology of FREEDOM. We are tea-dumpers, we are revolutionaries, we are freedom fighters. Which is why we threaten all obsolete totalitarian forms of government and, of course, American liberalism.

Nov 30, 2008 - 7:53 am 22. Pajamas Media » How the GOP Can Take Back the Youth Vote:

[...] Pajamas Media » How the GOP Can Take Back the Youth Vote They are poison to building an integrity-idealism based party. Empowering the individual, confronting the Democratic Big Brother agenda. That rebel streak runs deep in the idealistic youth. It got me going when I was a punk kid. … [...]

Nov 30, 2008 - 7:58 am 23. Ventrue:

15. Sonnabend:

When you get through talking, the fact remains that the first black person elected President of the United States of America is a liberal Democrat. Secretary of State is an appointed position, and this LIBERAL Democrat appointed(or apparently will) a qualified woman, who just happens to be white. What’s wrong with that? Are you prejudiced against white people?

Same goes for you, Sara….are you prejudiced against old rich white guys? Guess you wouldn’t have liked the founders very much……

As for you, Justin….your party needs to stop genuflecting before the religious right. Anti-gay biases and the notion that the government should be able to force women to carry to term or insert itself into painful private family affairs(I speak of the Terri Schiavo drama here)are simply not going to fly with today’s youth. If the Republican party would take a more libertarian approach to social issues, it would fare better on the national level. But these are arguments for the future.

In the meantime, Hail to the Chief, President Barack HUSSEIN Obama, Jr.

Nov 30, 2008 - 8:01 am 24. Zifnab:

I think Justin is missing a huge component of capturing any vote, much less the youth vote. The last eight years have been a series of disasters that occurred on the watch of or were perpetuated by a Republican Administration.

Going through college, I got to see my tuition bill rise every year with Republican-championed tuition deregulation (this is a HUGE issue with youth voters). I got to see friends shipped off overseas to a war my friends and I have all lost faith in. And I don’t feel any safer walking into an airport than I did September 10th, 2001.

The onus was on the Republican Party to resolve these issues and they failed disastrously. Combine this with scandal after scandal at the federal, state, and local levels (Texas has seen a rash of Republican indictments easily as bad or worse than Ohio’s) and the idealistic youth vote is more than happy to side with the devil we don’t know in the Democratic Party than in the devil we’ve lived with for our entire adult lives.

I went from an apathetic Independent to a firey Democrat after 8 years of Bush rule not because of something Barack Obama said or did in the three months leading up to election day, but because of the way policies were implemented and executed for nearly a decade.

If you think “appealing to idealism” is going to capture the youth vote, you are sorely mistaken. You need youth-friendly policies and the three biggest factor’s in a young person’s life are school, future employment, and family. Higher tuition, lower expected salaries (and an aggressive attack on minimum wage – something many young people see on their first paychecks), lacking an attractive health care plan, bad wars that steal away siblings or cousins or parents, these are all negative in the eyes of the young voter.

The Republican Party is losing the youth vote almost explicitly because of their youth unfriendly policies.

Nov 30, 2008 - 8:14 am 25. marsouin:

The socialist impulse will not die until it is shown to violate the principles of justice. As long as it can, however falsely, claim moral superiority, it will be impossible to vanquish. If small limited government can be shown to be a noble ideal, the youth will rally around it.

Nov 30, 2008 - 8:18 am 26. Rob:

This is all irrelevant. The GOP will get back the youth vote when college students can’t get jobs as Obama’s policies take hold and turn this recession into something much worse. The only way to shake off the propaganda our youth are constantly exposed to is to have them face reality. Suffering tends to smarten people up, and make them realize that things outside academia are not as their professors’ preach…

Nov 30, 2008 - 8:35 am 27. Ed Wallis:

Regarding “speaking to the young idealists”:

…perhaps Justin and others his age can devise a Republican/conservative message akin to the “breaking away from the nest” experience many of the newly-college-age voters experience directly.

I’ve found that linking a message to something the “target audience” (in this case, young voters) already understands and places a high value on to be most effective.

Good luck, Justin!

Nov 30, 2008 - 8:59 am 28. Scy:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA You MUST be joking. The GOP stands a better chance capturing the African American vote. The problem with the youth vote is that they are MUCH better educated than the old, white male that is keeping the GOP breathing.

Freepers – god’s dumbest creation. Now go back and post something about Obama’s BC, dance around it naked and chant.

GOP = DEAD

Nov 30, 2008 - 9:05 am 29. Quincy:

With regard to tuition, it’s the Dems and their insistence that more subsidies absolutely never increase prices that are to blame for the astronomical rise. The problem is the Dems are able to paint a policy that screws the youth at the expense of the education establishment as being good for young people.

This isn’t the only youth-unfriendly policy the Dems are able to spin. How about Social Security and Medicare? Getting reamed on taxes to fund a program that’s going to go broke before I get to it sounds pretty youth-unfriendly to me. How about unions and the minimum wage? Imagine being a poor young person from a broken community who can’t get a job because no employer can make a business case for hiring you at $6.55 an hour, or being interested in a union-dominated trade where you have no opportunity to get in. This is youth-unfriendly too.

And health care? I’m a healthy young guy, why should I pay for a plan where the premium goes to subsidize people twice my age? Why can’t I seek out a plan that meets my needs? It’s AGAINST THE LAWS written by… Democrats.

Democrats have managed to screw young people and convince the young people the screwing is a good thing. Freedom and personal responsibility would offer young people a much brighter future than the regulatory state the Dems have sold as the solution, and the Republican party needs to pound this HARD if they want the youth vote back. I’m under 30 and I know I’ve been lied to by the Dems. I know freedom is the answer, not the problem. If more of my peers knew the same, the Democrats’ support base would disappear.

Nov 30, 2008 - 9:14 am 30. Quincy:

Also, the other thing Republicans need to do if they want the youth vote is align their social agenda to be freedom oriented. Sure, you’ve got religious conservatives who’d love to see everyone act a certain way, but the message has to be that people shape society by the example they set, not by the laws they pass. Some social conservatives would split off from the Republican party, sure, but most would realize that this is a good idea that deserves their support, and it would attract a whole bunch of independents and youth.

Nov 30, 2008 - 9:19 am 31. Mary:

Justin,

I appreciate your effort and think you should continue to think and write about this subject. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the following part of #24 is true:

If you think “appealing to idealism” is going to capture the youth vote, you are sorely mistaken. You need youth-friendly policies and the three biggest factor’s in a young person’s life are school, future employment, and family. Higher tuition, lower expected salaries (and an aggressive attack on minimum wage – something many young people see on their first paychecks), lacking an attractive health care plan, bad wars that steal away siblings or cousins or parents, these are all negative in the eyes of the young voter.

All of these do not represent limited government, self-reliance, a love of liberty above convenience, and what it truly means to be conservative or libertarian, you choose.

Conservatism is dead, for lack of a better term, as ideas can never really die. It will take a bottoming out by the left, analogous to the current bottoming out by the right, or at the very least the republican party, to allow a resurgence of conservative ideas. But even the bottoming out of the left isn’t a guarantee. If they reach with their talons ever deeper into Americans’ lives, their bottoming out could also lead to something graver, and with greater antipathy towards liberty.

The youth vote might more easily be peeled away from the Democrats by the seriousness of their own missteps. For instance, if a Guardia Civil is really in the plans and conscription part of that plan, you then may begin to see quite a few youth “find their inner libertarians.”

In the meantime, I don’t believe you can sell conservatism to a culture that prizes theory above history and tradition, consumerism and convenience above morality and a social contract that reaches back to antiquity -to the dead who paved our arduous path- and forward to those who are not yet born.

It’s more likely they will agree with Marx in this small excerpt from his The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon:

Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living.

By the way, are blockquote tags operational here?

Nov 30, 2008 - 9:33 am 32. Ken Hahn:

It always puzzles me when Republicans worry over the youth vote. As Justin notes there are the idealists, who are utopian and unwilling to consider either facts or history in their demands for a perfect society now. Again, as he notes, there are the apathetic. Most of the youth “vote” fall into the second category. They don’t turn out, never have, never will.

Republicans should, of course, appeal to young people as much as possible. But we need to remember that the youth vote is a small and hostile demographic. The young don’t disagree, they hate. They don’t debate, they shout down. They don’t reason, they feel. Even if unable to write a coherent sentence or add up a column of figures, they are sure they are better educated and wiser than everyone who might have been young earlier and maybe learned something since.

Nov 30, 2008 - 10:00 am 33. frank:

I do not see a path where the GOP as presently constituted can capture the young vote. The main changes that need to be enacted:

1) Attack politics need to be reshaped, the Rove way will not be tolerated by our young.

2) Need better candidates, Palin was and is a disaster in the eyes of our young; not to mention to many others as well.

If another was the VP, the WH could have been won.

Nov 30, 2008 - 10:09 am 34. adam:

and oh btw………I voted for McCain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nov 30, 2008 - 10:31 am 35. Tim in SF:

I read this article and I’m left asking myself what, exactly, the modern conservative movement stands for. The party that says “Government Doesn’t Work” finally finds itself in power and what do we get? Solid proof: Eight years of “conservative” government has brought us a doubled national debt with our national economy on the edge of the abyss, ruinous expansion of entitlement programs, bridges to nowhere, a truly fubared response to a national disaster, poster boy Jack Abramoff and an ill-premised, ill-waged war conducted by politicians of breathtaking arrogance. As a sideshow, it brought us a truly obscene attempt at federal intervention in the Terry Schiavo case.

Justin, you can spin this crap any way you want, but it’s not going to bring the youth vote.

Nov 30, 2008 - 10:35 am 36. Jack Warlord:

Not much difference between the parties. The idea that their is a difference, is the biggest lie going. Look at Obama’s appointments, seems the people who are being selected are the ones who created the messes to begin with. What a joke!
No, most people agree with any number of issues, power would have us fighting amongst ourselves.

Nov 30, 2008 - 10:39 am 37. MA Voter:

Of course you’re article makes a ton of sense except that in my recognition that the Republicans have (a) run up more debt (b) destroyed any notion that the Constitution is here to serve us (c) make a mockery of serving your country by engaging in lie after lie to justify a war.

I was *never* liberal, I’m still not. But how can you talk about personal responsibility when you’ve got Ted Stevens being indicted, how can you talk about honor when you’ve got Chambliss bashing a veteran in an attempt to win an election? How can you talk about honor when John McCain consistently voted against all programs that had to do with protecting veterans who served this country once they come home.

The Republican party really needs to sit down with *real* people, those who make less than $100,000 a year, non trust fund babies and find out what it is that they *really* believe in.

Oh and by the way – let’s remember what ‘pork’ barrel spending is for a minute – take a look around your neighborhood – see that bridge? that road? those telephone poles? see the fire hydrants? Check out your schools – many (or all) of those are probably a result of a pork barrel spending package that was requested by your Senator or Congressman.

Nov 30, 2008 - 10:41 am 38. jobs4usa:

Republicanss tried this at least six of the last eight years and see where we are. In normal times, all these theories work. When NC votes to a Democratic President, Republicans are really in trouble. They need to move to the center. I hope that it does take them as much time as it took th Dems.

Nov 30, 2008 - 10:54 am 39. David B. Kim:

Why all the bitching and moaning AFTER the election. If people are so adamant about changing the system, here is one of the ways you can change the system-one day of each month stay home and don’t turn on TV, computer or television. Just the impact of the economics alone will cause people in Washington to wonder what they can do to change our minds. Have some backbone and stand your ground by not spending one penny on that day. Part of the problem is us, the spending public who are so gullible as to believe the words coming out of Washington.

Nov 30, 2008 - 11:14 am 40. Aglifter:

Simple, chuck the religious stuff, chuck the professional politicians, and get to work on an agenda which promotes individual liberty — that will resound w. the youth. Re-dedicate the party to free markets, limited spending, and personal freedom — and stop being so chicken-sh*t in the face of the socialists. Most Americans, even democrats, aren’t actually too fond of having the gov’t run everything — and have never faced being logically challenged on their positions.

Nov 30, 2008 - 11:35 am 41. JAW:

The youth of America have been indoctrinated, not educated. The problem with the conservative movement is that it’s too smart for most “youth” (in quotes because I’m including the millions of our citizenry who refuse to grow up and continue to suffer under the delusion that flower power is the only answer). It’s exceedingly difficult to sum up the conservative movement in a headline or 30 second ad, which is the attention span we’re dealing with. The conservative movement is about ideas and dreams; concepts that need a conversation, not a sound bite. Conservatives need to start speaking up and defending their ideas more aggressively and they need to stop turning the other cheek at all these lies being repeated ad nauseum by the left and their lackeys in the media. If the mainstream media refuses to cover the conservative movement then go underground. Deal exclusively with bloggers and internet media and resources. Conservatives need to take back the schools and start demanding an education that starts teaching history and critical thinking. Maybe then our youth will stop mindlessly repeating the mantra they’ve been taught in schools and universities across this country.

By the way, Iraq has become a more beautiful and safe place thanks to American and Iraqi freedom fighters. The media isn’t reporting anything about it and that should tell you how successful the war has been. Tell your “youth” and keep repeating it.

Nov 30, 2008 - 11:57 am 42. pamela18335:

If Republicans really want to resurrect their party, there are several fundamentals to remember:

1. Idealism is not a dirty word. It was idealists who formed this country and wrote the Constitution. It must be balanced with realism, but neither derided nor ignored.
2. Fiscal conservatism and social liberalism (call it “activism” if you can’t swallow the word “liberal”) CAN co-exist. Ensure that your electorate enjoys AT LEAST the same health coverage that you do as their public servants.
3. Eschew the religious right wingnuts currently controlling your party…let them break off and form their own party if they like. It won’t hurt you, in fact, it will likely help. Our founding fathers knew what they were doing when they clearly separated church and state.
4. Swear to forgo negative advertising. Show me a person who has never said or done something foolish, made a bad decision, or otherwise has SOME skeleton in his/her closet, and I’ll show you a phantom. It’s like trying to find a virgin in a whorehouse. Stick to telling the electorate WHY your policies are better for the individual and the nation.
5. Keep in mind that the electorate consists of young and old, black, brown, yellow, red, white, and pink with purple polka dots, rich, poor, and all levels in between. Seek the commonalities, and don’t use the differences to divide us.
6. Intelligence is NOT something to avoid. Give us candidates who THINK before they speak or act, and who can communicate those thoughts clearly. While you’re at it, make it less difficult to achieve a higher education for all Americans. An educated electorate is better equipped to make informed decisions, find jobs, reduce welfare rolls and pay their own way.
7. Recognize that today we live in a GLOBAL world, and not one that is necessarily USA-centric, however unpleasant you may find that thought. Develop alliances that benefit ALL the participants, not just ourselves. The return will be countries who WANT to partner with us to improve the global condition.
8. “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”. Never refuse to talk to those who would do us harm; it costs little and we might just learn something.

The United States of America is still the grand experiment, and is only 232 years old. Continue to work to prove that the experiment WORKS.

Nov 30, 2008 - 12:04 pm 43. GaryS:

Re-package Joe McCarthy’s Republican Party, with a new set of fears and people to hate, and sell it to an unsuspecting new generation.
Ain’t marketing grand?

Nov 30, 2008 - 12:25 pm 44. Martge:

Find a rock star who can dance sign and read speeches, groom them to attract the zonked out kids and the republicans can have a candidate. That’s all obama is…..a groomed speech giver who promised the kids everything and is giving them nothing.

Nov 30, 2008 - 12:34 pm 45. Marian R.:

“sexy again”??? I’m someone who thinks the young should not be able to vote. This block of voters have probably never had mortgage payments,car payments,have a family to raise or to try and put children through college or care for an aging parent and yet they play a role in determing how this country will proced. They followed all the other dummies with YES WE CAN which makes me want to throw up. They followed someone who talked a lot and said NOTHING. He merely copied everything Hillary said and twisted it around to make it his. ( the 38 out of 41 cabinet appointment ?) Everything and anything Clinton. A block of wood would have beat MC because the only people that voted for him were Africn Americans the rest just voted against Bush and the Rep. Also he may have won but nearly half of the country did not vote for him.

Nov 30, 2008 - 12:57 pm 46. Sunday Links : Stop The ACLU:

[...] Posted on November 30, 2008 Urban Grounds: Choosing NOT to blog about certain topics Just One Minute: Remembering Bush Michelle Malkin: Inside the world of Google censors Ron Randosh: Will Bush Bashing End? Neo-Neocon: The Mumbai Policemen Who Refused to Shoot American Power: Pledging Allegiance Macsmind: Is Obama “Black Enough” Now? Er….No! Justin Higgins: How the GOP Can Take Back the Youth Vote [...]

Nov 30, 2008 - 1:22 pm 47. Maeglin:

There’s a saying that says, “Anyone who is under 35 and isn’t a Democrat is a bastard. Anyone who is over 35 and not a Republican is an idiot.”

The Republicans are the party of ‘trickle-down’ politics, of ‘little government’, if we are to believe that they actually mean any of their supposed platform (which recently they haven’t been: Bush increasing the power of the presidency, Cheney doing the same for the vice presidency, Congress and the States being made weak, the deficient going insane, etc – try explaining that with the ideas of “little government!”) But putting aside the obvious hypocrisy of the recent Republican administration, there’s a problem in the essentials here.

Most college students rely on federal loans – not state loans, because most states are too bankrupt. Most college students work a part-time or full-time job to have the privilege of attending class. Most college students save every penny and longing look at all the things they can’t get because they need money for school. Obviously, the youth vote is going to go with the party that offers them 1, more federal support, 2, programmes to lower tuition, etc. The youth vote isn’t entirely based on idealism, but most college students – no matter how wealthy their family! – do classify themselves as “in need of help”. They see rich businessmen with jobs getting tax cuts and they don’t see how it’s going to help their escalating tuition costs. Then on the other hand they see the Democrats offering tuition aid and tax cuts on their income range.

Guess which people are going to chose? The youth vote isn’t just interested in rhetoric and propaganda, which the GOP is clear experts at, even if they did screw this year up. They also want substance.

Nov 30, 2008 - 1:39 pm 48. Someone75:

How can the GOP take back the youth vote?

That implies that the GOP ever HAD the youth vote.

Nov 30, 2008 - 1:42 pm 49. Kurt:

Ah, so you moderate comments that are too close to the truth?

Nov 30, 2008 - 1:44 pm 50. Lizp:

“Republicans can’t sell themselves to the youth, because they don’t want people who advocate personal responsibility. Young people are also not fond of thinking.” Exactly. Using gonads for brains doesn’t present many opportunities for responsible behavior. Ipods and Blackberries aren’t any better. This would be the perfect time to introduce the “When I was your age” meme, but even I don’t read those any more. The only thing that might have an effect would be time, and it’s unknown how much of it we have left these days.

Nov 30, 2008 - 1:54 pm 51. Markus:

Ummm — what world are you talking about? The only even vaguely economically responsible party is the Democrats. The Republicans have spent us and our grandchildren into penury, not the Democrats. Democrats use deficits when they need to, Republicans use deficits to reward the richest guys they can find.

Republicans stand for bigotry and hatred. Racism (only partially hidden in the last few years, and still very obvious), homophobia (as above), division, and quite often deception.

I see nothing to vote for in the Republican party, I very much doubt I ever will

Nov 30, 2008 - 2:02 pm 52. DutchMaster:

The problem with the Republican Party (Conservatives if you will) vis-a-vis the youth vote borders on a general disconnection. Scroll up and watch the number of Republican-sympathizers prejudicially characterizing America’s youth as uneducated,gadget-craving, myopic, brainwashed college students and therein lies your answer.

Nevermind the fact that the Republican party’s staunchest base comprises of religious fundamentalists and under-educated rednecks.

All political parties thrive on hypocrisy, Republicans have just perfected the art. They scream liberty but decide for reasons best left unexplained to invade a sovereign country on the premise of non-existent weapons of mass destruction. They scream liberty in one breath and in another propose to restrict a woman’s right to choose (the right to choose and abortion are not the same thing contrary to how you dumb it down to coincide with the gullibility of your mostly grown adults). They want to decide who marries who and yet claim to be the party of “freedoms”.

They want prayer in schools…as long as it’s to a christian God and not Buddha or Hare Krishna.

Conservatism is an admisssion of one’s inability to adapt to meet the needs of a dynamic body politic. Current conservative principles were considered “liberal” at one point in time. In essence, liberals experiment with ideas and when they become old and worn-out, conservatives cling to them for dear life. Forget the youth vote, a conservative youth is an oxymoron. The problem with the two political parties is its fixation on singular issues. Contrary to popular belief, it’s possible to be conservative on certain issues and liberal in others…it’s not black and white. You choose to ignore the grey at your own peril.

Lastly, to the commentator that lamented the fact that he/she has to suffer the consequences of the youth vote…welcome to democracy. Plato called it “mob rule”. I hope you seek consolation in the fact that the youth have had to live with the decisions(or lack thereof) of every misguided adult, rich old WASP,religious fundamentalist and or Ford pick-up-driving-gun-loving-confederate-flag-waving redneck since time immemorial.

Nov 30, 2008 - 2:28 pm 53. Beej:

I’m afraid the author is dead wrong. If you want to attract the youth vote and the ever-growing minority vote, you need to take a look at your policies:

1. Did you notice the major contrast between the crowds that came to see McCain and Palin and the crowds that came to see Obama? No, I don’t mean the size. I mean the diversity. McCain and Palin’s crowds were about as lily-white as they could get. Obama’s were a cross section of the nation. All colors, all cultures. Stop demonizing “them”, meaning non-white people. Maybe then you won’t scare the bejeebers out of everybody but southern rednecks.
2. By the time the generation that is in middle and high school right now is ready to vote, the whole “homosexuality is evil” rant is going to be a huge turnoff for well over half the voters. Young people don’t see what your problem is with what people do in the privacy of their own homes. They don’t have the hangups about gays that you do. This is a loser of an issue.
3. Did you notice that Obama never called McCain names, never questioned his patriotism, never riffed on how senile he was? In other words, he didn’t run an attack campaign. Karl Rove’s tactics have run their course. Bury that crap. People, especially young people, no longer believe it and they don’t like it.
4. Nominate someone with some brains, not just a nasty mouth. Sara Palin was a drag on the campaign. She cost McCain votes. Sure “the base” loved her because she came on like an attack dog, and they, wrongly, think that means strength. Anybody with half a brain cringed every time she opened her mouth. That certainly included college-educated young people. By the way, do you suppose she’s figured out how useful experience being a “community organizer” might be yet? See #3.
5. Keep telling yourselves that Martge is right. Obama is just a celebrity with nothing behind the glitter. That way, you won’t have to think about where your own party went wrong and what you have to do to make it relevant again. It’s a sure recipe for being out of power for a long time.
You want the Republican Party, of which I used to be a member, to be relevant again? Stop talking about how we had to use “enhanced interrogation” on captives. That’s where you lost me and a whole lot of others. We are the United States of America. We. Do. Not. Torture. And any regime that says we should is doomed to failure.
The Republican party is now a regional party. And they did it to themselves. They’re going to have to fix it themselves. Good luck. I mean that sincerely. In about 8 years, the Democrats will have worn out their welcome and we need a strong, coherent alternative.

Nov 30, 2008 - 2:34 pm 54. fred:

A vague word like “idealism” is not some content-free emotive. It is already filled in by the teachers they had K-12 and then their professors in the universities. So, what you are really trying to do is to REPLACE the content of the already existent idealism of the youth.

The root of idealism is the very Platonic “ideal” or “ideas.” These are abstractions which refer to the perfect forms, what in the Platonic world amount to that which we ought to become in order to realize perfection.

The real world requires something very different from the political thought of Plato. Perhaps my biting commentary on Plato here reflects my Thomistic-Aristotelian predilections. Anyway, I take the vernacular understanding of “idealism” to mean the vision of life that the kids are enthusiastic about. And what has inspired them up to the socialist Obama has been the very things that seamlessly bring them into fusion with Obama. He is what they already are and they are what he is.

So, I have a very different phenomenology of this environment than what Mr. Higgins has. I’m 53 and when I was a university student at age 22 (I was an Army veteran)I was moving into Marxist thought because I identified with the oppressed and those who did not matter in this world. At the the time I did not identify with the power structures of this world because those structures and rules seemed heartless to me. So, I plugged in to the very intellectual side of Marxism, as opposed to its activist elements, because I was hearing the arguments coming from the Right at that time and wanted to really attack this on the level of analysis and ideas. I already had a mind that was defined by BOTH content and ideals. You were not going to win me over by sexing up Ronald Reagan’s Republican policies. I had to be won over by IDEAS and CONTENT. Policy that matched reality. In time, the real world and too high a stack of cognizant dissonance was piling up in my mental inbox of stuff to be dealt with. By 1987, when I was well out of college and an MBA student I had left the Left. I simply found that I could not find a way around the criticism of socialism and Liberation Theology by Michael Novak. I learned more about the failures of socialism, which meant history. It meant that I was finally getting information about the truth behind the Iron Curtain and in socialist countries. I was open to reality, precisely because I never closed my mind to the other side’s arguments. I eventually realized that Ronald Reagan was right and his opponents were wrong.

You aren’t going to win these kids over by making the ideas of classical liberalism “sexy.” Not going to happen. These kids know exactly what they want and they DO want bigger government, an isolationist/pacifist America, a hard cap and trade regimen to set the parameters for economic and energy policy, a more steeply progressive tax structure, doubling of the capital gains tax rate, abortion on demand, more government program hand outs, slashing the military budget and ending the ballistic missile defense program, and other specific programs and policies. The “change” they wanted was already filled in by their professors and the media and it SPECIFICALLY meant a total rollback of everything President Bush and the Republicans since Reagan had put into place. They were even repudiating the Clinton era, as their total rejection of Hillary Clinton signifies.

I’m not trying to rain on Mr. Higgins’ parade. I want the conservative movement to grow and for young people to embrace it, but they have to embrace it for its ideas, not its packaging. These kids know exactly what they wanted when they voted for Obama. I happen to think they are very mistaken in being so enthusiastic about the vision of Euro-socialism that their educators sell them. And the only way they are going to change their minds is the discovery that socialism and pacifism do not work in the real world. We have to remember that the environment they come out of is unbalanced by design. The overarching strategy mapped out by Antonio Gramsci is working and these kids are proof of it. They are never going to get the other viewpoint inside of the education system in this country. It’s gone. Bye bye. Taken over by the Red Diaper Babies and their disciples. As one who is a veteran of the academic Left I can tell you that it was a thorough success. I am a witness to both the process as it was underway. I am also a witness to the fact that reality can impose itself on an open mind.

Nov 30, 2008 - 2:50 pm 55. Bill:

Marian’s right. The youth will always be an uninformed and fickle group. If Conservatives were attracting them, they’d have to be as shallow and plastic as the Democrats. No thanks. Their votes have never carried the day. In my twenties, I was a screaming liberal. You know; spread the wealth; kill the babies, etc. etc. Then I merged my excellent education with some knowledge of the real world and started voting Republican. Don’t listen to the parasites who claim that social conservatism is killing the party. Social conservatism is needed like never before.

Nov 30, 2008 - 2:51 pm 56. Bill:

Beej,

You are a liberal fascist. Homosexuality is not generally accepted by youth. It was in your generation where the word “gay” came to be an adjective for unacceptably lame. Conservatives do not hate minorities; we want them to be held to the same standard as every other American. It is the Liberals who want to keep Blacks on the plantation and Hispanics in the orchards so they can have willing dupes. I guarantee you, the more successful those groups become, the more they’ll vote Republican.

Nov 30, 2008 - 2:56 pm 57. susan:

Marian (45) is right on the money. Usually youth on the left change alliance when they turn 30-35 or they come out of their parents’ bubble and experience life.

Ever wondered why it never happens the other way around?

When you grow some brain you become conservative. Until then, it’s pointless to run after the clouds.

It’s people used to idolize rockstars and actors that sell whatever bullshit they want to them. Obonga is in line with that.

Show me a young Conservative and I’ll show you someone with no heart. Show me an old Liberal and I’ll show you someone with no brains. – Winston Churchill

A liberal is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air. – Winston Churchill

Nov 30, 2008 - 2:58 pm 58. PeterWimsey:

The problem with the author’s hackneyed theorizing is that The GOP lost EVERY demographic in the last election except the superannuated.

It is going to be really hard to attact anyone, idealists or not, to a party that violates every princple in which it claims to believe.

Fiscal respnsibility?, “small government”?, cautious exercise of Amercan capital and power?…

Republicans DO attract the shallow-thinkers who shout fundamentalist slogans. Scratch a Republican and you will hear the same predictible (and thoughtless) phrases: “Government is the problem” and “America is a “Christian nation”.

Good luck on a revival any time in the near future.

A decade in the wilderness will do wonders for the Grand Old party.

Nov 30, 2008 - 3:44 pm 59. susan:

beej, we needed our leftist troll of the day

“3. Did you notice that Obama never called McCain names, never questioned his patriotism, never riffed on how senile he was? ”

that is in your alternate universe. The Mccain is too old to type on a computer ad implied exactly that, he is OOOLD.

Unfortunately someone might not be able to type also due to war injuries but don’t let facts get in the way of your poor thinking.

“Nominate someone with some brains, not just a nasty mouth. Sara Palin was a drag on the campaign. She cost McCain votes. Sure “the base” loved her because she came on like an attack dog, and they, wrongly, think that means strength. Anybody with half a brain cringed every time she opened her mouth. That certainly included college-educated young people. By the way, do you suppose she’s figured out how useful experience being a “community organizer” might be yet?”

opposed to mighty brain Biden?

If biden is so intelligent, why you did everything in your power to keep his mouth shut as much as possible (btw, where is he now?)

And why do you need a community organizer job at acorn when you have been major and governor?

You thought that bubba clinton needed to be a community organizer in addition to being governor?

Again don’t let facts get in your way, i know it must be terrible to idolize someone that was elected just because of his color but never had a real job his whole life.

Nov 30, 2008 - 4:03 pm 60. L:

If Republicans are the party of personal responsibility and smaller government then why are they the ones bailing out the banks? Why are they the ones rewarding the poor choices of corporate CEOs who have made bad decisions if they believe so much in “personal responsibility” and using tax-payer money to do so? If the Republicans are so mad about the indoctrination of children through the educational system, then why are they the ones who are so in favor of high-stakes testing, in which teachers are forced to “teach to the test” and in which there is no time to teach critical thinking skils? Why are they so against adequate school funding so that there is an appropriate teacher-to-student ratio so that education can be more effective? Why do Republicans seem singulary focused on dismantling the K-12 public education system so that only those who are born rich can have access to a high quality education? Why do Republicans tend to treat high-profile African-Americans in the party so badly – Colin Powell was marginalized in the Bush administration, Alan Keyes was kept out of debates. Then there was the famous speech on Strom Thurmond’s birthday stating that the country would have been better off if he had won his presidential bid as a segregationist candidate. While the Republican Party did support the abolition of slavery over a hundred years ago, we should remember that it was the sector of the party known as the “Radical Republicans” who were at the forefront of this effort. Lincoln, however, did not want free Blacks living in this country and did not consider Blacks to be equal to Whites. He was in favor of sending the freed slaves to Liberia.

Nov 30, 2008 - 5:12 pm 61. Jeffrey:

Please stay the same Repubs.. You are a bunch of old redneck racist’s and America has passed you by. The days of White male domination …slavery, jim crow. no voting rights for women or minorities.. Wow this country has changed and Hell is full of the perpetrators of that false America. No segregated troops ..jesse helms..ronald reagen..

Thank God for America and it’s development and his hell for those who may have done great earthly deeds.. presidents. founding fathers and like who owned slaves and thought because they were male and white …that women of all colors and other men were not their equal.. Foolishness that according to the bible leads to internal damnation…

Keep your convention’s old and lilly white…When you say Country first ? Who in the world are you old folks talking about ? That america has passed by…c ya rednecks later… Talk about a dying breed….Wonderful diversity at your convention.. That old redneck look is really appealing..Bull connor would love it…………

Nov 30, 2008 - 5:24 pm 62. fred:

People like “Jeffrey” in #61 are revolting. They are a big part of the reason why I left the Left years ago. And when I think about the men who died so that people like him can piss all over us, I only wish he had the opportunity to live in a place like the Soviet Union, North Vietnam, North Korea, or Cuba.

Even when I was a young Marxist aspiring academic I had not even an ounce of the vitriol that emanates from such a bitter, corrupt soul.

God save my country from the likes of him.

Nov 30, 2008 - 6:23 pm 63. Nate (25):

The first thing to do is to ditch the moniker “conservative”. We’re not conservative. How many rank and file Republicans want to keep social security in its current form? How many approve of the way their kids are being taught, or how they have been taught?

First we need is an agenda of reform.

The federal government has usurped a great deal of state power over the past century. This has put more money in Washington and is what drives the corruption of our leadership. We need to roll these usurpations back. We need to take Lincoln’s condemnation of slavery as another manifestation of feudalism and apply it to transfer payments.

Second we need to need to make better use of our resources. The number one resource is the segment of the activist youth that already supports us. Put literature in their hands. Old guys trying to be hip wind up looking like idiots so don’t even try. What we need to do is attack the foundations. Most people haven’t had enough econ to know that there are downsides to subsidies or price controls. We need to educate before primary season even begins. Attacking Obama right now is a waste of effort. Nothing will stick to him for at least a year, probably two and he’s not up for reelection for four. We need to lay the groundwork to be able to propose economic policies that have some hope of working and have people understand why. We can’t push substance to people who can’t understand it and we can’t push form because the pop culture gatekeepers are in the tank for the other side.

Lastly we need to get rid of baggage. I’m not talking about social conservatives. They bring votes and are our best chance of reaching minorities as the sucess of prop. 8 in CA proves. Big business convervatives do nothing for us except drag us down. They don’t bring us votes, just money, but they won’t go away. If we drive them into the Democratic party I think we can pry loose a big chunk of the union vote even if we don’t get the union endorsments.

Whatever we do we can’t afford to go on the defensive and we can’t afford to compramise. Compramise is what got us into this mess in the first place. We compramised with dixiecrats and lost forever the black vote. We compramised on budgets and wound up the other party of big government. Whenever we compramise government gets a little bit bigger and we get at least half of the blame.

Nov 30, 2008 - 7:45 pm 64. Beej:

susan,
Did you hear Obama say any of those things? I challenge you to google it and find me one quote from Obama where he makes fun of McCain for not being able to type.

Bill,
Anyone who mindlessly spouts slogans from Jonah Goldberg has absolutely no chance to understand just how wrong he is. Liberal fascist? Really now!

Nov 30, 2008 - 8:22 pm 65. L. Green:

Don’t let “Jeffrey” get to you, Fred. I’m sure the post is meant to just divert attention from a lot of the good points brought up here already. His racist and hate-filled ranting is classic lefty troll agitprop.

Nov 30, 2008 - 8:39 pm 66. newton:

I second what you said, fred. And I’m neither white nor male.

Nov 30, 2008 - 8:48 pm 67. Instapundit » Blog Archive » JUSTIN HIGGINS: How the G.O.P. can take back the youth vote….:

[...] JUSTIN HIGGINS: How the G.O.P. can take back the youth vote. [...]

Nov 30, 2008 - 8:48 pm 68. M. Simon:

The years 18 to 25 are the years when marijuana use peaks. Who is most identified with the War on Pot Smokers? Republicans.

So good luck in trying to get the vote of people you are warring against.

Republicans are so stupid.

Nov 30, 2008 - 9:02 pm 69. The Historian:

THE CLOWNS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
As emphasized in this link, humans will never match the power of nature relative to influencing climate on planet earth:
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2008/11/international-c limate-clowns.html

Nov 30, 2008 - 9:02 pm 70. Insufficiently Sensitive:

Meanwhile, the Democrats launched a massive PR campaign against George W. Bush, touting the economic collapse. The media played right into it,

Sorry, that’s so backward it’s nearly impossible. The media launched a massive PR campaign against George W Bush about twenty minutes after all but two US Congressmembers voted for the invasion and regime change in Iraq. It was kept up relentlessly for the next five years, harping on torture, international law, Abu Ghraib, any foreign news story complaining about US diplomacy, raw assertions of a failing economy every week, and every last defeatist detail it could find or invent about the war itself. That PR campaign has yet to admit that the surge worked and that the US is beginning to stand down as the Iraqis stand up. They intend to reserve to Obama the credit for that success, no thanks to him and his long and demagogic attempts to sabotage the victory.

The Democrat PR machine simply tacked their sordid tales onto this longstanding campaign of ‘news’ deliberately tailored to undermine and discredit the elected executive branch of the US.

Nov 30, 2008 - 9:08 pm 71. Rachel Peepers:

Justin,

Wow, your article has got me to thinking there’s a full moon tonight. Just a few thoughts and I’ll be on my way.

I think if this year’s Republican Party candidate essentially said what McCain said, but it came out of a different mouth and was said in a different way, I think the race would have been much closer. The Republicans winning in ‘08 was like expecting the Cubs to beat Tampa Bay.

Yet, I think if all the stars were aligned, with all the cosmic tumblers clicking in place, the election might have been a horse race.

Getting back to that “other mouth”.

If that other mouth had been Condi Rice, for example,
the election would have turned out Republicans 48%, Democrats 52%.

If it would have been Romney, I think they’d have had to invoke the ten run slaughter rule. Fact is, I can think of no other Republican candidate (not even the Texas Gov) could have beaten Barack Obama.

Stay with me now.

If that other Republican voice were the man himself, Barack Obama, though, I think the Republicans would have won.

I mean if Barack believed in all the McCain stuff, and came out of a Republican background, I think Barack would have won because I think he’s the consummate politician.

Likable. Smart as a whip. Beautiful little daughters. Winning smile. The best speech maker I’ve ever heard.

Now, if it were Barack, a Republican, running against Hillary, the Democrat, who would have gotten the youth vote?

I think Hillary because Democratic Party appeals are more appealing to 18-25 year olds.

If my thesis is correct, does this mean, to win, the Republican party needs a vigorous, youthful JFK type candidate (fun, great sense of humor and history, sexy, charming)?

I think so. In fact, I think that would give us a better share of the youth vote, not the biggest unfortunately.

For Republicans to get the bulk of the youth vote in these times, I think, is next to impossible. Maybe Justin can figure this out. I don’t know how to do it.

I’ll finish with one question because I can’t find the answer on google. Who would get the youth vote in China (assuming the Chinese youth could be asked and they could freely answer) (The establishment or reformers?)

Who’d get the youth vote in Russia?

Who gets it in Britain, France, Germany and Italy? The establishment or reformers? Is there a pattern?

Or looking at it another way, if you’re a socialist country, would the youth vote tend to vote capitalist? If you’re a capitalistic country does the youth vote tend to go to the socialists or reformers or Democrats,(the reformers)?

Now that I’ve muddied up the waters I’ll go watch the last half of the Bears game (taped).

Oh, one more thing. Fred, I found your writing fascinating. Right up to the part where you carved up poor Jeffrey who made interesting religious references (62) in his first and second paragraph rants. I deduce he believes in God, heaven and hell. If God is against abortion, though, does that mean abortionists move out of the heaven category and into hell’s? Just wondering.

Jeffrey, if God is pro life, and you’re pro abortion, you might give the issue of women’s rights some of your demonstrated ability to rant critically.

Justin, overall you get an A-. Good work. Dial the imagery up just a little. Your writing came out a touch dry. Put a few more Shiverian metaphors into your mix. Other than that, you have all the ingredients for success.
regards, rachel

Nov 30, 2008 - 9:14 pm 72. Fred Gregory:

In other words out pander, out promise and out lie the opposition party

Nov 30, 2008 - 9:20 pm 73. Chester White:

Once young folks figure out that they are going to be paying 60+% of their meager incomes to support Social Security and Medicare for millionaires, even as inflation heads toward 10% and higher, they’ll figure it out.

I give it 5-6 years.

Nov 30, 2008 - 9:34 pm 74. Battlecat:

Unfortunately, matters of national security, personal responsibility, small government, lower taxes, and free-market principles get drowned out by the GOP’s pro-life fanaticism and anti-gay hysteria.

The Democrats don’t even have a platform. Their only appeal is that they are not Republicans.

Maybe it’s time to drop the social wedge issues?

Nov 30, 2008 - 9:54 pm 75. G Alston:

Three Simple Steps –

1. It was investment into defense related industries that gave today’s youth the miracle electronics that they assume belongs top their generation. Computers were developed to solve artillery ballistics problems. Semiconductors (chips) were needed to steer ballistic missiles. The internet was the way to preserve communications if all hell broke loose. And so on. Republican effort was at the forefront of these and any number of technologies (e.g. SDI etc.)

Take NASA, for example. Democrats are forever threatening to cut budgets because of “all the problems we need to solve right here on earth.” It’s republicans who keep NASA afloat, especially manned missions.

2. Get rid of the social conservatives. All of them. These are the people who are anti-stem cells, anti-evolution, and so on. They are solely responsible for the galactically STUPID image that republicans suffer with today as being anti-science. This must come to a halt. In the world of engineering and such most of the tech class are republicans. Not democrats. It is the republican voters who are the unseen faces making all of the present day magic work. Social conservatives paint the wrong picture, and one that is laughably inaccurate. This must stop.

3. Solve the global warming problem (it’s not really a problem, but the youth have been told that it is) right here right now and forevermore — easily. How? By advocating a program to put spaceborne solar power in business. Beam power all day long via microwaves to earth. No coal. We have known how to do this since the 70’s. We have a space station. We need to keep this. Why? It teaches us how to build big stuff in space… like space power satellite systems. Let the democrats natter about their luddite approaches to solving absolutely nothing and doing little more than restricting and regulating. Democrats don’t know how to create. They don’t know anything about technology. They are afraid of it. The distinction will be clear.

SUMMARY: Winning the youth vote is as simple as making sure that younger voters know who was and remains responsible for the wonders that they take for granted. Democrats are luddites who want to regulate and stifle innovation. Republicans reward innovation. Republicans are the party of science, innovation, and investment into America and future jobs.

Nov 30, 2008 - 10:19 pm 76. Pajamas Media » How the GOP Can Take Back the Youth Vote:

[...] Pajamas Media » How the GOP Can Take Back the Youth Vote. [...]

Nov 30, 2008 - 10:23 pm 77. G Alston:

#60 — “If Republicans are the party of personal responsibility and smaller government then why are they the ones bailing out the banks?”

Republicans aren’t the party of smaller government across the board. That would be stupid. Some unthinking republicans think this is the way it ought to be. Most however realize that government is sometimes the only legitimate way to do a particular thing, such as defense. Republicans invest a great deal into that, and that usually pays off. You can see why in my comment #68.

Democrats spend. Republicans invest. Learn the difference between these two concepts.

Re auto bailouts it’s rather telling that the democrats are once again grandstanding and adding strings. The auto makers can’t get a bailout unless they promise to use the money for the global warming green boondoggle. You see, democrats are technology creationsists who seem to think they can mandate a technology into existence. Poof! It’s here! What a crock. You can’t mandate innovation. And democrats laugh at religious people. The irony amuses me to no end.

Nov 30, 2008 - 10:27 pm 78. john brown:

Fred’s got it right. Most young people who think about it believe that only government can solve the problems of pollution, inequality, terrorism, and so on. (I did, when I was twenty.)
Trying to convince people that “we’re idealists too” is not going to work if the policies you advocate don’t appear to further those ideals.
John McCain may well have been right when he said that soaking the rich won’t improve the economy, but he didn’t explain his position at all (and I wonder if he believed it himself). Simply telling people over and over that you’ll lower their taxes (when most young people don’t pay any)is a losing approach.
If the GOP wants to be popular with the young people it should embrace its middle-class side: e.g. stop the drug war, reform the drug laws, change affirmative action to operate by income rather than race, devise ways to clean up pollution by expanding private property rights, and, for god’s sake, institute some form of national health coverage (let’s face it: normal rules of free enterprise don’t mean squat when you’re sick).
The Republican party arose as a radical, middle-class party determined to destroy an entrenched aristocracy (i.e. the southern “slave power”). To that end it used the government to further middle-class goals by building canals and railroads, increasing the savings of people through government bonds, and giving away government land free to settlers (and, of course, abolishing slavery). The goal of “small government” is a delusion: The Erie Canal, the intercontinental railroad, and our defeat of the fascists and communists (among other things) could only be achieved by big governments. To that extent, the kids have it right; just let them understand that government does some things well and others badly, and that it’s crucial to distinguish the two. If they don’t buy it, well, tough.

Nov 30, 2008 - 10:55 pm 79. Synova:

I think that several of the “young” commentators here are missing an important point.

You entered the world and found out that it sucks. You found out that it’s more expensive all the time. You found out that the future is unsure and insecure.

And yet, from the moment you attained awareness of the world nothing new or unusual has happened. There were no “good old days.”

There weren’t “good old days” when I became aware of the world either… though when I entered the world unemployment was nearly double what it is now and we were still worried about mutual nuclear annihilation with a country called the Soviet Union. Perhaps this is why I fail to become alarmed by anything that’s happened the last eight years. Just a little awareness of history and it was clearly true that it had been even worse, before. And even today is better, the economy and global security, than what I can remember from when I left school… and we got through that.

In the end there is nothing new under the sun, only a new generation discovering it for the first time.

Nov 30, 2008 - 11:03 pm 80. Anonymous:

“Also, the Republican Party needs to explain that my generation is paying into a broken entitlement system, our borders are broken, and radical Islam is still growing in the dark corners of the world.”

Yeah, I wonder why the Republican Party hasn’t tried to explain any of those things yet. Weird.

Nov 30, 2008 - 11:15 pm 81. Synova:

#74

Actually, “personal responsibility” is the heart of those “social wedge issues.”

Abortion is essentially a demand to be allowed to chuck personal responsibility out the window with an iron-clad “do over” on choices made that didn’t turn out to be good ones.

And gay marriage (which I support, all in all) is the end-game of a deliberate deconstruction of traditional “personal responsibility” to one’s spouse and family and any requirement to self-control or thought to consequences that was at the heart of the “free love” movement of the 1960s. The truly sad thing is that what has been nearly destroyed for heterosexuals is what many gay couples want. But for those couples who do want that traditional, profound union, there are still a whole heck of a lot of people, gay and straight, who are *still* trying to destroy prudish notions of sexual fidelity or self-sacrifice and giving up personal instant gratification even in order to contribute to something as fundamental and important as marriage and family.

Marriage (the old fashioned sort that lasts past “I’m not having fun anymore”) also plays a huge part in your other conservative principle of “small government.” Personal responsibility, and responsibility to one’s family (as opposed to self indulgence) is a necessary component of “small government” because when marriage and family fails, when people don’t take care of each other, then we feel it necessary for government to do so.

In any case, my point is that these social wedge issues are not separable from the ideas of personal responsibility or small government. If you throw them out you won’t have the rest any more either. (If you aren’t willing to let a woman be responsible for her active *choices* that got her pregnant, how can you demand anyone else be responsible for their choices?)

Re-tooling might be possible.

I’d like to see the gay-marriage lobby, for example, start pushing back against the dissolution of marriage and morality in our culture.

Nov 30, 2008 - 11:28 pm 82. Inquiring:

Like some other posters —last one I saw was Chester— I think the best thing the Republican party can do is pound on the fact that Social Security, and other Government programs are epically failing. The caveat is that the hits needs to come quick, not long and drawn out.

Why has no Republican candidate on the national stage simply said, “How would you like to take home 30% more of your pay each week? It can be done, vote Republican, vote to fix Social Security.”

Or simply a, “Do you like throwing your money away? Do you like the idea that most of the money you earn is taken by the government, and you will never, ever, make back how much was taken?” Will anyone, even Democrats, go, “Oh, no, I quite like taking home less pay each payday, meaning it is harder to pay bills and budget effectively,”?

What needs to be hit on is the complete disaster Democratic policies have been, and continue to be, in a quick, easily recognized form.

“Aren’t you glad that government regulation forced banks to give out bad loans so they could complete with subsidized banks?” No one will answer yes to that. Just as no one will answer, “Yes, I like giving the government 30% of my paycheck, of which the most I can ever hope to see returned is 5%!”

Present the problems in a way that quickly makes it obvious how horrible such policies are, then you will have people actually wanting to listen to proposed solutions.

The problem for the Republican party is they never, ever, ever, ever present such a simple 1 to 2 sentence argument that strikes the exact heart of the issue and gets people wanting to hear more.

Just like people will do with this comment, if the candidate/party talks too long before a strong hook the people reading/listening will go, “Too long, didn’t read/listen.”

Dec 1, 2008 - 12:14 am 83. wGraves:

Agreed, the GOP has become a regional party. One unifying principal which might guide us out of the wilderness is a return to constitutional government. Federal spending is out of control because there exists not one potential project which Congress is willing to acknowledge lies outside of the federal mandate. Is it then any mystery that federal spending is completely out of control? The authorized constitutional powers of the federal government lie in the areas of our armed forces, of diplomacy, of controlling the money supply, and of regulating areas of law wherein states come into conflict. Find me one direct mention of social issues in any part of the constitution. The failing of the current party is one of not delegating such issues to the States, rather than trying to seize control of the federal social mandate for its own purposes. Until the conflict between constitutionalism and social mandate is resolved, I fear the party will continue to wander in the wilderness. I just hope that we don’t take as long as Moses did to resolve the issue.

Dec 1, 2008 - 12:28 am 84. DoDoGuRu:

One of the easiest ways to make inroads into the youth vote is to invest some ideological capital in technoculture. Start talking about leftists infringing on free speech online, make some noise about P2P networking and anonymity rights, and frame content access as an individual liberty and then you’ll find yourself with a very interested youth audience.

Dec 1, 2008 - 2:18 am 85. Per:

I keep hearing “conservatism is dead”.
Well who killed it?

Dec 1, 2008 - 3:08 am 86. susan:

beej, i suspected replying to you was a waste of time.

The ad approved by obonga is not enough for you?

You must be really stupid and naive to think so

Dec 1, 2008 - 3:14 am 87. Irving:

If comments like Bill’s don’t demonstrate how completely the current Republican party is stuck in neutral, then nothing does:

“It is the Liberals who want to keep Blacks on the plantation and Hispanics in the orchards so they can have willing dupes.”

Um, Bill? The Liberal in the White House, running the show? He’s Black. Definitely Not on the Plantation.

You haven’t quite parsed that, have you?

And no, the media did not generate the current the current economy through bashing Bush. Nor did Clinton or Carter era policies spawn this economy eight years after they were enacted. Face reality, folks. Some things in life need to be regulated. The financial industry is one of them. Even Greenspan admitted that Ayn Rand was wrong when it came to derivatives.

But until the GOP figures out that 2010 isn’t 1980, and Reagan’s strategies don’t necessarily work thirty years later… well, good luck out there in the wilderness.

Dec 1, 2008 - 4:56 am 88. ban sidhe:

Most “conservative” values stem from a single word: RESPONSIBILITY. Freedom and responsibility are intertwined; you cannot attain the former (in this case, in the form of decentralized, smaller government, lower taxes and less intrusion in personal matters) unless you’re willing to exercise the latter (working to cover your wants/needs, be it housing, self-improvement, education, or insurance, rather than letting someone else do it).

Unfortunately, a significant portion (fortunately not all!…but still a significant number) of those in the 18 – 25 year old bracket have demonstrated little desire to be truly responsible for themselves or their actions. Sure, they have a job….but many don’t have health insurance, preferring to spend that money on “entertainment”. Yes, many are in college, but how many of them are paying their own way instead of relying on the parents, or on government student loans? Since someone’s always been there to take care of them and fulfill their needs and wants, I doubt many would trade life without a government safety net for a life where they were free to make choices with minimal governmental interference, but had to deal with whatever consequences followed. Many would probably find this kind of freedom to be “too risky”, and would call it an intolerable burden (as indeed Europeans already seem to have done).

Unless the conservative movement can re-teach younger voters of the value of freedom and convince them of the rewards of self-reliance, this age group will continue to gravitate towards the ideology that promises the most apparent financial returns for the least effort.

Dec 1, 2008 - 5:01 am 89. Lieberman Dem:

“This is all irrelevant. The GOP will get back the youth vote when college students can’t get jobs as Obama’s policies take hold and turn this recession into something much worse. The only way to shake off the propaganda our youth are constantly exposed to is to have them face reality. Suffering tends to smarten people up, and make them realize that things outside academia are not as their professors’ preach…”

I agree with that. Right or left, these adult toddlers become starstruck with idealism until it hits them in the wallet. That’s why I’m glad I worked before joining the Ivory Tower.

And for the guy who claims it was Republicans who allowed tuition to rise, you are a sucker. It’s called INFLATION – it happened to me when Saint Bill was in office – no party is responsible for people’s desire (esp Govt workers) wanting to get paid more.

Dec 1, 2008 - 5:43 am 90. sam:

Maybe you missed it, but Bush was pushing the same Change crap when he ran. Every president when they run claim they want change.

The difference? A receptive media that was happy to push a “change” agenda when contrasted with Bush/Repubs. The media wasn’t really too thrilled to highlite the notion of “change” when Bush was running after 8 years of Clinton.

Dec 1, 2008 - 6:41 am 91. Eric Dondero:

The way for the Republican Party to attract the Youth Vote is to go libertarian. And the way to go libertarian is by backing Sarah Palin and making her the face a future of our Republican Party.

Dec 1, 2008 - 7:22 am 92. Tim:

The GOP will not take back the youth vote until the Democrats manage to not only to fail disasterously, but also actually take the blame for it. Good luck on that with the media the way it is.

In the meantime – most people my age group and younger (mid 20’s) don’t understand economics at all, don’t understand the drawbacks of socialism and socialized healthcare/retirement/etc., and are excessively concerned with how other people see the US. They have a neurotic obsession with other people approving of them.

Stemming from that, they also can’t deal with people who don’t approve of them or their lifestyle… and so they are scared SH*TLESS of Christians in government. They don’t give a damn about radical islam, thinking it has no ability to reach them – but their phobia of “religious conservatives” here in the US is so intense that most of them don’t even realize that some of their friends or coworkers go to church. As long as the GOP can be portrayed as the party of religious old farts telling you that everything you like to do is bad, they simply will not carry the youth vote.

Dec 1, 2008 - 8:11 am 93. David Ross:

Republicans shouldn’t ask for the youth vote as such. Look at some of the brats posting here; I bet their major has the word “studies” in it. Screw ‘em.

Republicans should instead direct their youth appeal to nerds, particularly future engineers – anyone looking to generate wealth and/or lower costs for the rest of us after graduation. An explanation of payroll taxes, esp. Social Security, should also help.

And yes, the anti-evolution troglodytes need to be thrown out of the Party. This includes the Huckster and the Exorcist.

Dec 1, 2008 - 8:26 am 94. Mae:

This is a well thought out and important article. In fact Higgins should be required reading for the Republican party leadership. I was talking with a liberal friend a while back and she very patiently explained that the liberal, her, point of view was fundamentally that of compassion. And I’m kind of shocked into a self awareness, the Republicans have allowed their opponents to define them as Higgins and many of the commenters have pointed out. The conservatives, being not naturally collectivists, have stood back and allowed important points of conservatism, such as compassion, to be left out of the definition of conservatism. Why oh why is compassion limited to a Mother Teresa style of caring rather than a Ronald Reagan style of caring. How has compassion come to mean entitlements rather than a soaring economy with jobs aplenty for all? Is this Alice’s Wonderland where the common sense ideas are suspended and replaced with firmly believed nonsense?

Dec 1, 2008 - 8:51 am 95. fred:

The campaign to retake the Congress, Senate, and White House began immediately after the Supreme Court decision in December of 2000. The media, the think tanks, and academia waylaid President Bush on EVERYTHING from the get-go. He got a few weeks’ grace period immediately after 9/11, but did you folks know that THE DAY AFTER 9/11 on college campuses all across the country the Left had mobilized the anti-war movement? Remember the media blitz against the proposed Afghan invasion? It was supposed to be a death trap for our forces there, along the lines of what happened to the Soviets there? And not long after a successfully waged Afghan invasion the legal Left, the campus Left, and the media started in on the Guantanamo detainees’ issues? Around that time, stuff about the interrogations and NSA surveillance of communications hit the fan. All of this was being beaten to death and it was happening like a steady drumbeat BEFORE OIF in March of 2003. Months before OIF there were frequent and mass demonstrations against the proposed deposing of the Babylonian Baathists. Look, the kids were already on board with the Euro-socialists’ view of the U.S. as THE bad actor in the world.

And even before that time frame, during the Nineties there was a robust “anti-globalist” (I’m a veteran of the Left and wise to their cute manipulation of language to hide their true agenda) movement afoot. “Anti-globalization” is just another word for anti-capitalism. Trust me, I know these people.

From K through the university our kids have been well indoctrinated. Most do not even know it. At least when I was a university student and later as a grad student I was conscious of the provenance of the ideas I signed on to. These kids have not a f*****g clue as to where their views originate from. That’s why they don’t know what these words mean: Marxism, communism, socialism, etc. If old geezers like me use these words, they flip a mental switch and refer to what their teachers told them and how they should react when they hear these words. Thus, the anti-anti-Communists have inoculated them well.

Finally, since they lack any sufficient and thorough background in history and theology, they think of Islam as a distant, insignificant threat that is no more than a pimple on their asses. They don’t know about what’s in the Qur’an and ahadith. They have no clue as to the 1,400 years of jihad conquest. They are told to morally equivalize all religions, and are unaware that Islam is really more of a cult and a totalitarian ideology than a religion – since they really know and understand religion in only distorted ways. They are scared to death of Christianity when it is Christianity and Judaism mated with Graeco-Roman civilization that has set the foundation for the very traditions that have made us advanced and prosperous.

They are completely formed and shaped by post-modernism and cultural Marxism and have not a clue that they are.

Oobonga’s triumph has been in the making for quite a while. I honestly think that no Republican would have been able to win and that the Republican Party had no chance to make gains in the House and Senate. The “Reagan Democrats” are dying off. Those are the WWII/Depression Era folks who were strong FDR and Democrat supporters throughout most of their lives. But the Seventies and Jimmy Carter convinced them that Reagan’s ideas had finally arrived. We’ve been riding on that fading demographic for twenty years now. The kids of the GenY, or “Baby Boomlet,” demographic are overwhelmingly inclined towards collectivist solutions. The only way they are going to change is through hard experience of seeing their worldview fail and fail big.

We learn the most through our failures and mistakes. And it will be no different for these kids.

Dec 1, 2008 - 9:06 am 96. susan:

“In the meantime – most people my age group and younger (mid 20’s) don’t understand economics at all, don’t understand the drawbacks of socialism and socialized healthcare/retirement/etc., and are excessively concerned with how other people see the US. They have a neurotic obsession with other people approving of them.”

tim you are right, however being obsessed by what others think of you is pathological and shows inferiority complex more than anything else.

All those stupids who “I am ashamed of my country”.

Give them a one way ticket to north korea.

Dec 1, 2008 - 9:40 am 97. Jay Guevara:

Down with the Republican Party, the father of lies, corruption and evil. It should join its master, Satan, in hell!

Good God, will we never live down freeing the slaves?

Irving, re liberals keeping blacks on the plantation, consider this question: which party would gain, and which lose, by development of a large black middle class?

Dec 1, 2008 - 9:41 am 98. ew:

the liberal illuminati did a lot this election to appeal to the very marketing tactics of young people. They had a campaign, a slogan, a polished guy spouting off inspiring statements (regardless of the fact that there wasn’t much behind them.) It seems like the GOP could stand a better marketing team and work on their image more to appeal to young people.

Dec 1, 2008 - 9:46 am 99. Liberty Lover:

“We need to emphasize the elements of conservatism that empower the individual, expand liberty, and defend freedom. We need to break down issues like earmarks into simple terms. . .” I think there is something else besides this.

I think idealism is about explaining how things could be and should be. Republicans need to get people to imagine these things.

For example, in my blog I wrote about health care, “Its time to create a national market that lets the American people buy and sell health care as routinely they buy most everything else.” Here.

Dec 1, 2008 - 9:55 am 100. Joey:

The main issue is going to be beating the media and the education system. There are too many there who are pushing their agendas and they are the ones shaping the younger generation’s minds.

The funniest part about this whole thing is that the ones who would truly be standing out right now as different and appealing to a very individualist generation are capitalists. They are just bad at “community organizing” I guess.

Dec 1, 2008 - 10:22 am 101. G Alston:

#88 — ‘Sure, they have a job….but many don’t have health insurance, preferring to spend that money on “entertainment”.’

That’s immaterial. Younger people by and large are healthy and don’t need insurance outside catastrophic care. Most of us don’t need medical insurance until we’re older. Look up the statistics.

Catastrophic care is the $5k deductible insurance that kicks in for the statistically unlikely: e.g. cancer at 25, rare disease, etc. Sniffles and the odd stitch jobs don’t cost much anyway. What costs, and why insurance is needed, are things like kidney failure or cancer and/or other major disease.

Forcing the younger people to have standard medical insurance they don’t really need (i.e. the $800 per couple per month stuff from blue cross etc) is little more than a subsidy for the older people who do. Calling this “responsibility” is just plain silly.

No wonder the left is winning this one.

Dec 1, 2008 - 10:27 am 102. bdog57:

Yes, yes, yes…bad ol’ religious wingnuts. Ditch ‘em and see just how many elections you win.

Seriously, though, which “moral” issue was brought up during this campaign that brought down Republicans? Nothing during the Presidential election, to the best of my knowledge. Americans ARE pro-choice, but they resoundingly disapprove of late-term abortions that were championed by then state-Sen. Obama. Why McCain didn’t go after him on this, I don’t know. He ran an idiotic campaign.

Some of you may want to consider that in EVERY modern Presidential election, the better politician wins. Regardless of politics. Start at 1976 and move on towards today. The better politician -not the better man, not the better message- won every time. Was Obama the better politician? Duh.

Still, on the topic of “moral” issues, the big news item we all seem to hear about is Prop. 8 in CA. Oh, and guess what? IT PASSED. Retards. Despite all the craptitude I hear on the blogosphere about the need to dispense with the religious right, opposition to gay marriage is a winner EVERY time. Even in California.

I have to wonder: how many folks here even know anyone who regularly attends church? To be honest, I don’t even know anyone from church that is “anti-evolution”. It’s just not something that comes up as a topic at the pulpit, either. Of course, if it didn’t come up during 1000+ pages of scripture dispensed by the Almighty, He must not have thought it to be a topic pertinent to salvation (my guess).

Wrapping up:

The key problem facing all conservatives is PR. We have a very compelling message with few compelling messengers. Someone to articulate these things.

The key problem facing conservatives of different stripes is the same as that facing all politicians: finding common ground. There are things upon which we can agree, and there are things upon which we can compromise (I know, dirty word…oops! Our country was founded upon that one.) You won’t increase the size of the tent by pushing out those comfortably underneath it.

Dec 1, 2008 - 10:30 am 103. ZZMike:

One problem is that idealism is simple, but reality is not. Chanting “Change!!!” is a lot easier than trying to communicate – much less understand – entitlements, borders, and the threat of Islam.

Economics and Quantum Mechanics are equally understandable to the average young voter – many of whom are products of an education system that has been steadily failing for the last 30 years.

We’re going to need to find someone like Reagan, who can explain things simply.

Fred puts it plain and simple: most of the youth voters simply have no clue.

About anything.

Before anyone challenges me on this, go read what they’re writing, on blogs, on Facebook &c, on Twitter &c. Then check out the data on how much high school graduates know.

That means that it’s up to the rest of us to lead the way – or be trampled by the Wal-Mart mobs heading for the cliff.

Dec 1, 2008 - 11:06 am 104. fred:

One of the things I’ve noticed about the young voters is that they are generally, though not in all cases, very anti-Christian, anti-Judaism – in general, anti-religion, period. Now, I was young once (aren’t we all?)but I don’t recall being very hostile towards religion. I was raised a Roman Catholic and I still am. In fact, I had been a Jesuit seminarian for three years after I graduated from college. I WAS a bit more liberal thirty or more years ago, in terms of theology and doctrine, but now I’m all over the map. On some things I am more traditional, some moderate, and some quite liberal. It depends on the issue. I don’t tow the party line when it comes to Rome, which is why I tend to keep quiet about a lot of issues when I’m around fellow Catholics, unless I am sure of the company I am in. I guess some would mockingly call me one of those “cafeteria Catholics.” Anyway, there was a period of my life that until recently I would say that I was not comfortable being a “cafeteria Catholic.” Even so, despite my differences with Rome on some issues I cannot bring myself to be outright hostile towards the Church or towards Christianity in general. And the reasons for that are many and complex. Bottom line: I didn’t have teachers, parents, or professors constantly slamming on me that religion is bad and Christianity is just awful. And in fact, I was not propagandized into being an atheist, as I was smart enough to note when science was being used ideologically and when it was being just good science.

But the culture we now have in America is much closer to what you have in Western Europe now. Granted, there are pockets of conservative or traditional Christian cultures across the country. While I am not in accord with that brand of Christianity, I am not hostile towards it. It is what it is and there is no telling what kinds of changes it could undergo in the future.

What I see happening is an intense polarization along the religious divide in the country. More and more people have gravitated towards very polar opposite positions. The Left especially so and they have the momentum and the upper hand now. The lack of theological literacy at both ends is troubling. And the kids, I think unfairly, tend to label Republicans as religious fanatics, which I think is a stereotype their teachers, professors, and the media have planted in their minds. Some of it is simply bad faith: they don’t want to make any changes to some of the ways they are living, and instead choose to bad mouth Christianity instead. I am not in favor of government legislating religious practices or favoring one church or another. But the fact is that this nation does have a foundation that rests on some very basic ethical principles that derive from our common civilization deriving from Christianity and Judaism. Stripping our culture and polity of those things in order to be more like Europe is not who we are. It does not add to our liberty in doing so. Europe is not the model that best explains what we were intended to be.

I mean no subtle, pejorative insult towards the more conservative Christians in our Party. I have a number of friends and acquaintances who are evangelical Christians (they keep trying to turn me, and perhaps do not understand why I just want to leave Catholicism). But the Republican Party is not and should not be a stereotype. We simply have to share some core ideas: smaller government, keeping taxes lower rather than higher, and standing for strong national security and deterrence. We stand for a stronger America in terms of standing up to totalitarian enemies and for an economy that grows and provides opportunity. Our model is NOT the Euro-socialist states. Social Democracies now are realizing the mistakes they’ve made and are groping for a way to back off from the nanny state. It has been largely a failure.

Europe has had stagnant economic growth for decades. High structural unemployment that penalizes THE YOUNG more than any other group. Even university graduates have trouble finding work. High taxes and regulation make it difficult for entrepreneurs and small businesses to survive and grow. Europe stands on the precipice of great danger: high Muslim birthrates and very low birth replacement rates of the native populations. Their economies are so mired in heavy welfare spending that they cannot assemble militaries that can withstand the emerging threats to their security.

I realize my post has been a long one, but what I have been attempting to convey is that being an informed citizen and appreciating what the Republican Party offers means acquiring a much more sophisticated and balanced view of the world. Not the pseudo sophistication of the transnational elites and the professorial class, who want us to imitate failed experiments.

Dec 1, 2008 - 11:25 am 105. fred:

Correction to my above post #103 4th paragraph: I meant in the parenthesis to state that I wish to remain a Catholic, against the proselytizing of my evangelical friends. A typo that inevitably happens in a long post.

Dec 1, 2008 - 11:35 am 106. Follow Me!:

Dozens of people could do it who are excluded from the GOP’s “candidate imprimatur”. (“Does your daddy contribute to the party? Do you know anyone in the Party?”)

Peggy Noonan targeted this when she wrote “What I saw At The Revolution,” but the GOP was far more interested in Payback and Payday.

But we won’t get a chance unless Obama fails a la LBJ or Carter. No one wants that. And Obama seems pretty sure-footed (for now).

He’ll have to have make a dismal series of big blunders to induce people to turn back to the party of Dennis (“What corruption? What deficit? where are my earmarks? Where is my next meal?”) Hastert.

What is the GOP? Having stood for nothing, the GOP is now as relevant as a crappy 80’s GM car–old, unreliable, costly, and used by people that are trapped with it.

As one author noted in the 80’s, bonds of loyalty were severed between GM and its customers so the younger ones broke away to become loyal Merdedes/Honda/Lexus drivers. For good. That’s what happening now to the GOP.

Young people interested in politics are veering to Obama. There they will stay unless he too screws up, or the congress goes too left.

The religious/social republicans are still with the GOP–like Carrie’s mom (the movie), they ignore deficits, corruption, soaring interest on the national debt and crumbling highways–just as long as they can go to church and those pesky gays don’t get married.

When the GOP won’t stick to low taxes, low spending, good highways, support well-run schools or come up with any ideas to vote for, its doomed. For now.

The current GOP exclusionary/profiteering leadership needs to wither away. The Demo congress will do weird stuff and the GOP will have a chance again to come back. To be for things that make sense. Let’s hope this time they remain true to the voters that send them, not the lobbyists that wine and dine them.

Dec 1, 2008 - 11:52 am 107. Light:

If the republicans really want the youth vote, they should take up the original cause of Liberty and small government and take down the Drug War. If they turned on this single issue and pushed it hard, they would get about 60-70% of this youth demographic vote. Then, to keep them, they would continue to follow these principles of slashing uneccessary and archaic gov’t agencies.

Dec 1, 2008 - 11:54 am 108. Tennwriter:

Sitting and sneering at the young is not the way forward. Thats the RINO way, the loser way.

If you’re saying that the young have a lot to learn, and you’re showing some sympathy, then I don’t have a problem with that. But the ‘Republicans will never appeal to the young because the young are naturally liberal and dumb’ is not helpful.

I was a libertarian when I was fifteen, and a conservative when I was twenty. Reagan carried the young, and not because he was young and sexy. His ideas had a vibe to them, but the messenger was not sexy. He was cool. Old guys can do cool. A Happy Warrior Conservative, someone who says

Yeah, I’m a conservative, full-bore, all teh way, wouldn’t want to be anything less. That guy or gal can win the youth vote.

As to the frenzied few reccomending we ditch social conservatism (a proven winner) for sorta maybe fiscal conservatism/social liberalism (a recently proven loser), no thanks. I’d like to win an election in this century.

I thought Justin was going to beat this well-worn drum, but instead he showed part of the way (not the whole thing) to the future. And good on him. We could do worse as a party to give Justin a few hundred K, and turn him loose.

As to the anti-logic evos, well most of those young people are going to live through the preference cascade when evolution is ditched like the Berlin Wall. Darwin’s dead, and so is his laughable theory.

Dec 1, 2008 - 12:10 pm 109. Sara:

I have found great success in asking young people questions with these words beginning the sentence; “Is it loving…”
Is it loving to support people like pets in never ending welfare or is it loving to look at people as able and educate and motivate them to take care of themselves as free people do?

Is it loving to permit the government to decides who lives and who dies as is the case in socialized medicine nations or is it more loving to let the families around the ill person to decide?

Is it loving to make the whole society suffer poor health care under socialized medicine so that a few can be covered by health insurance or is there a way to take care of the few without harming the majority?

Was it loving for Clinton to change the loan banking rules to permit more minorities to qualify for loans even when it crashed the banking industry and stock market making many lose their retirement savings?

Is it loving for the liberal elite to deny a white young people equal rights in employment opportunity because of their skin color?

Is it right to call whites guilty and responsible for past discrimination when it is not right to call Blacks responsible for crime? We are not tribes – guilty and innocent. We are individuals.

This works. I have converted many a teen to conservative thought and logic with simple question beginning with the feeling buzz words.

Is it loving for Universities to promote the leftist ideological degrees in feminism, diversity, etc., when they know the graduate won’t be able to get a professional job?

Is it education or cultural cleansing when you are not taught the basic thought and philosphy of your freedom in America?
ETC

Dec 1, 2008 - 12:46 pm 110. Aaron:

As a young (24) GOP voter, I say “give me a pragmatist any day.”

The youth vote went to Reagan in the 80’s. Why? Jimmy Carter was an incompetent fool and they had no memory of Kennedy or Johnson.

The youth vote goes to Obama in ‘08 because George W. Bush has governed incompetently and most young people don’t remember Reagan.

Fortunately, Obama will either (a) govern from the hard left, prove incompetent and alienate the youth vote, just as Carter did or (b) go pragmatist and alienate the youth vote by betraying their idealism.

Dec 1, 2008 - 1:05 pm 111. Robert Hurley:

Sara – What are our obligations to our neighbor? Who is our neighbor? Is charity enough or should we strive for justice? If it is justice what does that mean?

Dec 1, 2008 - 2:05 pm 112. M. Simon:

I keep hearing “conservatism is dead”.
Well who killed it?

Socialists. Cultural Socialists.

Dec 1, 2008 - 2:13 pm 113. M. Simon:

I wish to remain a Jewish, against the proselytizing of my evangelical friends.

And you know (maybe you don’t) Jews have a different view on abortion than either Catholics or evangelicals.

Dec 1, 2008 - 2:20 pm 114. Ventrue:

59. susan:

Again don’t let facts get in your way, i know it must be terrible to idolize someone that was elected just because of his color but never had a real job his whole life.

V -Never had a real job his whole life, you say? LOL, tell us susan….just what is YOUR take-home for being a racist a-hole with a modem?

People like you are a primary reason the right has been politically neutered. So please….keep up the good work.

Dec 1, 2008 - 3:25 pm 115. Idealism, The Coalition, and New Visionary Solutions:

[...] There is a stark contrast between the pragmatists and the idealists in politics. I made the case in my first article at Pajamas Media that it’s that pragmatic vs. idealistic divide that leaves the Republican Party in trouble [...]

Dec 1, 2008 - 4:27 pm 116. Pat J:

One only has to read some of these posts to see how out of touch the GOP is with the youth vote.

Conservatism doesn’t need to be “sexy” to gain the youth vote. It basically needs to get its head out of its collective ass. The youth are not going to vote for a bunch of corrupt pasty white guys.

The youth can also smell a line of crap a mile away. That’s why most of them voted the way they did. They saw McCain as a doddering old fool, and Palin as an idiot. And there was no way the youth or the other demographics Obama carried were going to let this country deal with more ineptness from the folks we put in office.

Lastly, to some of you who feel the younger generation should not be allowed to have a voice, well we’re going to be taking care of you someday. Hopefully we’ll have enough money to not only get our children through college. And you better hope we have enough money left in our broken nest eggs to take care of you in your golden years.

Dec 1, 2008 - 6:15 pm 117. doctorj2u:

1.) Don’t ever abandon Americans again (Katrina). 2.) Even if you are for smaller government, make sure the government that is there WORKS. 3.) Get rid for the religious fundamentalists. 4.) Get some ideas other than “I am against….”.

Dec 1, 2008 - 6:22 pm 118. fred:

#s 114,116, and 117 render erudite opinions from the Left that prove the point why any kind of pandering to that voting bloc (18 to 30 years old and single females, who voted close to 80% for Oobonga)is fishing for the lowest common denominator. They are examples of why wiser and better educated elders like me are alarmed at how the effects of a dumbed-down education system are so apparent.

Their insolence would be comical were it not so detrimental to them and to the nation.

Dec 1, 2008 - 7:18 pm 119. doctorj2u:

fred,
All of my comments #117 (except for getting rid of the religious fundamentalists) are direct suggestions of Governor Bobby Jindal of LA. You better let him know he is a lefty.

Dec 1, 2008 - 8:10 pm 120. Left Coast Conservative:

I am a little bit older than the youth vote (late 30’s), and yet I am also frustrated by the Republican Party. Sadly, we are the party of fuddy-duddy old men and the Democrat party is the party of “young, cool and hipness”.

Should that be how we vote? Hell, no! But it is for a significant segment of America, the youth vote. Let’s straighten up our act and change!

(Not the Obama “Change” either, I mean real change.)

Dec 1, 2008 - 8:12 pm 121. fred:

Doctorj2U,

So, how do you “get rid of” the “religious fundamentalists?” What exactly does that mean? Spell it out. No dark aspersions, please. Does it mean expel them from the nation, the party – what exactly?

Is “religious fundamentalist” code for Christians?

I am not a “religious fundamentalist.” Yet I think they have a perfect right to be in the Republican Party. If that’s not acceptable to you, well, you can choose to remain in the other Party, or whatever party you belong to.

This is not Europe, where they have as a plank of mainstream socialist parties an undying hatred of Christianity, but endless tolerance of Islam. The Republican Party has never told any church or religion to scram. And that’s not about to change.

I’ve spoken with a lot of young people where I live. Their hatred of Sarah Palin is thick and hot. They hate her because she is a strict, biblical Christian (I’m not, because I have a different view of how to interpret the Bible)who refused to abort her Down’s Syndrome baby. The females really despise her for that, because he pro-life position is very threatening to them, even if she went on the record as saying she would not appoint judges to the Court who would overturn Roe v. Wade. She would only appoint judges who apply the Constitution as it is written, not as THEY would write it. But these views are entirely consistent with how young people process reality: they parrot their teachers/professors and they base their views purely on their feelings rather than some modicum of rationality.

No, I do not want the Republican Party to pander to the mob. If the principles the Party has do not appeal to the under 30 crowd, so be it.

Dec 1, 2008 - 8:47 pm 122. Alice AN:

You lost me at “the Republican Party isn’t the party of old ideas or “rich white guys.” As much as I hate to admit it, the Democrats have successfully made that our image”

By which you mean they paid all the old white folk to simply show up at the twin Cities. Did you watch the convention?

That said, conservatism itself has many valuable tenets, and it’s sad that it does not have a more effective voice. Yet, watch as Republicans will recoil from Jindal and march into intellectual obscurity with Sarah Palin in the lead.

The youth vote cannot be won by the Republican party, because we are Social liberals albeit perhaps more or less conservative on other matters. We don’t want a road trip back to the 1950’s – which is the driving force of the current incarnation of the Republican party. And guess who else doesn’t think the ‘morals’ of the 50’s were all that swell – Yes, all them darker than brown colored people like myself.

Dec 1, 2008 - 9:31 pm 123. mike:

Forget about “winning” and forget about “Republican”. Start by defining and communicating the conservative philosophy in terms understandable to someone between 18-25. I was raised on stories of American heroes: Francis Marian, Davy Crockett, Crazy Horse, Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Kit Carson – you get the picture. There are plenty of contemporary figures. Strong, freedom loving individuals who weren’t about to be led around by people wearing ties and top hats. Role models. Role models for youth today have been degraded into “victims” of one ethnicity or another or someone acting as their savior. Republicans have become the wearers of ties and top hats. Try educating “youth” in the rights and responsibilities of individualism, the freedom to achieve, the freedom to fail, the freedom to live wild. Freedom is as much cultural as political. Focusing on “Republicans winning” won’t get the country anywhere useful. Leaving the public schools to the teachers unions won’t get the country anywhere useful either.

The conservative philosophy should be a natural fit with youth, at least those who are energetic and somewhat rebellious (that would be most of them). However, many have now had “community service” shoved down their throats as a requirement to graduate, confusing this latest form of authoritarian coercion with altruism. They are being taught that when the government takes stuff from someone to give to another (while cutting a thick slice off for itself in the process) that it is altruistic. Of course its not. Goods works aren’t altruistic unless the individual chooses to contribute voluntarily. Taking from someone to use for yourself or to give to another is theft. The distinction needs to be made.

Many youth want to party and be crazy and perceive “Republicans” as the old farts who make them behave. They think freedom is to have lax social limits and they have the idea that if someone else would pay for their rent, medical treatments and food then life would be good. I don’t think it has been explained to many of them (and many if not most adults for that matter) that social freedom falls very soon after economic freedom has been lost.

If the Republican Party becomes the next vessel for conservatives, that is the defender of individual rights and the freedom to associate with whom one pleases, many youth should be able to contrast that “live and let live-responsibly” conservative philosophy with the nanny state liberalism that the Democratic Party has become. If the Republican Party holds steady to its big government tack and fails to have inspirational and articulate leadership then its toast.

Dec 1, 2008 - 10:40 pm 124. AndyinPhoenix:

Justin’s assessment is some of the most valuable analysis on youth demographic because it is authentic, as compared to a 40 or 60 year old Beltway-lifer estimating how a young voter perceives their voting options.

Please allow a short MBA thought as a preface to my allegory:
The “modern” new product conceptualization process is predicated on first finding out what the consumer values, and then extrapolate the findings be referencing what motivates the consumer to execute a purchase.

By comparison, Obama won the general election because he was sold as the ultimate Politician-commodity, like he was the talent in an ad for a government escort service: cool as the latest Boy Band, sexy like the chic-est club liquor, and font of universal unobjectionable platform pabulum. He was out there with his first-class demeanor (actually stalling for the teleprompter to kick in) and then gave flashes of his snarky bad-boy act, as demonstrated with his one-finger salutes when speaking of Hillary and McCain.

One point I would add to Justin recommendations is that young people absolutely appreciate learning the facts that are needed to make important decisions, and are legitimately offended when they are dismissed or belittled. To this end, I advocate the GOP make a deliberate campaign to address the knowledge gaps of a) ear-marks, b) the disastrous consequences of welfare run amok, c) the racketeering aspects of campaign contributions and legislation support by said recipients, d) the DNC’s effort to achieve the Clowerd-Pliven strategy, and e) the dual world hegemony dynamics of the Foreign Relations Council and Islamo-fanaticism.

If this bushel of head-aches doesn’t activate the Idealists and scare the lethargy out of the apathetic, then I’ll resign myself to picking the next Presidential candidate based on who is most likely to be invited into a smoking-hot, rockin’ Suite party at the Superbowl.

Dec 1, 2008 - 10:46 pm 125. Asher:

The first law of politics is Power. Get it. The more the better. Anything that furthers your power and lessens your enemy’s is good. The problem is that, to quote bin Laden, when people see a horse race they always want to back the stronger horse, and the GOP is a weak horse.

The GOP’s problem is that it is weak.

I have heard some national GOP leaders noting how marriage and in-wedlock children tend to make people much more conservative/Republican, and yet I actually never see them draw the conclusion that policies to foster new family creation increases the GOP power-base. No, instead of advocating polices to increase new family creation the few GOPers who “get it” proceed to do nothing but scold, or plead with, people to get married.

But there’s a reason that marriage is collapsing in the young, and that is because of the radical change in incentives over the past 50 years. It’s always about incentives. Do you really think that people whimsically began just “choosing” to avoid marriage? Ah, but the problem of changing incentives clashes with good ‘ol finger-wagging moralism so much preferred by the faithful.

If the GOP really wants to win the first thing to ask about any policy is:

How does this increase my power, my ability to force others to my bidding.

And that is how you will win the youth vote.

Dec 1, 2008 - 11:34 pm 126. Ventrue:

118. fred:

“Wiser and better educated”, eh? How droll….especially coming from a self described Marxist.

Hubris and fatuous condescension are qualities most unsuitable for convincing others of the validity,let alone superiority of your arguments.

Apparently, that bit of wisdom eluded you while you mis-spent your education chanting “Down With America”

Dec 1, 2008 - 11:48 pm 127. G Alston:

#121 fred — ‘So, how do you “get rid of” the “religious fundamentalists?”’

I’ve said the same thing, so I’ll have a go at what *I* mean by that. I have no idea what the original poster meant, but I’d bet that it’s going to be roughly the same answer. Why? Because it’s clear that fundamentalist social conservatives have transmogrified the meaning of the party from the original intent of a governing philosphy to some sort of personal litmus testing.

Essentially, we need to point the party towards that which members agree upon that isn’t personal morals issues and don’t let it get caught up in the fundie nonsense. There ought to be NO party position on personal issues; e.g. gay marriage is something you either are for or against and you can be of any party and have your own opinion. It is *not* the sort of thing the party as an entity ought to have an opinion about.

Rather, the party ought to concentrate on actual ISSUES because it has a philosophy, such as:

economy
defense
security
energy
health care

All positions on the above emanate from a set of core assumptions in the underlying philosophy. Hence ethanol production is ostensibly an energy policy position which affects how the dept of agriculture should function; drilling affects (or can) the dept of the interior. And so on. And how we view these things also reflects our position on the proper role of government. Note that these are framed as ISSUES, not nebulous, vacuous nonsense like “smaller government.” Smaller government is a goal. You get there via the issues. You don’t start there.

Drilling and how we think of it is an actual ISSUE, and it is an issue because this will affect energy prices for years, which in turn will have rippling effects throughout the entire economy. Nobody will be untouched. Gay marriage isn’t an issue because it has ZERO effect on the price of corn. It upsets the fundies. Big deal.

Thus letting the fundies hijack the party for unimportant non-issues like gay marriage, abortion, and flag burning is a waste of political capital and obfuscates the entire message. What the party thinks re drilling and the environment gets buried in ridiculous quests re things that don’t matter to the voting public. The public knows that fundies don’t like abortions. It’s a given. It’s not the ‘driving force’ of what the republican party is or ought to be about.

In short “get rid of the religious fundamentalists” means that they should not be allowed to dictate what the party is about, what it stands for, or how it presents itself.

Dec 2, 2008 - 12:35 am 128. BizzyBlog » Things I’d Like to Post About Today ….. (120208, Morning):

[...] to SOBer Justin Higgins at Right on the Right on his well-written Pajamas Media column (”How the GOP Can Take Back the Youth Vote”). There was lots of interest in his piece, [...]

Dec 2, 2008 - 3:02 am 129. Maggie Knowles:

#59 Susan wrote: “Unfortunately someone [McCain] might not be able to type also due to war injuries but don’t let facts get in the way of your poor thinking.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Physical disabilities never stopped Stephen Hawking from using a computer.

Obama ran an extraordinary campaign. He was quite respectful of his opponents and showed us by example that it’s possible to do things in a different way. I am happy to have a soon to be President that I can respect. He’s smart, he has a sensible vision for the future of this country, and he’s a far better communicator than Ronald Regan ever was. The Obama family in the White House will be a very welcome change for me.

Rachel Maddow made a point on her show the other day that Republicans hate government, Republicans think government is THE problem, so why should we elect folks who hate gov’t? Far better to elect folks that know how to govern and love to serve.

Dec 2, 2008 - 4:17 am 130. Jabba the Tutt:

“…but the Republican Party can’t convince us that we’re going to be bankrupt in 50 years?”

Ah, if the Republican Party did this, that would mean they would actually have to do something. The ultimate goal of elected Republicans is to do nothing and do that often. The past 8 years are proof of that.

President Bush campaigned in ‘04 on Social Security reform. He campaigned for 60 days after that election to drum up support to do something. The elected GOP members of Congress sat on their thumbs and rotated.

Term limits is the only way to get rid of the dead wood. Sen. Robert ‘KKK’ Byrd and Sen. Ted Stevens are poster children for term limits. The longer they stay, the worse they become.

Dec 2, 2008 - 4:54 am 131. fred:

ventrue @126

STFU. You are an arrogant ass.

Dec 2, 2008 - 7:00 am 132. fred:

I honestly do not think Justin Higgins has a solid grasp of the youth vote. His wishes are laudable, but entirely unrealistic, given what we know about the kids and some of their opinions expressed here. Insolent. Dripping with mockery and hauteur.

Thank God my teenage daughters are not like this at all. So glad my wife and I could afford to put them in Catholic schools. And they are normal kids, but their minds are more balanced and developed.

Dec 2, 2008 - 7:03 am 133. Irving:

Re Jay:

You’re making the assumption that the middle class is inherently Republican. That was manifestly not the case in this election – McCain’s senate voting record was manifestly hostile to the middle class, while Obama spoke about them repeatedly.

Also, considering that Obama was a member of the “black middle class”, at least if you go by McCain’s definition (and before the book deals), I’d say the Democrats would benefit quite handsomely…

Dec 2, 2008 - 7:10 am 134. susan:

venfalse at 114

how creative, a leftist idiot calling obonga non-worshippers racists HHAHAHAHAHAHA

Do you think you can “win” for 4 years with that?

And yes, Obonga never had a real job in his life, and the poor occupation that he calls community organizer was a failure by his own words. Too bad that in that kind of “jobs” you are never held accountable for your own mistakes and failures like it would happen in a job with real responsibilities.

And yes, he gained his positions thanks to affirmative actions programs (again by his own admission).

Scream until your useless face turn blue, that doesn’t change the facts.

And in my country the center-right party won by a landslide, thank you very much. We cringe to see what a arrongant pompous ass you elected just because you wanna look enlighted and not racist. Let’s see where your “enlightment” will bring you after you will be the joke of the world.

Dec 2, 2008 - 8:16 am 135. Barry 0351:

Schools in America have been indoctrinating children to the liberal view for quite a while now.

Dec 2, 2008 - 8:36 am 136. view from afar:

Ok Rachel Peepers 71 was totally skipped over. Good point, the young here in France tend to vote anti-capitalist, because capitalists are portrayed as having “no heart for poor people, as they don’t have anything so we should give them stuff, so then we can say they have stuff, we gave it to them-but lo, now they need more stuff! which is socialism in a nutshell. I think that there are so many lines drawn that there are no clear answers to anything, therefore everything is allowed. I think that more conservatives need to be teachers, or be more dominate in education, which is a WHOLE another topic…
Fred in 104 has some interesting thoughts on religion in the whole political discussion of religions place in political parties, oh and Fred I think you messed up on 117,
And in 111, and I am dying of curiousity to have the Robert Hurley’s questions answered by the man himself, as I know he is very left of center, but great questions just how do you do define justice, or as is stated in the French motto equalité, who or what defines what is just or equal? Does the guy who has lots of money HAVE to share it to be just, and if he does share it, does it have to be equal? Or is it unjust to take from Peter to pay Paul, just because one has more than the other? Goes back to the education question, how are the young taught to think?

As for Sarah Palin being a bad pick, I am sorry people believe this. I lean center right, I grew up in the same time as Sarah Palin and for my generation of women, I believe she has attained everything we hoped to be able to attain. I think to younger people choice only means the right choice, not that everyone has a choice to do what they think is best within the limits of the law of course

Dec 2, 2008 - 9:24 am 137. susan:

The world is highly competitive, however, anybody with a sane brain would want to “teach someone to fish rather than bring him seafood everyday”.

People from the left, for a wrongly perceived sense of superiority feel the need to take care of others, and they would want to see this thing istitutionalized through socialism or communism.

The second reason, strictly connected to the first one is that many people who are wealthy are usually ashamed of it, and subconsciously think they really do not deserve their wealth, therefore they project this on the whole population asking OTHERS to give to the poors.

You typically see this among hollywood celebrities and very wealthy people.

I do not have any guilty complex, I live a modest lifestyle and when I happened to be in need, i turned to my family instead of the government (yes, I have been in the position to take a government handout and I didn’t). Therefore I would like to pay less taxes and I am especially pi$$ed when government do charity with my money (usually involving corruption and malpractice).

This is the fake generosity of the left and people like robert hurley, they want others to collectively pay for the underachievers because they themselves feel guilty about their earnings.

There is no doubt that charity should be voluntary and every person should be held accountable for his deranged spending.

Need to remind that of all the money distributed to “poor” people after the katrina disasters, many went to buy gucci bags. Those credit cards especially created for the relief of the people in alleged difficulties have been tracked down.

Dec 2, 2008 - 10:12 am 138. susan:

maggie knowles 129 why don’t you turn on your brain before writing?

I do not care how many people that could be stopped from using a computer due to war injuries are actually doing it with much labour and fatigue. This wasn’t the point.

The complete ad by zerobama was even more stupid because it connected the incapability to “write an email” with understanding security concerns of technological tools. This is frankly not only bad taste but extremely stupid.

Considering tho, the ad was aimed at people like yourself, entirely swooning and start struk with the boy of your dreams, I know I cannot pretend much.

Also, if you think he was respectful in his campaing you probably never came across all the snipes he took at Hillary just for being a woman or for being the betrayed wife that doesn’t know what happens in her bedroom.

But again, you are probably one of those kool aid drinkers who think zerobama is going to save the whales, find a cure for cancer, turn water into champagne etc.

Talking to empty heads like yours is like trying to resonate with fans of Nsync or whatever other boy band is huge right now.

You are out there screaming, pulling your hear and throwing your bra.

Dec 2, 2008 - 11:16 am 139. Synova:

“You’re likable enough, Hillary.”

Yeah… Obama is a kind fellow. He was really good at saying nice words to cutting effect.

I can see how this would appeal to the young. It reminded me strongly of High School.

Dec 2, 2008 - 12:14 pm 140. Pat J:

You are out there screaming, pulling your hear and throwing your bra.
———————-
I take it creative writing was never your forte.

Dec 2, 2008 - 2:25 pm 141. gippergal:

Great essay. I completely agree that it’s not our policies that need changing, it’s our public relations. We were the “PC” on the “Mac” commercials.

The fact is, with the Baby Boomers aging, the Republican party has to adapt – and fast – to recreate a new generation of Republicans. The liberal illuminati are not going to waste any time continuing to employ the method they’ve used for years to get out voters: mobilize college students.

Conservatives need to market a fresh attitude so that our base is rebuilt as the broad Boomer population diminishes.

Dec 2, 2008 - 3:41 pm 142. Tex Taylor:

There is no need to convert anyone younger than 30 to conservatism. They’ve been indoctrinated with the farce called liberalism for 30 years, never having to suffer its consequences. When the empty suit called Obama, who is now without excuse, fails miserably, he and he alone will introduce the hip dummies to a new epiphany.

Don’t waste your time debating with these idiots. They must learn everything the hard way.

And if they can’t change, to hell with them.
But don’t bail them out if they fail. Let them die a slow, painful death, making sure you mock them for their failure on their way down. Watch the tragedy unfold like a bad movie. You paid for it, so sit back and observe it like you’re being entertained.

Dec 2, 2008 - 5:39 pm 143. Asher:

It’s this same type of empty, facile analysis that got the GOP to where it is in the first place. It’s both pointless, to GOP strategists attempting to woo young voters, and insulting, to those voters they’re trying to woo. Yeah, I have a pretty healthy disdain for lots of young voters, but I am no less disdainful, on average, of older voters.

You need to have a hard analysis of why voters vote the way they do, target one specific bloc vote and woo it to the GOP. It can be done, provided you move past meaningless analysis, such as this one.

Dec 3, 2008 - 7:41 am 144. e. nonee moose:

You know why you guys can’t attract young people to the Republican party? You *hate* young people. Random quotes from above:

* Republicans can’t sell themselves to the youth, because they don’t want people who advocate personal responsibility. Young people are also not fond of thinking.

* The problem with the conservative movement is that it’s too smart for most “youth”

* But we need to remember that the youth vote is a small and hostile demographic. The young don’t disagree, they hate. They don’t debate, they shout down. They don’t reason, they feel.

* The youth will always be an uninformed and fickle group.

*Fred puts it plain and simple: most of the youth voters simply have no clue.

About anything.

And last but certainly not least…

* Don’t waste your time debating with these idiots. They must learn everything the hard way.

And if they can’t change, to hell with them.

Yup, talk like that will bring the youth vote running.

Dec 3, 2008 - 10:17 am 145. susan:

e. nonee moose

your analysis is faulty.

Democrats usually don’t attract the votes of people in the army and their families, yet I do not see that they are falling over backwards to reach them.

To each his own.

One thing is sure, once a soldier, always a soldier, but young people sooner or later they do grow up.

Dec 3, 2008 - 10:33 am 146. Tex Taylor:

Coming from someone called e. nonee moose, I’m almost embarrassed to have to answer its challenge. Since I was part of your criticism, let me try to explain in simple terms.

Don’t waste your time debating with these idiots. They must learn everything the hard way.

I was referring directly to you and your type. If you’re not smart enough to figure it out for yourself, I’m not going to pander for your vote. You have my permission to drown on the sinking ship…

Dec 3, 2008 - 2:44 pm 147. doctorj2u:

Excellent post e. nonee Moose, but they won’t listen. I have voted Republican for 30 years and then my world was destroyed by Katrina. I tried and tried and tried to tell them the reality on the ground but they would not listen. They prefered to live in an imaginary world of their own, repeating the same reality to themselves over and over and over again. Well the Republican Party will end up the same as the Bull Moose Party. It will not change. It will not listen to what the citizens want and feel. It will isolate itself to such a small faction of the US that it will cease to be relevant. Another party will form to take its place. The party is at a tipping point. Either they will let the voice of young people be heard ot they will die. It is up to them. All I know for sure is that they lost me as a voter.

Dec 3, 2008 - 3:39 pm 148. Tex Taylor:

doctorj2u,

So it was the Republican’s fault that Katrina destroyed your world? No blame for Mayor Nagin, or Huey Long, or Senator Landrieu, or the thugs, but just that evil George Bush and his party?

Please explain to me then why Houston, or Iowa, Mississippi, or Missouri under the same Republican Administration, seemed to fare much better without near as much federal assistance, with far more widespread damage affecting far more people, still managing without riots and shootouts, than say New Orleans did?

Did you ever think maybe they had a higher caliber of people that don’t depend on their federal government for their goodwill? Nah, that couldn’t be it.

But if that is what it takes to gather the young vote (never mind my 19yr old Republican voting daughter is still venturing there to help build houses), to create a dependency, then I say I’ll go the Bull Moose route. But as I recall, the Progressive Democratic party of the early 20th century also went to the dust heap of history.

Dec 3, 2008 - 4:01 pm 149. doctorj2u:

Tex,
You are EXACTLY who I am talking about. My mother lives in the hardest hit area of Mississippi. It is BEHIND New Orleans in recovery. The Mayor of Houstin and Galvston are BEGGING with FEMA for help. New Orleans citizens groups sent volunteers to Iowa because they KNEW the government was not going to be there for the citizens there. REALITY has NOTHING to do with your opinions. You live in a pretend world were government is not needed and every problem is the fault of the individuality or the locale. When FEDERAL levees fail and cause the destruction of a an AMERICAN city they better get there and supply more that water in FIVE days. They better to better than to leave an AMERICAN city destroyed after 3 years. I personally pay $1000 a week to the federal government and yes I expect the government to protect AMERICAN citizens. I donated to a political campaign for the first time in my 54 years this last election and it wasn’t for McCain. When I voted I had on my i-pod on with all of the music that kept me going for the last three years of abandonment by MY country. As I voted I said to myself “This is for you New Orleans!”. I had not felt so good in years!!!

Dec 3, 2008 - 5:16 pm 150. Tex Taylor:

REALITY has NOTHING to do with your opinions.

My wife lives in Houston during the week…that’s baloney. Reality has nothing to with my opinion but everything to do with the truth. So cut the crap and start telling it.

Why don’t you admit been pulling the Dim lever for 35 years, wouldn’t do anything else but pull the Dim lever for another 30 years, and you stay in a perpetual state of tantrum because you need somebody to take care of you with the rest of your buddies.

Nagin is a disgrace, an abject failure, and you imbeciles didn’t even have the sense to send him packing. Clean up your own house first, then start pointing fingers.

Dec 3, 2008 - 6:24 pm 151. doctorj2u:

Because it is not the truth. I voted Republican since the 70’s. I voted for Jindal for governor both times he ran. Heck, I voted for Bush TWICE (to my ever lasting shame.)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6101000.html
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6129080.html
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6493624
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6105696.html
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/11/16/Hurricane_Ike_victims_awaiting_help/UPI-39561226876430/
And there are more. Tell your wife she needs to look a little harder. Get out of the suburbs maybe every once in a while. It is such a complete joke. Texas is facing the exact same problems with FEMA we faced in LA after Katrina. Can you spell Stafford Act?

Dec 3, 2008 - 8:10 pm 152. Mark:

Very simple. Get the college Republicans to lead. Also, try to get kids that are angry at this “PC” culture. There’s a lot of them out there. Persuade them to join the GOP.

It starts at the grassroots – and we have to have our young ppl there. Also, we have to be more tech savvy as the Obama campaign was.

Mark
RightWingIt.com

Dec 3, 2008 - 9:34 pm 153. Tex Taylor:

Tell your wife she needs to look a little harder. Get out of the suburbs maybe every once in a while. It is such a complete joke.

Yeah, I know as a Texan how envious we are of Louisiana. We wanted to move to the ghetto called Bourbon Street. That’s a fabulous place to raise children. Hell, we could have called the SuperDome home-away-from home.

You think Texas is facing the same problems do you? Well tell me, since you’ve got it all figured out, why did a hurricane ruin your life? Didn’t seem to ruin her’s. Of course, unlike a few confused dolts, she did have the sense to get out of the way when it was coming.

Face it. New Orleans is a wreck because it’s a mismanaged cesspool and continues to be a mismanaged cesspool. Good food; bad environment. Seems to me maybe you ought to think about getting on with your life elsewhere. Try the suburbs. You might find people a little more capable.

Dec 3, 2008 - 10:12 pm 154. Tex Taylor:

Uh, I hate to tell you this Dr. J, but here’s your problem provided by “your” link:

Thousands wait for FEMA to put a roof overhead. Like I said the first time, “HELP ME! HELP ME OBAMA!”

Dec 3, 2008 - 10:15 pm 155. e. nonee moose:

I was referring directly to you and your type. If you’re not smart enough to figure it out for yourself, I’m not going to pander for your vote. You have my permission to drown on the sinking ship…

If that’s what you truly feel then do at least acknowledge that you will drown with me. Seems like if you really believed what you said then you’d be trying harder to change things. FWIW, I probably live a far more conservative life than most of the people who post here. But I did vote for Obama.

Coming from someone called e. nonee moose, I’m almost embarrassed to have to answer its challenge.

Sound it out in your head or say it out loud if you have to. You’ll figure it out.

Dec 4, 2008 - 5:53 am 156. Tex Taylor:

Sound it out in your head or say it out loud if you have to. You’ll figure it out.

What I love about libs is they think they are clever, while I find their thinking completely juvenile. Did you think I had a hard time figuring that out beforehand, did you? It’s not original or you get around a lot.

If that’s what you truly feel then do at least acknowledge that you will drown with me. Seems like if you really believed what you said then you’d be trying harder to change things.

I’m not changing a bit and is exactly what I’ve been saying since my first post. I say Obambi will change you mind for you, or you’ll sink with the rest of the underachieving rats in figuring out more government isn’t the answer. Read my first post again and you’ll figure it out.

Dec 4, 2008 - 7:54 am 157. Pat J:

And how are things in Point Bolivar these days, Tex?

Dec 4, 2008 - 9:03 am 158. e. nonee moose:

It’s not original or you get around a lot.

I get around a lot…

Dec 4, 2008 - 10:58 am 159. Tex Taylor:

And how are things in Point Bolivar these days, Tex?

Looks to me Pat a hell of a lot better than New Orleans is three years after the fact.

http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2008-10/2008-10-14-voa22.cfm

SAVE ME OBAMA! SAVE ME!

Dec 4, 2008 - 12:27 pm 160. Bhanu Prasad:

Across the globe, young people are the MOST HEDONISTIC and blindly idealistic organisms. Nevertheless they gravitate to left.

Dec 4, 2008 - 10:52 pm 161. doctorj2u:

The disregard for young people (aka the future) spells the demise of the Republican Party.

Dec 5, 2008 - 6:19 pm 162. Jack:

John the Libertarian, the Republicans that were Lincolns party are not the same Republicans of today and we all know that. The name of the party is not the issue, it’s what they practice. In Lincoln’s time the Democrats were the racists. Now the Republicans are, and the Democrats are the ones championing civil rights, a complete 180 for both. So get real.

Dec 7, 2008 - 8:27 am 163. David S:

“Al Gore and the Democrats have teenagers convinced the seas are going to rise and flood New York City, but the Republican Party can’t convince us that we’re going to be bankrupt in 50 years? It sounds like we need to take a page out of their playbook and talk about genuine crises that are building.”

Republicans have lost any shred of credibility in regards to saving social security or preventing crises. GWB presided over the worst domestic and foreign policy mistakes in decades, with the help of a Republican congress. And in case you haven’t noticed, we are bankrupt NOW, mostly because Republicans have proven they can’t balance a budget, conduct a war, or prepare for a hurricane, and don’t understand basic arithmetic.

“The Democrats have dominated among the idealists for the past two decades by talking about building a more inclusive society, helping the downtrodden, and fighting for the oppressed. These rhetorical ploys attract the idealists. We need to fight this by putting out an inspirational conservative platform.”

Rhetorical ploys are not sufficient. In case you haven’t noticed, the youth who support the Democratic platform ARE building a more inclusive society, helping the downtrodden, and fighting for the oppressed. Fighting actual change with rhetoric is not going to work.

“To win the youth, conservatism needs to become “sexy” again, and we have to start talking about issues in a way that shows that they matter to my generation.”

Conservatism has never been and never will be sexy. The youth of this country are at odds with the Republican platform from one end to the other. They are also tired of a Republican party that is built on pure hypocrisy.

“We don’t have to dumb down our agenda or abandon our principles for populist rhetoric, but we need a strategy that convinces people they need to vote for America’s future, and that the Republican Party isn’t the party of old ideas or “rich white guys.””

People understand that they have to vote for America’s future – that’s why they elected Barack Obama rather than John McCain. The Republican party only continues to demonstrate that it is indeed the party of old ideas and rich white guys.

If Republicans actually want to be relevant to the youth of the country, the key is to outflank the democrats on libertarian ground. Stop the drug war, stop the fight against abortion rights, and get serious about a fair and graduated tax system that doesn’t leave the nation under a crushing debt for generations to come.

It is more likely that the Republican party will continue to fade in importance as the culture moves forward and the party loses more states each year to the Democratic demographic.

Dec 16, 2008 - 1:38 am 164. Josephus:

Somehow I think that the very word “conservative” or “conservatism” is not attractive to today’s youths.

When you look at the Gen Y’s, they are a rebellious lot to begin with. The GOP stokes the mindset of siding with your parents. In the minds of today’s youth, the GOP and conservatism evokes images of AARP. Name any of our candidates this last election cycle that exuded youth and a cool factor that would appeal to surface-minded youths.

I was told that Obama was a “movement” sparking these glossy looks of hope and brightness in the eyes of youths.

We can start by RE-PACKAGING everything. The iconography of Obama was overwhelmingly adopted — quite willingly — by the media.

We need to package our candidates with better images, better slogans, better rhetoric and a better explanation of what we stand for.

Combine, also, the disadvantage of fighting the liberal media, which will make it difficult to a) counter Liberal lies and propaganda and b) get our message across in a clear and uninterrupted fashion.

We also need to take our financial muscle and soak up controlling interests in liberal media properties while they are on-sale in this down economy. Imagine buying the NY Times and firing the entire Op-Ed staff…

Dec 27, 2008 - 10:20 am 165. David S:

@164 Josephus

In the words of Sarah Palin – “lipstick on a pig”.

Packaging the GOP in better images, better slogans, and better rhetoric will not change the fact that the party supports policies that are hateful and hurtful to a large part of the electorate.

The right has a much larger media profile than the left, from radio to newspapers to TV, yet somehow you think that further muffling the left will lead to success for the GOP. This is folly. You cannot buy the allegiance of the people by refusing them access to information in the age of the internet.

DS

Jan 1, 2009 - 1:48 pm 166. HistoryLover:

I am a 24-year-old female, and I’m a little torn about this article. On the one hand, I agree that the Republican Party can and should appeal to the young via communicating the idealism inherent in conservative principles, but on the other hand, this idea can easily be twisted into the supposed need to “update” our morals, in much the way that many believe Christianity has to be “updated.” To be honest, I think that the only way the Republican Party can target young voters is to stop being so antagonistic toward the Libertarians, who already have a sizable and active youth contingent, are untainted by the recent excesses and character assassination of the Republicans, and are in fact far more conservative in word and deed than the GOP has been of late. As a Christian, I understand the reluctance many Conservatives have to cooperate with a group that has a reputation as being rather anti-religious, but frankly, the Libertarians do a much better job of defending individual liberty and promoting limited government than most Republicans. A united Conservative Movement will have a much better chance of convincing voters than one beset by denominational infighting.

Jan 9, 2009 - 11:45 am 167. The Ranter:

Problem: The republican party’s image is not just the one that is broken, it is the republican party in general. They continue to push christian issues that are unconstitutional, they continue to try to fight for the stripping of others rights that to the main population is truly mediocre- gay rights and abortion. Don’t make fun of liberal -general- concern of the environment when you are focused on all that crap. Bush (and his master Cheney) WAS the biggest mistake in the 20th century,and history will show him to be so. Economy: blown to pieces by stupid policy and refusal to monitor the US SEC as they allowed con-artists bundled superficially high mortgages into TRIPLE A BONDS, AND SOLD THEM TO CHINA TO PISS THEM OFF! Tell me, Higgins, where did the WMD’s go, where did Osama Bin Ladin go? Who let terrorists into Iraq? We did, when we got rid of Saddam, who, despite being an evil dictator, did NOT cooperate with terrorists or let them into his country. Bush got our brave soldiers killed for no good reason in Iraq. Yes,”radical Islam is still growing in the dark corners of the world” but after we got rid of the Taliban in Afghanistan we lowered our forces there and began to send them to Iraq. Let me state this: Saddam, and I’m not defending him, i don’t care the bastard is dead, but he DID NOT CAUSE 911, no connection between Iraq and 911, none, zilch, Nada. And the Valerie Flame incident, Higgins? You probably forgot about that as well. Look it up sometime, see what your republican government does to OUR OWN PEOPLE. Now, I’m not even a liberal (hard to believe, right? . I know Hillery Clinton and John Kerry voted for the war, never liked them much anyway. Obama didn’t, he knows whats going on. He’s smart and has some new ideas so give him a chance. He didn’t BS his way into the white house, or we will find out soon… But remember: Bush did, and McCain was trying to. Obamas going to look pretty bad at first, as the worst problems of the previous administration leak out from behind the seals they were so powerfully enclosed in. He’ll spend a-lot of his first term just cleaning up the mess, and while doing so republicans will try to pin him done on some of those problems that he is trying to undo for the next election. So republican image is not the problem, it is the party in general.

Solution: What they have to learn is to steer clear of trying to adapt the constitution to their intolerant ways. They need to get off of their high horse, gt rid of all the morons they have, and pretend for a minute that they need to serve America, not just your local stupid redneck joe six pack. They need more people like John McCain, AS HE WAS 8 YEARS AGO. They need to stop fighting for christian nutcases and homophobes who need help sleeping at night, and start playing the real political game again: Economics, Foreign Policy, Helping the Poor, Fighting the REAL terrorists… Bush was the biggest mistake ever made, McCain would never of invaded Iraq or done anything as stupid as Bush. When the republican party gets rid of their imbeciles and returns to real politics, than, Higgins, than perhaps there will be more youth on their side.

Thanks for listening to my ranting,

“Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.”
- Denis Diderot (1713-1784)

Jan 17, 2009 - 9:55 am 168. Anti-Josephus:

Yep, those terrible liberal lies and propaganda.

Hmm… Bill O’Rielly’s a saint who always tells it like it is…

An Ann Coulter…well she is just a breath of fresh truthful air, ain’t she..

And fox news isn’t biased at all, nor have they ever told a lie…

And the prez bush: well…, whats the count up to now, like 935 or something. Well, sigh, at least he didn’t have sex with that woman…

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/01/30/notes013008.DTL

Jan 18, 2009 - 10:39 am 169. William:

Problem I see with conservatives trying to reach the 18 to 25 group by driving home the virtue of freedom is, that liberty is secondary to morality with these folks. As much as I love my conservative brothers and sisters, (and consider myself a hybrid of conservatism and libertarianism) conservatives will never capture the immagination of youth by forcing their morality upon them. The key word is “force.” A more libertarian look at social issues (without force) is what the Republicans need. And by that, I don’t mean to frame social issues through “defenders of victims” as leftists do. Rather, look at it as what it is:freedom of choice. Kids love the idea of freedom. They also love choice, and the more choices they are free to choose from, the more they will enjoy it. But what is needed is a means of communicating the idea of liberty and the choices liberty provides, in a non-authoritarian way; a way that promotes personal responsibility, without the burdens of religious morality. Not that there is anything wrong with religion, but if a person believes in liberty; liberty unrestricted by government, and have a strong sense of personal responsibility that is required for liberty, chances are they already have a sense of absolutes like right and wrong. Morality, I believe is a dividend of liberty, not the other way around. Yep, choices is how we should frame the idea of freedom. After all, “choice” became a mantra for abortion. Like it or not, this was a huge groundbreaker for “progressives.” No reason why a word such as “choice” can’t work for our side.

Jan 19, 2009 - 2:54 am 170. Marina:

Almost all the young people I talked to said the problem with the conservatives is not “sexiness”:

1. The main problem is that the liberal MSM had managed to convince the society that conservatives are stupid, that really intellectual people “vote democrat”: who listens to Hannity? – retards, who watches Jon Stewart? – intellectuals (although the staticstics say the opposite, it’s what people think that matters, not the truth unfortunately). So, how you, being a student, e.g. can be a conservative? That’s why it was so easy to sell Sarah Palin as a stupid babe (and she was sexy! that just didn’t help enough).
WE NEED TO PROMOTE THE IMAGE OF AN INTELLECTUAL CONSERVATIVE. Ben Stein is an ideal guy. But he cannot do it alone. We need more people CONSIDERED intellectual by the society to represent us (may I say we should engage more Jews? Jews are automatically associated with brain somehow, that would work).

2. The war of DEFINITIONS. Just look at the words: “conservative” (something old, static) and “progressive” (something new, adventurous). If you are a young guy, where would you like to be? We need to promote the image of moving, dynamic conservatism, but it’s not enough. We need to show CONSTANTLY that “progressive” actually means “communistic”, which, in fact is really OLD ideology, 19th century! Show the young people that they actually buy the 19 century ideas as something new. And that those ideas are actually used and worn out and proven wrong. Show them the word “progressive” actually means “REGRESSIVE”. Only in this case you’ll be able to atract young people to something called “conservative”.

3. Use a lot of humor. Ridicule your opponents when they deserve. Many young people are uninformed because they don’t care and they will never go and listen to your long discussion how this or that will damage the economy etc. etc. But if you use a good satire, even sarcasm, like the other side do, you win. It’s strange, but psychologically we all tend to be on the side of the one who ridicules, not the one ridiculed. That’s why jon stewarts and tina feys are so popular. Start with THEM, ridicule them and they will lose their power. Ridicule people who seriously consider colberts sourses of information. Ridicule their stupidity and you may win a couple of students.

Anyway, be proactive, conservatives have been reactive for years now. Start being proactive and good luck

Feb 11, 2009 - 5:27 am 171. Sk8 Punk:

Dude-

We need to reimage and co opt some plays from the Left of the sixties

Feb 11, 2009 - 5:15 pm 172. Gina:

It’s laughable that you people think “thinking people” would ever want to endorse the neo-con ideals. Please. So, it’s rational to want to make rich people more rich, ruin the environment and let capitalism run unfettored. Wow…look at you people. This is why you lost…because you and your greedy, selfish ilk almost brought down the world economy. I think you should continue to draw sheep to your party with your lies and spin and hypocrisy, afterall there are enough stupid people that will vote for something regardless of having even an inkling of an understanding of it.

Wake up……the world has changed. Either embrace it and change with it or face extinction!

Mar 31, 2009 - 10:50 pm