America is about to change drastically — and it’s tearing the GOP apart

[CatWoman]

The quest to become a more perfect union always upsets the less perfect

Ted Cruz is mocking his fellow GOP Senators over their unwillingness to pretend they can defund Obamacare. Rand Paul and Chris Christie’s spat has turned into a spinoff of the Real Housewives of New Jersey/ Kentucky. And Republicans are openly contemplating how to drop the “conservative” brand all together and move toward something called “libertarian populism,” which requires the belief that Ayn Rand and Jesus had a baby and named it Ronald Reagan.



Republicans consciously or unconsciously understand that most regular Americans take for granted: the world is changing rapidly. But quickly it’s changing in a way that threatens any grasp conservative thought can have on a majority of voters.

In less than five years, a majority of American states will likely have legalized same-sex marriage, which I’m sure will please our first female president.

In a little more than a decade, the number of Latino voters will nearly double, making politics based nearly exclusively on wooing older white people irrelevant.

Meanwhile, the Internet will make politics increasingly dominated by young people who view the Republican Party as “closed-minded, racist, rigid, old-fashioned.”


http://www.eclectablog.com/2013/07/america-is-about-to-change-drastically-and-only-republicans-are-noticing.html

[pscot]

1. "They tell me it will kill me, but they don't say when"

I keep hearing this and yet it seems like they're the ones running the country.

[Auntie Bush]

2. +1 Yeah, the Dems won but ReThugs control our government!

[AlinPA]

13. Republican teabaggers control PA- Governor, both state Senate and House, 13/18 US House

seats, 1 US senate seat.

[d_r]

3. In 1968 Jim Morrison told us

"The old get old and the young gets stronger
May take a week and it may take longer
They got the guns but we got the numbers
Gonna win, yeah, we're takin' over, come on!"

[CatWoman]

5. I absolutely love that

[louis-t]

4. "Ayn Rand and Jesus had a baby and named it Ronald Reagan"

[The Magistrate]

6. Beat Me to That, Sir: That Is Simply Priceless

[Scurrilous]

7. K & R

[KittyWampus]

8. Catwoman, I think the internet is ideally suited to wooing younger voters into aLibertarian-leaning

party. Or a party that puts on a good Libertarian veneer.

Youth is all about challenging any and all authority. Hence, its affinity for libertarians like Paul.

[CatWoman]

9. but Rand Paul is the wrong Libertarian to learn from

via his intolerance.

Young people shun intolerance.

[KittyWampus]

12. I will hope you are right.

[randome]

10. The Internet is ideally suited to wooing anyone into anything.

That's both a beautiful thing and a curse. But with the constant flow of information, with all groups basically equal in information processing capabilities, I have a hunch that truth will rise to the top more often than it does now.

Balkanization only works so long, IMO.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]

[davidn3600]

11. The political sphere is moving away from the far-right but not really moving to the left

It's moving libertarian.

If you look at the youth, young adults on both the right and the left tend to agree on more things than they realize. Social libertarianism (and populist libertarianism) is an area where the right and the left of people under 40 is in agreement.

They are rejecting the far-right authoritarians, especially the religious right. They have a "live and let live" attitude. They are open to gay marriage. They support marijuana legalization. They tend to be anti-war...many favor defense reductions.

But they are not pro-government either. The youth is far more likely to view people like Snowden and Manning favorably than the older generations. They are more likely to be angry that the government is spying. The youth tends to usually be more anti-authority. So these people don't really favor increasing the size of the government. They don't trust the government. They dont trust politicians. They think law enforcement is corrupt. And that's causing a significant rift in both parties.

I mean look at how divided we are even here on DU concerning Snowden. Some of us here think he's a traitor and should be brought back, prosecuted, and punished. Others here consider him a patriot and should be honored for informing Americans on what the government is doing. It's quite a big division.

Right now I think the Democrats blew it. They had a chance to grab these people over the past few years and have dominant majorities. But for some reason Obama decided to take a HUGE authoritarian turn. And now the youth doesn't really trust him or the party anymore. If Rand Paul runs, you might be surprised how much of the youth tends to drift his way because they want something different. Hillary Clinton (other than being a woman) is nothing different. Hillary will not change anything.