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To Attract Millennials, GOP Must Dial Back the Social Conservatism
National Journal ^ | December 9, 2013 | Charlie Cook

Posted on 12/13/2013 9:51:29 AM PST by kobald

Fifty-six percent of Americans ages 18-29 disapproved of the Affordable Care Act, the poll found; when it was worded as “Obamacare,” the disapproval was 1 point higher. And less than a third planned to buy health insurance from an exchange...

..President Obama’s job-approval rating had dropped to 41 percent, about the same as the president’s approval rating among the population as a whole, with 54 percent disapproving. The poll also found that a surprising 47 percent of millennials would recall Obama if they could; 46 percent would not. For a group that has been among Obama’s staunchest supporters, these numbers must be awfully dismaying for the president and his supporters...

..At the same time, any conservative or Republican looking at these same numbers with hope of support for limited or minimalist government must confront other findings that show that while this generation has a healthy--or unhealthy, depending upon your perspective--view of government, millennials also have a profound streak of libertarianism. Specifically, the conservative positions on social and cultural issues that have come to be dominant in the Republican Party in recent years run precisely against the grain of this new generation that is maturing politically.

One national conservative leader recently told me about visiting campus chapters of a national, very conservative organization and canvassing these conservative student activists about issues. Within their ranks, he could not find any that opposed same-sex marriage. Among younger conservatives, the perennial applause line of wanting “government out of our lives” now extends to every room in the house and the ob-gyn’s office as well. The GOP’s strict opposition to abortion and same-sex marriages, along with its other unambiguous conservative positions, severely jeopardizes any progress that conservatives and Republicans can hope to make from their skepticism of the effectiveness of government...

(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: conservatism; elections; freedom; liberalism; smallgovernment; socialliberalism
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To: ilgipper
Take the message to the voters and explain WHY these views are the right ones and put all the issues in perspective.

One thing I've been doing is pointing to the chamber of commerce attack on the tea party. It shows that the tea party really is for the little guy and we support a level playing field for everyone be it JP Morgan, or the little cafe on main street. We oppose crony capitalism.
41 posted on 12/13/2013 10:14:24 AM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Viennacon

The Mandela editorial was the last straw for me, but this is apparently National Journal. This could be satire too, maybe.

lol


42 posted on 12/13/2013 10:14:45 AM PST by GeronL (Extra Large Cheesy Over-Stuffed Hobbit)
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To: JediJones

Propaganda and brainwashing work

wait until they live in the real world for a while


43 posted on 12/13/2013 10:17:08 AM PST by GeronL (Extra Large Cheesy Over-Stuffed Hobbit)
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To: TexasCajun
Conceed to Taxpayer Funded Abortions.

Conceed to Amnesty.

Conceed to Homosexual Marriage.

Did I miss anything?

Yes. Conceed to "taxing the rich" even more to support a socialist state. Conceed to continuing to grow the government which stomps on our constitutional rights, and conceed to the destruction of our once great nation.

44 posted on 12/13/2013 10:18:12 AM PST by Cementjungle
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To: kobald

What silliness.

Dial back on Social Conservativism and you get more Big government. See the baker ordered to bake for gays.


45 posted on 12/13/2013 10:18:30 AM PST by RginTN
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To: cdcdawg

exactly how many moderate/liberal Presidential candidates have we tried?? far too many.


46 posted on 12/13/2013 10:20:08 AM PST by GeronL (Extra Large Cheesy Over-Stuffed Hobbit)
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To: cripplecreek

I think the path to success is to have a strongly balanced conservative candidate focus on the economic issues and play down the social agenda. So, when someone like George Clintonopholous asks a conservative POTUS candidate about abortion or birth control in a live debate, the candidate should simply state that they are pro-life and immediately pivot to why Obamacare or other disastrous Dim policies are hurting women or millennials. Don’t let the media define the debate....rather, conservatives need to drive the debate....Mitch Daniels said as much about having a “truce” (not the best choice of words) on the social issues with a focus on the growing debt and he got roasted in the process. But, me thinks he was right! Success will come with a conservative leader driving the discussion, not following the Dim narrative...viva La Cruz!


47 posted on 12/13/2013 10:21:38 AM PST by HoosierWordsmith
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To: C. Edmund Wright

It’s not our choice what to “emphasize.” As you can see in a Democrat fundraising e-mail, or their contraception nonsense last year, they will bring up whatever issue they want to emphasize and attach us to it. And the issue will come up in the debates. You have to be prepared to defend your beliefs on the stage, unless you abandon them completely. Nobody’s ever suggested running a campaign that talks more about social issues than the debt or taxes. The Tea Party talks about debt and taxes more than anything else.


48 posted on 12/13/2013 10:21:46 AM PST by JediJones (The #1 Must-see Filibuster of the Year: TEXAS TED AND THE CONSERVATIVE CRUZ-ADE)
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To: C. Edmund Wright
True. Ultimately, social conservatives need to recognized that social goals must be achieved through social means (i.e. persuasion) rather than political means (i.e. coercion).
49 posted on 12/13/2013 10:21:53 AM PST by kobald
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To: RginTN

No, that’s what happens when you dial back on liberty……


50 posted on 12/13/2013 10:21:59 AM PST by C. Edmund Wright (Tokyo Rove is more than a name, it's a GREAT WEBSITE)
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To: C. Edmund Wright
willing to throw away limited government and economic conservatism

That is the problem. There is a difference between believing in morality and virtue and wanting the government to get involved in mandating what it is and how we must do it.

51 posted on 12/13/2013 10:22:28 AM PST by tentmaker (Galt's Gulch is a state of mind...)
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To: JediJones
Nobody’s ever suggested running a campaign that talks more about social issues than the debt or taxes. The Tea Party talks about debt and taxes more than anything else

BULL!! There are Freepers every single day who insist we run campaigns emphasizing social issues….even if it means giving away the farm on liberty and property……and there are a number of so-called tea party groups who have become social conservative groups almost exclusively. But I do agree, you need to be able to defend social conservatism when challenged…..

52 posted on 12/13/2013 10:24:19 AM PST by C. Edmund Wright (Tokyo Rove is more than a name, it's a GREAT WEBSITE)
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To: tentmaker
There is a difference between believing in morality and virtue and wanting the government to get involved in mandating what it is and how we must do it.

So correct I thought it was worth re posting!!

53 posted on 12/13/2013 10:25:27 AM PST by C. Edmund Wright (Tokyo Rove is more than a name, it's a GREAT WEBSITE)
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To: kobald
True. Ultimately, social conservatives need to recognized that social goals must be achieved through social means (i.e. persuasion) rather than political means (i.e. coercion).

Agree.

54 posted on 12/13/2013 10:25:43 AM PST by LuvFreeRepublic
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To: kobald
Once we concede the social conservatism, we have conceded the fiscal conservatism. Because then all the "inequalities" must be "addressed" (funded), government must be expanded (and funded) with new beuracracies, and new programs to hype "tolerance and acceptance" must be begun (and funded). Why is this connection so hard for people to see-or is this merely their backdoor way of destroying what little true conservatism is left? Real conservatism has always included social issues, or what are we conserving? How do we keep government small without conserving the principle that people must pay for their own "alternative" lifestyles, etc? How do we keep government small and taxes low when the products of fatherless homes will have to be supported through the productivity of those who don't have the choice to have large families (for which they would pay themselves if every other nickel they earn wasn't being confiscated to pay for the non-stop "baby mama" amd multiple "baby daddy" breeding?
55 posted on 12/13/2013 10:26:58 AM PST by mrsmel (One Who Can See)
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To: TexasCajun

Remove any semblance of Christianity from the public square.


56 posted on 12/13/2013 10:26:58 AM PST by ilovesarah2012
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To: kobald
You can't have "economic" or "fiscal" conservatism without "social" conservatism.

Perhaps rather than indulge youthful ignorance in those unlucky enough to be raised since the divorce of education and virtue, we should try harder to explain how the character traits advanced by social conservatism make economic conservatism even possible.

57 posted on 12/13/2013 10:27:27 AM PST by Trailerpark Badass (There should be a whole lot more going on than throwing bleach, said one woman.)
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To: tanknetter
It’s to reach out to them on issues where there is common ground to form coalitions in order to win elections, then flip them from libertarian-leaners to Conservatives through logical and reasonable persuasion.

Rand Paul gave a great speech at the Detroit economic club earlier this week. Economically it was bare bones conservatism. Socially it was a mix of conservatism and libertarianism with things like doing away with things like federal sentencing guidelines. Returning power to the states and local governments etc.

I personally am not a fan of marijuana legalization but its not an end all issue for me. I just don't want to hear the whining about the resulting expansion of laws and taxes that are a natural result of legalization.
58 posted on 12/13/2013 10:28:39 AM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Viennacon

They’ve been dead to me since the Derbyshire fiasco. I saw one excerpt from and article here today at FR regarding the left’s “disinformation” campaign. Coming from NR, that’s “Rich” (as in Lowry).


59 posted on 12/13/2013 10:28:47 AM PST by mrsmel (One Who Can See)
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To: TexasCajun
Did I miss anything?

Ummm, you misspelled "concede" three times.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

60 posted on 12/13/2013 10:28:55 AM PST by Night Hides Not (The Tea Party was the earthquake, and Chick Fil A the tsunami...100's of aftershocks to come.)
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