Posted on 08/28/2004 6:59:58 AM PDT by Pokey78
They were just children when he was president. But last June, Ben Domenech and his wife, Caroline, waited six hours to walk past the casket of Ronald Reagan as it lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda.
"My wife and I were both born in the '80s, and when we were young, the only president we ever remembered was Ronald Reagan," said Domenech, a 22-year-old speechwriter for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).
That devotion to Reagan's legacy is a defining characteristic of Domenech and five other young Republicans, ages 22 to 35, profiled in the Journal-Constitution today, on the eve of the Republican National Convention. They represent a sampling of young party activists.
They aren't the rebels that Lee Atwater, Karl Rove and Ralph Reed were in the 1970s, when they mounted their first political campaigns for offices in the College Republicans organization. But, thanks in large part to the efforts of that earlier generation, Reagan's conservatism displaced the moderates who once led the party and is now a pillar of Republican identity.
"I see a lot of young conservatives now that are intelligent and more aware of what they believe at a younger age than many you would have seen in another generation," said Domenech.
Young Republicans such as Louisiana congressional candidate Bobby Jindal and Virginia Republican Chairwoman Kate Obenshain Griffin see themselves as inheritors of a broadening conservative tradition.
"We've got Republican governors from coast to coast," Griffin said. "We're only going to get stronger."
A central concern of this younger generation is that the party get over the demo-
graphic hurdles that have kept its membership mostly white and native-born.
"To be true to its principles, my party has to stand strongly and unambiguously for opportunity for all Americans," said Jindal, a 33-year-old Indian-American. In campaign speeches, Jindal relates the GOP's conservative, free-market philosophy to the values of his industrious immigrant parents, "who could have gone anywhere, but chose to come here."
Reaching out to all
Emerging groups such as Hispanics, as well as churchgoing African-Americans, share many social values with Republicans, said Jack St. Martin, who heads Americans of Faith, based in Sacramento, Calif. But the biggest task for the party is to show that it is truly open to all groups, he said.
"What we offer them is not as important as that we make the offer," St. Martin said.
Nick Ayers, 22, the executive director of Gov. Sonny Perdue's re-election campaign, said he doesn't see the party becoming more or less conservative, but increasingly reflective of the mainstream.
"The party's got a big tent. We can all get under it," Ayers said.
But on the big social issue of the day, same-sex marriage, Ayers said he's more conservative than most twentysome-
things. "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am definitely not liberal on this issue," he said.
While he opposes gay marriage, Ayers reflects a more libertarian trend among younger Republicans that also separates them from older social conservatives.
"I'm fearful of saying something's a law," he said. "I don't think it's the government's role to step in until someone else's rights are being hindered."
Jindal supports the proposed constitutional Marriage Amendment and a similar measure in Louisiana, but he hasn't talked much about those issues in his current campaign.
"Social issues have taken the back seat in this election," said Griffin, the Virginia GOP chair. "And that's appropriate given the urgency of the issue of national security. It's important to have debate, but keep in mind, we are at war. That's the most important issue to focus on."
Terror war tops agenda
The war on terrorism ranks at the top of the issues these young Republicans see as central to the future of their party, but the different ways in which they conceptualize it show how the definition of this war is still evolving.
Ayers said it is his generation's Cold War.
"I look at the integrity of Ronald Reagan and how he led during a war," he said. "We want people in office with the integrity to get the job done."
Domenech compared it to a conflict with strong religious and ethnic overtones: Britain's long battle with the terrorist elements of the Irish Republican Army.
They see health care concerns, including such relatively new issues as bioethics and stem cell research, figuring heavily in the politics of the future.
"We have a real choice," said Jindal, who has held several high-profile government health care positions. "We can either let government take over more and more of the responsibility for our health care system, or we can rely on business to fill the gaps that exist now. But if we do that, we've got to confront a lot of issues, not only price of care and drug costs, but emergency room accessibility and a whole host of issues."
The deficit is one issue which clearly illustrates Reagan's impact on this generation. Unlike Republicans of decades past, they are comfortable with the prospect of long-term deficits, even if their generation and those following must pay them off.
"We have to win this war on terror no matter what the cost," Ayers said. "The American economy will bounce back."
Griffin blamed an inherited recession and the costs of war for the deficit problems.
"Of course, he [President Bush] did not envision having to engage in a war," she said. "Now, national security is our No. 1 priority."
Some polls this year have shown younger voters leaning toward Democratic Sen. John Kerry, but Domenech expressed confidence they'll come around to Bush by Election Day.
Younger voters aren't as familiar with the importance of issues like tax cuts and tax breaks for families, he said, noting a survey that showed a high percentage get most of their news watching Comedy Central's "The Daily Show." "So if they're only getting their news from 'The Daily Show,' then they're not getting much news."
Hell yeah... I was in Samoa when Reagan passed. I cried. I had just mourned the passing of my baby sister, and then I mourned the passing of one of the greatest Presidents of my lifetime... and I was only a kid when he was top dog.
You know what, I'll admit it... I still cry. I'm man enough to admit that. Reagan was genuine, and I think Bush is too. Honest truth.
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
With a few exceptions, I don't see how today's youth can be drawn to John kerry or the Democrats. John Kerry and the Democrats are stuck in the 1965-1971 era, their heyday of anti-Americanism. GenX and young know nothing of this era. Most of my GenX peers who swing left are drawn to the Green Party, whereas most who don't swing left are libertarian or libertarian-Republican.
My state representative is 24(won his first race at 22 and has an easy re-election). The other state rep from our county is 30 and won a township race when he was 18.
Both could be nationally known.
Hope for the future BUMP!
I came home from American Samoa before Ronald Reagan was elected. Luckily, I was too young to remember Jimmy Carter. I started kindergarten when Reagan took office.
I was 14 when Reagan was elected and while I was already a solid National Review-reading Republican, he just electrified me and my whole perspective on politics.
For me, he breathed life and excitement into the political process, and inspired me to become involved.
FWIW, I don't think much of a man who can't cry.
Jesus did, the prophets did. That pretty well settles that for me.
Dan
You and I must be the same age.
I remember Reagan getting shot, as it happened the day I moved into the house where I would spend the rest of my childhood. Ironically, Reagan died the day I moved to Seattle.
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