By 2015, voters born from 1982 – 1995 will be a full third of the voting population. North Carolina Republicans can secure their political longevity and create a model for the rest of the nation if they follow Rule #7: Welcome young voters with “Come as you are” Open Conservatism.
Rule #7: Welcome Young Voters with “Come as you are” Open Conservatism; not “Come as we are” Closed Conservatism.
“I think this is a vast overreaction …,” Krauthammer told Bill O’Reilly, “He’s a leading Republican, obviously presidential timbre. He’s got the highest popularity of any governor and he’s in a blue state.”
Charles Krauthammer on CPAC’s snub of Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey
March 13, 2013 Vol. VI, No. 7 3:13 pm
Come as we are or don’t come at all!
CPAC, the national Conservative Political Action Conference, is a classic example of why conservatives in general and Republicans in particular have a brand problem with America’s youngest voters.
CPAC is holding its annual meeting March 14 – 16 in Washington, DC. The theme is, America’s Future: The Next Generation of Conservatives, a worthy topic in light of the growing numbers of young Americans in the workplace and the voting booth.
- On average, 10,000 Baby Boomers retire every day.
- By 2015, the majority of the workforce in the U.S. will be in their 20s.
- By 2015, those born 1982 – 1995 will be a full third of the voting population.
CPAC welcomes all conservatives … ummm, unless you are one of the eight Republican governors, like Chris Christie of New Jersey, who favors expanding Medicaid for the poor. Then, you are demonized.
CPAC’s message to the “next generation of conservatives” is, come as we are or don’t come at all.
How can CPAC attract a new generation of young conservatives when they snub 8 Republican governors just because they decided that it was in their state’s best interest to take the Medicaid money? The eight governors are: NJ Gov. Chris Christie, VA Gov. Bob McDonnell, OH Gov. John Kasich, AZ Gov. Jan Brewer, FL Gov. Rick Scott, ND Gov. Jack Dalrymple, MI Gov. Rick Snyder, NM Gov. Susana Martinez, and NV Gov. Brian Sandoval.
Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer told Bill O’Reilly, host of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, that CPAC’s decision to snub NJ Gov. Chris Christie was a mistake. “I think this is a vast overreaction …,” Krauthammer said, “He’s a leading Republican, obviously presidential timbre. He’s got the highest popularity of any governor and he’s in a blue state.”
This report is the continuation of a series highlighting key rules for How the North Carolina Republican Party Can Maintain Political Power for 114 Years (like their predecessors the Democrats). The rules highlighted thus far are:
- Rule #1: Always remember that you are vulnerable
- Rule #2: Criminal indictments scare off contributors
- Rule #3: Keep your voters close, and your metropolitan voters closer
- Rule #4: Caring must be at the core of conservatism
- Rule #5: Lose the courts, lose the war
- Rule #6: Men do not equal a majority
Today, I am adding Rule #7: Welcome young voters with “Come as you are” Open Conservatism.
Lose young voters now, lose them forever
Since the 1950s, university and private think tank researchers have documented time and time again that once a voter establishes a partisan political identity they will remain true to that party for life.
Last year’s presidential race was the third in a row in which young voters favored the Democrat over the Republican. In 2004, John Kerry won the 18-29 year-old group by 9 points; in 2008, Barack Obama won the group by 34 points and by 23 points in 2012.
By way of partisan contrast, Ronald Reagan won 59% of 18-29 year olds in 1984. Those young Reagan conservatives are still conservative, and still more likely to vote Republican. However, they are now the keepers of a conservative litmus test nationally and here in North Carolina that Reagan could not pass.
Ronald Reagan would not have been welcomed to this weekend’s CPAC conference.
- California Gov. Reagan supported/expanded Medi-Cal, the nation’s largest Medicaid program
- Reagan raised taxes in an effort to balance the California budget (largest state tax ever)
- President Reagan increased the national debt from $700 billion to $3 trillion
- Reagan transformed America from a creditor to a debtor nation
From amnesty for illegal immigrants, to abortion, to gun laws to same-sex marriage, President Ronald Reagan would fail today’s conservative litmus test. Like the eight Republican governors shunned by CPAC, Reagan would not have been invited to their conference this weekend.
Republicans must accept the reality that today’s under-30 voters are the most ethnically and racially diverse and most socially tolerant voters in American history. More like Reagan.
According to Pew Research Center, young voters are “the only age group in which a majority said the government should do more to fix problems.”
That’s why young American voters are turned off by today’s “come as we are or don’t come at all” anti-government conservatives. They are too intolerant and judgmental … like old-school preachers.
Praise and Worship Services say “Come as you are” to young Christians
Republican social and economic conservative hardliners are as out of touch with the new Millennial generation of American voters as the traditional Christian church elders are with Millennial Christians.
A couple of decades ago, young Christians began to show signs that they no longer felt comfortable worshiping where you had to wear a starched shirt or a dressy dress to be accepted; where you had to sing old hymns and sit stoically and listen to judgmental sermons about sin and God’s wrath from pompous preachers. They quit going to traditional worship service.
American churches were startled into self-examination by the dramatic decline in the participation of young adults. New startup churches were attracting young Christians by the millions; small Praise and Worship groups were meeting in vacant storefront spaces. They came dressed in jeans; they sang new Christian songs popularized by Christian Praise and Worship bands and artists.
Rather than saying to the next generation of Christians, come as we are or don’t come at all, churches all over America created “Praise and Worship Services,” a contemporary way of worshiping separated from their traditional services. They installed projection equipment for the lyrics of the new Praise and Worship songs; they invested in sound systems for Praise and Worship bands. Most of all, the traditional churches embraced the new form of worship.
Young Christians started going back to traditional churches because the churches changed from a “come as we are” mentality to “come as you are.” United in Christianity; worshiping differently.
By 2015, voters born from 1982 – 1995 will be a full third of the voting population. North Carolina Republicans can secure their political longevity and create a model for the rest of the nation if they follow Rule #7: Welcome young voters with “Come as you are” Open Conservatism.
– END –
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John N. Davis, Editor
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