| By Markos Moulitsas |
| Posted: 06/16/09
04:47 PM [ET] |
“If you’re a Republican in your
youth, you have no heart,” says a silly
little conservative saying. “If you’re a Democrat when you’re older,
you have no brain.” The trite aphorism might comfort conservatives
after watching the 18-to-29-year-old Millennial-generation vote break
for President Obama 66-32 in 2008 — but the reality is that once voting
trends are established, they’re hard to break.
Ronald
Reagan won a commanding 61 percent of the youth vote in 1984, and as a
result, Generation X continues to this day to identify more with the
Republican Party than any other. Today, Millennials are poised to enter
into a long-term alignment with Democrats, a development that will
relegate Republicans to minority status, unless the party’s philosophy
is radically transformed.
The Republican belief system, at its core, sanctifies the
individual, elevating personal success and accomplishment over the
well-being of society at large. It’s a selfish outlook, one proudly and
openly hostile to empathy as a valid political value. One doesn’t have
to look very far to see this hostility in action — witness the
conservative talking points against the nomination of Judge Sonia
Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.
Yet young voters, like most
human beings, wholeheartedly embrace empathy. When Daily Kos
commissioned Research 2000 to ask adults nationwide whether “empathy”
was a value they wanted to see in a Supreme Court justice,
18-to-29-year-olds responded in the affirmative by a stunning 63-17
margin. Even baby boomers lagged behind, at 55-26. Gen Xers, or
(roughly) 30-to-44-year-olds, were the most hostile to empathy,
clocking in at 47-34 — still a substantial majority.
It’s
surely no coincidence that Millennials, the most wired generation in
world history, cherish connectedness. MTV beamed music and culture to
the entire cohort during their adolescence, while Bravo, BET and other
networks created popular shows featuring gays and ethnic minorities,
demystifying long-marginalized demographics. The Internet has erased
geographic boundaries, and many youngsters have made “friends” across
the globe on popular social nets like Facebook and Twitter. It’s no
wonder they refuse to demonize entire countries when they’ve long
maintained friendships with students in so many nations. And while
Republicans rage against engagement with Iran or Democrats or any of
their enemies du jour, young adults have a strong faith in the power of
dialogue.
That Millennials found a home in the Democratic Party
is no surprise. The Research 2000 survey found that Democrats endorsed
empathy as a valuable governmental value by a 73-12 margin. Republicans
opposed it by an 18-56 margin.
Could Republicans become a more
empathetic party? Could they put themselves in the shoes of gay
Americans and realize the rank unfairness of anti-gay discrimination?
Could they start understanding how innocent villagers might react to
American warplanes and missiles? Could they begin to understand that
George Bush’s heavy-handed foreign policy created more resentment and
enemies than constructive engagement would have? Could they realize
that marginalized minorities face challenges that white males often
avoid?
Sure. Around the same time that Millennials shelve their iPhones and
Wi-Fi and start handwriting letters to National Review.
The
fact is that Republicans are the party of white privilege and
entitlement, representing everything young voters reject — intolerance,
thoughtless aggression and a heartless focus on individual success
rather than societal betterment. Until that changes, Millennials won’t
vote Republican.
Moulitsas is founder and publisher of Daily Kos
(www.dailykos.com). |
|
