A Problem of Shrinkage

[Banquo's Ghost]

Does a thirty-eight year old really qualify as a "young" Republican?

[Crazed Rabbit]

Does a thirty-eight year old really qualify as a "young" Republican?

Apparently.

CR

[Banquo's Ghost]

Apparently.

Hmm. I wondered if I had misunderstood.

Surely one of the key demographics the GOP would like to recapture is young people? There must be some charismatic young people with conservative views that can appeal to and energise their generation.

What would the normal route(s) into national politics look like for a young person full of vim and vigour?

[Lemur]

There are campus organizations in which a young(er) person can enlist while still at Uni. A lot of politically inclined people start there, and go on to intern in campaigns, for Congresscritters, etc.

[Banquo's Ghost]

I wasn't sure whether to post this article here, or in the Palin Resigns thread, for it neatly concatenates the two. I think it belongs here, because it addresses (albeit from a conservative UK viewpoint) the core concern of the future of the GOP. I'd be interested in views from our American colleagues.

The maths of politics aren’t very complicated. If you want to win and you don’t have enough votes from people who agree with you, you have to win support from people who don’t by accommodating their views. You cannot win elections by getting the same people to vote for you by pulling the lever harder. This, however, is the strategy the Republicans seem to be embarking upon.

Footnote: I think Mr Finkelstein's copy editor may have missed a mistake, since this sentence doesn't make sense (at least to me) unless the examples are placed the other way round: "The experience of the British Conservative Party is that trying to sack your voters — effete chattering-class liberals — and replace them with a new set — hard-working strivers — doesn’t work very well."

[Furunculus]

I wasn't sure whether to post this article here, or in the Palin Resigns thread, for it neatly concatenates the two. I think it belongs here, because it addresses (albeit from a conservative UK viewpoint) the core concern of the future of the GOP. I'd be interested in views from our American colleagues.

The maths of politics aren’t very complicated. If you want to win and you don’t have enough votes from people who agree with you, you have to win support from people who don’t by accommodating their views. You cannot win elections by getting the same people to vote for you by pulling the lever harder. This, however, is the strategy the Republicans seem to be embarking upon.

Footnote: I think Mr Finkelstein's copy editor may have missed a mistake, since this sentence doesn't make sense (at least to me) unless the examples are placed the other way round: "The experience of the British Conservative Party is that trying to sack your voters — effete chattering-class liberals — and replace them with a new set — hard-working strivers — doesn’t work very well."

is that a reference to conservative threats to sack some of labours client electorate (the public sector) by reducing public spending?

[ICantSpellDawg]

The GOP needs to recapture the votes of adults. We need to open the door to the youth eventually crossing over by not having some ignorant boogyman fear of one of the 2 main political parties in the nation. We should stand for interesting things, like calling for more libertarian laws on digital copyright - because the Democrats use that one to placate their financial base and it would piss off musicians and hollywood types; backing up on marijauna legislation before the Democrats eventually do it.

I don't care about marijana, but it sounds pretty dumb that the party defending smoking ciggarettes and drinking booze is attacking marijuana which is just as dumb.

Democrats in power will make themselves the party against freedom on their own. Republicans have the opportunity to play up the freedom strangling of the majority governemnt and show themselves to be a real alternative sensistive to Americanisms. To get adults back we need to put money in their pockets after the democrats take it away.