Troll responses will be disregarded. Thanks in advance! I am of course biased as an SJW, but I believe my post here is made in good faith.

Taking advantage of the fact that PaRD isn't an echo chamber and wanted to seek insight from right-wing members of PaRD in terms of your perception of the future of American politics, particularly right-wing politics. This question came to mind because the other day I was listening to an interesting conversation that revolved around this idea that even if someone disagrees vehemently with left-wing policy that at the very least the Left has a future and change-oriented mindset in its platform (Expanding healthcare, civil rights, confronting climate change, etc.). It allows people to be inspired by the future, to see themselves as part of historic change and progress, and gives them a sense of optimistic hope. People from this perspective even look to things like Obama's campaign slogans during 2008/2012 which were about "Change", "Hope", and "Forward". This capitalizes on the fact that every subsequent generation is increasingly to the left of the previous generation, and left-wing ideology is becoming increasingly popular with young people, particularly Gen Z as of right now. Most people want to see themselves as part of a generation that made the world better and achieved something.

Conversely, there's this perception that the Right tends to lean more heavily on the "conserve" aspect of conservative, and has more limited ideas of the future. This isn't a critic about specific right-wing policies, and is just simply commentary on the future-oriented pieces of the Right's platform. Obstructionism become a cornerstone of right-wing politics during Obama's administration, and then we had Trump in 2016 whose campaign slogan was "Make America Great Again". Arguing semantics aside, the slogan can be interpreted by many as about harkening back in time to America's previous greatness. The Right has more of a tendency to preserve current law and functioning and in some ways measures its success based off of how much it prevents left-wing ideas from manifesting. Increasingly, so long as something "owns the libs", then it gets the gold star. As rewarding as that might be to many, it leaves up-and-coming generations feeling less than inspired and less likely that they get to become part of meaningful change. I will say that I do see the Right wanting to see change by repealing Roe v. Wade and the ACA, but beyond that it gets a little bit confusing as to what the future-oriented game plan is. Even if you disagree with this future-oriented assessment, the reality is that right-wing ideology is becoming less popular and less supported over time. In 2016 Trump lost the Popular Vote, and when looking across generations:





So, my question is: What do you think the Right needs to do to stop this trajectory and get more young people on their side? I'm not as entwined with right-wing movement, so I'm unsure what the plan is going forward for y'all. Again, as fun as owning the libs must be, it certainly isn't a sustainable way to engage future generations. Genuinely curious the thoughts, insights, and perspectives of our resident right-wing members.

Sources:
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/03/01/the-generation-gap-in-american-politics/
https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/on-the-cusp-of-adulthood-and-facing-an-uncertain-future-what-we-know-about-gen-z-so-far/

This post was edited by Handcuffs on Oct 28 2020 02:49pm

To a certain extent this problem takes care of itself. Left economic policies appeal to low income, low education demographics. The youth tend to check off both boxes. They're not in a great situation and someone is promising them the moon. That's more appealing than a diet of hard work and sacrifice. As people age, there's a mild but general tendency for them to move (economically) to the right/center, if only because they now have financial assets worth protecting.

The right (specifically eschewing the word "conservative") needs to seize back control of education. We underestimate the impact that public teaching, as currently constructed, has on the youth. Teachers are low paid, poorly qualified union workers whose one job perk is benefits and job security. It should be a surprise to no one that they largely champion job security and tenure over meritocracy and benefits over higher salary. To change the culture you must first change the economic circumstances. Make teachers higher paid and increase qualifications. Dismantle teacher unions and fire inadequate teachers.

On the other side of the spectrum, the right needs to more broadly incorporate some elements of economic populism. Similar to how Bismarck introduced social welfare as the "carrot" to his "stick (a heavy handed crackdown on socialists), the right needs to incentivize ideological loyalty. You cannot expect to be backed by voters whose basic material needs you refuse to meet.

Don’t forget conservative need to use the government for what it is for to conserve for the future. Else, lots of good points you made here. Last one a bit iffy , but is more so because of the democratic welfare state

Parties adapt to the times. Demographics shift affiliations and become less monolithic as they integrate. If you looked at the republican party 40 years ago you could have wondered how the neanderthals would survive with the changing attitudes of society- a party of bible thumping neocons and warmongers and moral crusaders in an era when gays were coming out and secularism rising. Well, in 2016 they elected a godless philandering homo lover. The dinosaurs went extinct, the elephants lived on.

The bold may be true to a limited extent, but younger generations aren't seeing their wealth accumulate at the rates previous ones did. Millennials collectively are much poorer than boomers were at the same median age. The American dream isn't coming to fruition for more and more of our younger generations. Without a change in this, there's not a lot of incentive for younger generations to coalesce behind the GOP or right-wing politics in general.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-depressing-chart-shows-the-jaw-dropping-wealth-gap-between-millennials-and-boomers-2019-12-04

This post was edited by Surfpunk on Oct 28 2020 03:57pm

Not everyone lived on. A lot of Americans are dead due to Jared Kushner being appointed to lead the Covid-19 government response.

Surf answered the economic one.

I wholly agree with paying teachers more and renegotiating union contracts. Where I went to school the ones wanting to be teachers were universally the worst performers in my class. Ironically, that also made them worse at teaching because they didn't understand the subject matter deeply. The chemistry education majors universally got worse student reviews and scores than the ones who were aiming for a Ph.D.

Tears, tears, oh the liberal tears... I think I'll drink a glass of those liberal tears.


You know the really sick part? IF the liberals were to get their way, they'd hate it more than they hate the right.

This is a crazy person



This is a wise person

There's one.