I am a young registered republican and that is a rarity in this country, But why is that? I believe it is impart due to the way the media portrays my party and what my generation views as important. Yes there universities such as Furman where the pulse of the campus does bleed red but for a national recognized secular liberal art school we are among the few and far between. So why is that young people tend to vote, think and aspire to be left. Why does every news network other then fox news lean toward one specific side. What is wrong with being right?
I feel like one reason why so many young people lean left is because of what issues they think is most important for our nation. Many people my age believe social issues should be the main talking point when it comes to politics. It makes perfect sense, young people are either financially independent (meaning they only have to support themselves) or they rely mostly on the parents for finance's. So for them issues such as the economy and taxation take a back seat to things such as gay rights, or abortions. With those being main issues and with the right still holding strong to there conservative opinions you can see why young people lean left. My only question is why can not more people see that our economy is truly what matters. Can people not see that even though our nation's 15 trillion dollar debt does not effect us now it eventually will. That it is sad but true but the only reason to go college is to raise your earning potential. It is just frustrating because when I say these things and that I am a republican people assume to many things. Are my parents republicans? yes. But that does not mean I just reiterate what they think. Also I am totally agnostic but that does not mean I am against social values and standards. Now I know I am coming of as bias right now and thats fine. I truly believe I am right, I just want to know why is that so wrong?
It does seem that views on social issues are changing even among young Republicans. I do seem to remember, though, hearing similar things in the past, and it never seems totally to materialize. But maybe things finally are changing. It does seem that young people are also more in tune sometimes with a left-leaning economic agenda: do you think this is just because they take the whole package, not wanting to adopt the economic views of those who hold social views they don't agree with? Or is it more substantive?
ReplyDeleteI think that our generation as a whole is very lazy and expects everything to be instant, they do not like to work hard for what they want in life. We grew up with food coming out of microwaves and our parents giving us a lot of things, as well as google if we want to find out information we just google it and we know everything. I think my generation does not utilize this as well as it should and we could easily be the smartest generation around, but we have no work ethic or drive to want to be better. My generation is willing to talk about a cause and a change for something and post blogs about but when it comes to doing something they would rather stay at home. I think this has effected our view on politics we want the government to give us things and provide for a lot. My generation is very guilty of being uneducated and not knowing what they are talking about but just saying things without thinking through of what the effects on the rest of the world will be if they say this. Which is why I think people now a days are so judgmental of republican ideology because they can easily argue against it without really being educated on the matter.
ReplyDeleteA decent argument could probably be made on how rampant consumerism, social media, and increasingly instant gratification has made today's youth lazier, more narcissistic, and generally dumber. This may be a little harsh, but is a (mildly hysteric) charge we've long heard from people of all ages and political alignments. At any rate, I'm pretty sure an equal number of people on the left and right are using twitter, google, microwaves, and want the newest iPhone. Society is strangely good at distributing ignorance and self-righteousness equally to all camps.
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ReplyDeleteI find the question, "Whats so wrong with being right?," to be a very interesting one. By asking what is wrong with it, you are implying that there is people view there to be some sort of flaw in young people thinking traditionally more to the right politically. Despite this sentiment, we can see that there is nothing wrong with a young person being more right-winged; it is simply a less common point of view taken by young people. There is nothing wrong with thinking you're right either. In fact, thinking this is a very important part of politics in a democracy. People are going to have differing view points based off of their geography, socio-economic background, and life experiences, and that is what makes voting so important. The most common point of view in America is what shapes our laws and policies. There will always be a group of people that do not make up a majority in the entirety of America, but they can in a specific place. This is very helpful for people who may feel that they are a minority and not like it because they can move to a place where they feel more welcomed, such as a Republican in a Democratic area coming to a conservative area like Furman
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