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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe GOP self-destruction is complete: millennials officially hate conservatives
Ana Marie Cox
Conservatives are stuck in a perpetual outrage loop. The reappearance of Todd Akin, the horror-movie villain immortality of Sarah Palin, the unseemly celebration of the Hobby Lobby decision these all speak to a chorus of "la-la-la-can't-hear-you" loud enough to drown out the voice of an entire generation. Late last week, the Reason Foundation released the results of a poll about that generation, the millennials; its signature finding was the confirmation of a mass abandonment of social conservatism and the GOP. This comes at a time when the conservative movement is increasingly synonymous with mean-spirited, prank-like and combative activism and self-important grand gestures. The millennial generation has repeatedly defined itself as the most socially tolerant of the modern era, but one thing it really can't stand is drama.
Republicans were already destined for piecemeal decimation due to the declining numbers of their core constituency. But they don't just have a demographic problem anymore; they have stylistic one. The conservative strategy of outrage upon outrage upon outrage bumps up against the policy preferences and the attitudes of millennials in perfect discord.
We all can recognize the right's tendency to respond to backlash with more "lash" (Akin didn't disappear, he doubled down on "legitimate rape" , but it seems to have gained speed with the age of social media and candidate tracking. The Tea Party's resistance to the leavening effect of establishment mores and political professionals has been a particularly effective accelerant. Palin's ability to put anything on the internet without any intermediary has rendered her as reckless as any tween with a SnapChat account. Akin's whiny denouncement of Washington insiders is likely to make him more credible with a certain kind of base voter. The midterms are, as we speak, producing another round of Fox News celebrities, whether or not they win their races: the Eric Cantor-vanquishing David Brat, Mississippi's Chris McDaniel and the hog-castrating mini-Palin, Jodi Ernst of Iowa.
The fire-with-fire attitude of hardline conservatives has its roots in the petulant cultural defensiveness adopted by the GOP especially the Christian right during the culture wars of the 90s. Their siege mentality bred an attitude toward liberals that saw every instance of social liberalization as proof of their own apocalyptic predictions and conspiracy theories. Gay marriage will lead to acceptance of beastiality and pedophilia. "Socialized medicine" will lead to the euthanizing Grandma. Access to birth control will lead to orgies in the streets.
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http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/14/gop-self-destruction-millennials-conservatives-backlash
samsingh
(17,571 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(48,789 posts)samsingh
(17,571 posts)Pholus
(4,062 posts)The article is a joy to read!
closeupready
(29,503 posts)DetlefK
(16,423 posts)But I think it's more like: "You haven't seen the last of me! I will get my revenge in next week's episode/outrage! Muhahahaha!"
Blue Owl
(49,934 posts)Another great comparison!
MoonRiver
(36,926 posts)littlemissmartypants
(22,418 posts)We need a super majority to win the house.
Unfortunately, not enough people vote.
CanonRay
(14,038 posts)and the fact that being crazy is the path to money an power in Republican circles. It's a death spiral. Somebody like Akin or Palin can earn a more than comfortable living spewing forth their rot on Fox and talk radio, which in turn makes all Republicans look insane and makes them intolerable to younger generations, minorities, etc. Even the stupidest ideas have a place in Republican ideology because the speaker can make a nice buck off it.
Salviati
(6,002 posts)... since the exit door of a PT Barnum show. It's a feeding frenzy for grifters.
world wide wally
(21,719 posts)Sunlei
(22,651 posts)JHB
(37,133 posts)...and it ain't past tense until it really is past tense.
It just make it all the more important to GOTV to make sure the nutters actually do lead them to disaster.
Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)created the Tea Party Torpedo...except they programmed the proximity fuse to only detonate only when
impacting anyone designated a RINO, no matter how conservative.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)AndyTiedye
(23,500 posts)Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Can't be right ... We want our politicians to fold their arms and yell loudly at republicans!
And this:
Can't be right, either!
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)Still, I'll take what I can get.
AndyTiedye
(23,500 posts)Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)If it's the Latino population, then all that talk about changing demographics helping Democrats is just yellowing newsprint.
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)Tommymac
(7,263 posts)The batshit crazy right wing-nuts definitely will.
riqster
(13,986 posts)polichick
(37,152 posts)...which makes Bernie Sanders "revolution" perfectly timed.
Hosnon
(7,800 posts)I can tell you that the GOP has a big problem.
Except for those who are very interested in politics, most people under 40 I encounter would be mortified to be identified as a Republican/conservative. And, yes, it's primarily because of the gay issue.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)I hope most of them will vote in the midterms!
Hosnon
(7,800 posts)... I made myself sad.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)vote. It matters, imo.
proReality
(1,628 posts)in my experience the younger generation thinks Rand Paul's Libertarian ideas are just ducky. I'm having a heck of a time convincing my grandchildren that he's an idiot and a phony.
Rod Beauvex
(564 posts)Nice to see someone point this out. Even if they don't like Ron/Rand Paul, a lot of the younger crowd still like libertarianism.
AndyTiedye
(23,500 posts)These "Libertarians" want a government small enough to fit in a woman's vagina.
The younger Ron/Rand Paul fans need to be made aware of this. Methinks most of them don't want it there.
"....want a government small enough to fit in a woman's vagina...."
This is a great line. I think I will be holding onto this one.
riqster
(13,986 posts)And they can get closer to a government of their liking.
The Wizard
(12,482 posts)that Republicans favor the end of Net neutrality and if they get complete power access to the net and the ability to text will be severely limited.
Telling them they can't text at will is like telling gun nuts Obama is coming for their phallic compensation.
riqster
(13,986 posts)abakan
(1,815 posts)I love what it says, but why is it taking so long for the GOP to self destruct? Can't come soon enough for me..
REC
randome
(34,845 posts)It's easier to sop up spilled milk than it is to clean it once it's dried.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Birds are territorial creatures.
The lyrics to the songbird's melodious trill go something like this:
"Stay out of my territory or I'll PECK YOUR GODDAMNED EYES OUT!"[/center][/font][hr]
abakan
(1,815 posts)I love your sig. I breed birds and can attest to the attitude ascribed. I am bit often but I never let the little heathens close to my eyes because they will take them out...
randome
(34,845 posts)[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]
tblue37
(64,982 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)By that time the conservative takeover of the Democratic Party will be complete.
factsarenotfair
(910 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)The smart conservative ideologues are now helping shape Democratic policy.
deafskeptic
(463 posts)When some troll on another forum started posting everyday about how awful Obama was (this was after the 2008 election), I figured if he was any example of the tea party, that party would alienate a whole generation and other groups if demographics were any example. I also thought that even some RW folks would be repelled by the Tea Party because it was so extreme even for them.
That troll was so obsessed Obama and so negative about anything he did that it became a joke in the words of one liberal poster: "His message is the same: Obama bad; Tea Party good." I think most members who posted there got turned off on the Tea party as a result.
I seem to be right on all counts if recent trends are any example.
conservaphobe
(1,284 posts)BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)I think the last few years have made most people extremely cynical because the country is not changing course economically. So it's time for Democrats (real Democrats) to put a stake in the earth and stand up for something. They need to figure out how to get around attack ads and lots of corporate money. They are selling what people want, but they are too timid to do it. (Or too beholden to corporate interests so they should be culled as well as Republicans.) They need to figure out how to get the Third Way out of the party.
Millenials have not experienced a true Democratic Party with true Democratic Values. If there was a real one that delivered good jobs, good education without going into debt forever, real healthcare, and equal treatment of all people, it would win every election as the old fundies die out. No right of center bullshit necessary.
Many who still vote for Republicans but who are not religious whackos do so for a couple of reasons: family tradition; cultural identity; and the lure of low taxes. But more and more don't wish to be associated with the clown car, so they need an excuse to flip. Democrats don't really define themselves clearly, and allow Fox and hate radio to put their smears on them.
But, I wonder. All of these things are evident. But for some reason, the party chooses to ignore them. I wonder why?
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)by the Democrats will threaten corporate power, which the Party has been courting in the smelly backseat of the Beltway for some decades. It MUST not be shown as threatening to the Corporate State, it MUST not. Further, the Party has NO LEADERSHIP, and is hostile to leadership as a notion, and to any views left of Jimmy Carer.
Face it folks! The liberal/progressive/left is quite alone on the political landscape, and as evidenced by the "atmosphere" of DU, it is both incapable and ignorant of how to form a movement.
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)This country wants Democratic ideas. They vote for them. Unfortunately, the leaders still feel beholden to corporate interests once in power. It's not the left that has the problem, and by the left I mean what used to be basic Democratic fundamentals, it is the leaders who do not care about what the people want. Big Difference.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)to do with even LBJ liberalism, which has been off the radar for over 40 yrs. The "left" has been OUT during this time, and for good reason: It no longer has a home, refuses to recognize it, and has long lost the ability to organize and take control. If we are the "left," then for years we have exhibited an unholy talent for losing, being used and discarded, and for stale jokes about herding cats. That's on us, not a bunch of smug, center-right corporate stateists who somehow lead us by the nose before kicking us out.
It's on us. There's no party to run home to, anymore
AndyTiedye
(23,500 posts)George McGovern's devastating loss was the end of the Left as a viable political force in the US.
We only had one chance.
Except that because of Nixon's dirty tricks, we never really had a chance at all.
If there was a chance of it coming back, their trotting out Ralph Nader to sink Gore's campaign put an end to that.
It's too bad because we really need a Left right about now.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)signs, I made the silk screen for them (in Austin).
GOLGO 13
(1,681 posts)These are things that take time of course. But it's gonna happen.
sakabatou
(42,083 posts)calimary
(80,700 posts)Make sure you VOTE, sakabatou! You and all your friends! Everybody you know! We can't fix this shit if too many of 'em are crowding into the corridors of power. We have to shut them OUT. And KEEP THEM OUT! Otherwise they get in and obstruct and turn everything to shit, and squander your tax money on their own lazy mooching (has anyone seen any of THEM doing any actual work to solve our nation's many problems?) and saying "no" all the time.
sakabatou
(42,083 posts)Z_California
(650 posts)...they DON'T steal the election.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Question is, can the Democratic Party woo these young people long term, or will the Democrats crap out? Seeing how Obama abandoned these young people post-election, I put the Party's prospects at less than 50/50.
HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)Our gay daughter just married a WOMAN!!!!!! Gay marriage will destroy "traditional" marriage! I never could understand their logic on that one. They are totally ILLOGICAL.
My husband and I are celebrating our 40th Anniversary August 24th. My daughter and her wife are celebrating their 1st Anniversary August 5th. Now I will grant you that a Mixed Marriage of Democrat and Republican can/will put strains on a marriage, two gays (relatives, friends, neighbors, let alone STRANGERS) getting married will not destroy YOUR "traditional marriage."
Millennials? My younger daughter, SIL, and their friends are what is the big deal about Marriage Equality? Marry whoever you love.
perdita9
(1,142 posts)For their gay friends to have the same rights they enjoy
For the environment to be protected
For women to have access to affordable and easily accessible birth control
For everyone to be covered by healthcare
For affordable training programs/college
For jobs with decent wages
Republicans stand in opposition to all of those things
libnnc
(9,996 posts)G O T V.
Lots of stories about the GOP dying or the GOP on life support. Well, they sure still seem plenty alive and well enough to me. Unfortunately. I'll rest a little easier when they're fully GONE. OVER. DONE with.
grover norquist wants the United States government shrunk down so small it can be drowned in a bathtub. I want the same thing - for the GOP - AND the teabagger movement too. Let's shrink the CONservative movement down so small that IT can be drowned in a bathtub.
That can only be done by outvoting them so consistently and decisively that it isn't close enough to cheat, and hopefully it'll take them a generation or more to regain power - ANYWHERE.
ffr
(22,649 posts)It's where the rubber meets the road. Get these people not only fired up against GOP drama, but voting that way too!
NO
MORE
REPUBLIS!
SleeplessinSoCal
(8,998 posts)2/3 of Republicans want impeachment. But how many is that actually given their shrinking numbers. I'm more concerned about the 1/3 figure. Where are these people getting their info? And who are they?
libodem
(19,288 posts). [img][/img]
Hekate
(90,202 posts)Because I am telling you, there IS NO BACKLASH without MEANINGFUL ACTION.
lpbk2713
(42,696 posts)I figured give them enough rope and they would hang themselves.
The voters would eventually see them as the party of the wealthy
and the privileged with a few useful idiot laggards in tow.
Response to n2doc (Original post)
Adam051188 This message was self-deleted by its author.
IkeRepublican
(406 posts)Gen-Xer's were supposedly disgusted with Conservatives back in the 90's. Well, that didn't last. The same will go for the millenials.
Conservatives aren't about bringing in young people. They are about exploiting the rational concerns of 40-somethings-and-older, then manipulating them into serving the bastards who cause all the bullshit that creates rational concerns. And they do a damn good job of it.
I hate to be a Debbie Downer here, but these bastards haven't gotten where they are without refining and manipulating their tactics with one fall swoop. It's been in the works since Nixon and it's gotten a hundred times more effective, vicious and deceptive since then.
2banon
(7,321 posts)this is article might inspire a burst of hope and enthusiasm, and it might even be based on reason and logic, but it doesn't take into account the reality of how that party came into power and has remained in power despite Democratic Party "wins".
IrishAyes
(6,151 posts)You and IkeRepublican say it's so, so it must be so. We might as well all give up and stay home since it's useless - useless, I tell you! Thanks for saving me the trouble of voting at all. At least I won't appear foolish.
Thank you for your service.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)are FAR more sophisticated at holding power. As was said, they are the epicenter of governance even when they don't win. And they have more energy and relentless persistence than a porno star paid by the minute.
IrishAyes
(6,151 posts)That seems to be the general thrust in all these statements. Doom, gloom, and hopelessness designed to discourage - uh, wait a minute! Could that be the true purpose? Keep those stoopid libruls home so the reel branes can run the show? If we can't win everything all the time or immediately root out all evil, then don't even try because it's hopelesssssss????
If my post sounds like a call out, IT IS. I'm horrified by the defeatist, vote suppression ideology being pushed here.
You can admit that the GOP is ingrained and harder to get totally rid of than toenail fungus w/o adopting such a defeatist stance. So please, save your breath trying to teach me or any other real Democrat how to lick boots.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)is what I'm saying, and know we have to hit faster, more decisively and more radically -- just to get back to a late 60s outlook. It's not the policies and ideology as much as an attitude and a determination. The bastards don't think we are tough; our own centrist, corporate "leadership" doesn't think we are.
IrishAyes
(6,151 posts)to sound defeatist. We can't afford any of that. It's unfortunately also a common dark propaganda technique and doesn't reflect well on the speaker. If you'd included some of that rah rah in the previous comments, I wouldn't have reacted so. Think about the appearance of your message as well as your intent, because I can guarantee you that too many marginal supporters or even fence sitters are easily influenced to stay home.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)It is vital to acknowledge the opposition's strengths, and our own deficiencies. The only thing more important is speed. I guarantee you this: Get one big victory; one successful boycott, a big union shop, a big-ass demonstration leading to a huge upward shift in wages, and the smell of crotch will be so strong, folks will get over their just-so cynicism, and demand more.
Just One.
IrishAyes
(6,151 posts)by way of stand alone pronouncements of enemy invincibility? That's where you err. Trust me, I know a thing or two about dark ops. Even if you don't intend that effect, it happens. Remember which road is paved with good intentions? While YOU might have a fully developed game plan in mind, your more casual listeners don't necessarily know that and will be negatively influenced by what many of them perceive (or even mis-perceive) as defeatist. At some point intent becomes irrelevant in the face of effect.
IkeRepublican
(406 posts)The only way to defeat an aggressor is to know what makes it tick. And you can't find that out by going all hog wild and accusing others of "giving in". That distracts from the issue, causes severe lack of focus and is essentially an aggressor's wet dream.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)when it is not actively opposed. Over the yrs of being in DU, I've found the greatest frustration of members can be summed up in one expression: Why don't we/Democrats fight back? Good question, one I have tried to answer. All the pip squeak extremists, the hate radio, the locked-in mechanical success of the Louie Gohmerts is Not due to the all-powerful politics of the GOPer. It is due to lack of opposition. The enemy has taken the castle because the draw bridge is down, and the inhabitants have little idea what to do about it, and no notion of leadership. In this shitty siege, the tiki torches of the far right now loom like gas giants.
TheKentuckian
(24,949 posts)and that you consider the state of affairs now seriously contesting the TeaPubliKlans.
It isn't defeatist to accept the strategy, tactics, focus, devotion, or energy is not going to carry the day, it is only by accepting something isn't working can winning occur save by chance or overwhelming advantage from the jump.
IrishAyes
(6,151 posts)Here's a simple way to understand MY point based on reality: Use the stick AND carrot. Never the stick w/o the carrot in simultaneous full view.
For the last time: Painting the enemy as all-powerful w/o concurrently presenting the solution appears - and will often be absorbed as - defeatist. That's what a stand-alone one-note statement does in what passes for the mind of the easily led. That's what was happening when I first raised objection.
Don't tell me that's not how things work. I've used it myself to encourage defeatist attitudes in the opposition's base. Call me subversive if you will; I know what works and how it works. Every conservative or 'independent' sheeple you can hoodwink into staying home on his/her stupid lazy fat ass amounts to a vote FOR us. I know what buttons to push with people, best of all when they don't have the foggiest notion of what I'm doing.
TheKentuckian
(24,949 posts)it), so what is unclear?
IrishAyes
(6,151 posts)Which it is, and therefore poor composition. Perhaps that Byzantine methodology suits your purpose, however. You and several other posters seem determined to twist my words every which way and insert your own misinterpretations. This is but the latest example. Surely it couldn't be on purpose, could it? I'd be shocked, I tell you - shocked.
But I'll tell you what I am already: tired of it. Go bug somebody else. I'm not fueling your game any further.
AndyTiedye
(23,500 posts)The nonstop barrage of GOP propaganda on the airwaves is very effective. Devastatingly so, especially in the long run.
bullwinkle428
(20,627 posts)except for Presidential elections.
The Wizard
(12,482 posts)Normal Americans have had it with these radical extremist anti American hosebags.
BootinUp
(46,928 posts)cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
Uncle Joe
(58,112 posts)Thanks for the thread, n2doc.
YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)I don't think millennials pay that much attention to politics. Only in sound bites. I don't think they understand the consequences of this far right crowd taking power. They make the assumption that it's the same ole same ole .. both parties controlled by an oligarch of corporations. So why bother to vote? This is what I am hearing. They look at Libertarians as a viable choice because they preach .. gov't out of the lives of people. But we all know that will never happen. We need gov't otherwise we have chaos and anarchy. Millennials don't seem to see the long term. They, after all, are the generation that wants "things now", and they want it fast. I hope they will hit the polls, we need them desperately.
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)...but this was totally uncalled for: ''Dinesh D'Souza, the Oliver Stone of the Tea Party....''
- K&R!
Dark n Stormy Knight
(9,760 posts)acceptable! Of course, I'm not happy that fiscal conservatism is seen as way cooler than social conservatism, as both are awfully unfair, but at least it's a start.
alp227
(31,962 posts)"Socially liberal, fiscally conservative" is the hip new thing for the 30-and-under crowd who don't really like the Democrats but are really disdainful of Republicans. They get tricked into accepting "limited government" in EVERYTHING from reproductive rights to businesses. Never mind that businesses sometimes need...gasp!...to follow laws like human beings do!
nikto
(3,284 posts)IrishAyes
(6,151 posts)Klatu baratta
eridani
(51,907 posts)Fearless
(18,421 posts)Threedifferentones
(1,070 posts)That young people were on average so much to the left that Republicans would never be able to adapt for the future?
I hope this article is correct, but I remain unconvinced, and I am of the generation in question.
yellowwoodII
(616 posts)If only more of them would vote. Unfortunately, they are, I think, discouraged by their observations on the futility of voting.
cynzke
(1,254 posts)get off their butts and vote this November. Otherwise is won't matter. If the millennials stay home, they will allow the "SOCIALLY INTOLERANT" CONSERVATIVE Low info voters to elect the right wing religious extremists who will legislate away all of the hard won progress made in the last decades... all with the help of the millennials.
otohara
(24,135 posts)especially in midterms and special elections.
They sure did show us in 2010, yep!
It will take decades to undo the damage in several states because they said, meh...
bravenak
(34,648 posts)We 're not as bad as the other guys doesn't seem to work.
Gothmog
(144,005 posts)The 2013 autopsy prepared by the GOP is being ignored
Populist_Prole
(5,364 posts)As in, 18-19 year old offspring of a few of couples I know. Two of the couples are fairly conservative, one of them has become sharply more conservative than the "live and let live" centrists they were.
It's all I can do not to openly snicker at them at the annoyance they express about their kids social/political....and even economic attitudes. Typical, "where have we gone wrong?" and "what do theses kids know" curmudgeoning that makes it clear the next generation doesn't buy the BS of their generation.
The latter couple I mentioned even more so. They take it to a new level of bitterness, especially the father. I can sense his frustration that despite all his anti-Obama drumbeat, his kids's private christian education, that the kids is definitely NOT a chip off the old block. He said he was furious that his kids said his parents were bigots and related to me "these kids today don't know shit!". Talking to the kid, I find him a better critical thinker than his parents. You really do sense that these people know damned well they're dinosaurs and they are panicking.