There is a new fight out there among the politcal parties and operatives of the world. And it's not for an office, or control of a legislature, or really any kind of elected or appointed position, it's for the support of a new group of people. The 18-29 year old demographic represented the single largest increase in voter turnout for a specific age demographic in the 2008 election. And, while completely expected still astonishing (if that is really even possible), the end result was an overwhelming support for President-Elect Barack Obama.
The 2008 general election saw between 22 and 24 million voters of this age come out, close to 50% of the eligible voters in this bracket. The results? 66% for Obama, with his supporters outnumbering McCain supporters nearly 2 to 1. Shocking, but near impossible not to have seen this coming.
Perhaps it has a great deal to do with something that is impossible not to see on a college campus across the country: The North Face Continuum. Stand in a single spot on any campus you choose for more than 10 minutes, especially during the time classes are changing, and you will see no less than 75% of the female (and sometimes, although to a lesser extent, male) students wearing identical North Face Fleece jackets. Probably about 98% the same black zip up jacket, with the occasional brown.
You may be wondering what a jacket has to do with a Presidential election. Well here it is: the pressures of group conformity. Think about how many young people are enviornmentalists or anti-war, in essence how many follow a liberal path of thinking? I'm not saying there is anything wrong with a liberal point of view, just that the amount of youth who subscribe to it seems to be disproportinal to the amount of youth who actually know what they're talking about.
A recent poll sourced from the Carnegie Mellon's Student newspaper, said that only 37% of voters this age look for a candidate who agrees with them on the issues. Seems to me that that number should be a lot higher. For a group of voters who cares so much about the issues, they certainly don't have a great deal of prevalance in their political selections. But their friends are voting for Obama so they do to.
Its not the quality of the jacket that's appealing, it's the style.
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When I was studying at UConn, one of my co-workers hit me with a phrase which has always stuck in my mind: "If you're not a Democrat when you're young, there's something wrong with your heart, and if you're not a Republican when you're old, there's something wrong with your mind." Perhaps we need to think more about where that phrase comes from, and what truth we find in it. While I agree with your herd philosophy of individuals conforming to individuality, there is something which I find the Republican party failing at, it's a lack of heart.
Our party is a party of contradictions, and in many ways, I feel we have gone astray. It's vital for our generation to stand up, become more involved, and in a fair, balanced and neutral manner, assess what our beliefs are, and what we, as Republicans, stand for.
Do we believe in fiscal responsibility? If so, let's balance our own budgets--and hold our municipalities, state, and nation to the same standard.
Do we believe in individual freedoms? If so, then our party needs to reassess its stance on such controversial issues as abortion or same-sex marriages.
The 2008 election season was not just a reflection of the Bush administration, and the disdain so many have for our current President, I believe there are many seats we lost, or failed to win, because we as a party, have lost our way.
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