Monday, October 28

The Angry Conservative

The other day I responded to a post on Conservative Blogs Central and needless to say I was shocked by the visceral response I received in kind.  I am innocent of nothing when it came to instigating the debate, but I do not believe I ever stooped to the level of name calling and ad hominem attacks.  I apologize to everyone if you can find an instance of me lowering myself to such intellectually bereft levels.  I was inspired to write this post because of the aforementioned interaction.  Yes I was angry, but my anger was caused by blame being placed upon my whole generation without what I to believe to be any warranted reason.  I will agree to the fact that my geneartion, the Millenials, voting overwhelmingly for our President.  This I cannot dispute, but I will not let the blame be placed soley upon my generation for the near entirety of the current mess we find ourselves.

One claim I must respond to is that the Baby Boomers voted overwhelmingly conservative in the past elections.  This claim is not true as seen by the chart provided by Fox News below,  As you can see the bulk of the Boomers (50-64 or those born between 1948-1962)  were almost evenly split, seprated by only five points.  And those in the older cohort of Generation X (another group accused for our current malase) hardly votedly with wild enthusiasm for Mr. Obama.

In conclusion my central point in this response is that anger at our youngest generation will get us no where.  Yes I myself have said my generation is shooting ourselves in the foot, but I do not believe we are beyond hope.  In order for conservatives to win the youth vote in future elections or I should say the middle aged vote very soon we must tinker our messaging.  We cannot resort to the us versus them tactics that have characterized both sides of the debate as of recent.  The Republcian party I am sorry to sar,  just like Obama in 2008, must come off as all encompassing ready to accept everyone and ready to help everyone.  Ronald Reagan was the same way.  

As much as some other people on these boards will not admit, marketability and yes this means "coolness" sometimes, is a big factor in winning elections.  If you do not think Reagan won partially because of his coolness and likeability you are kidding yourselves.  Politics as much as I would like it to be is not all about ideas.  Politics I hate to say for those idea people out there is mostly about common appeal.  Most people do not start their weeks off by wathcing the Sunday talking head shows and most people do not continue to surround themselves with such talk throughout the week.  The majority of Americans tune in to politics every four years and then they go about their everyday lives.  If Republicans wish to take back power and pass conservative policies we must once again, just like one of our favorites Mr. Reagan, attempt to master the art of common appeal.

Source: Fox News

Guest posted by http://www.theenlightenedrepublican.com/

12 comments:

neil schnurr said...

Are you saying that if the percentages for the under 50 year old age groups, were the same as the over 50 year old age groups, Obama still would have won? I think that this chart supports my argument more than it does yours. A much higher percentage of Baby Boomers voted for Romney than the younger generations.
I'm going to agree with you about the effectiveness of the "coolness factor" in attracting younger voters, but since our argument focused on which generation has been the most irresponsible, I think it should be said that if this is essential, in attracting younger voters, it proves younger generations have been more irresponsible in making their voting decisions than the Baby Boomers.

Rick Lakehomer said...

CW, You and your Husband have been in my prayers for quite some time. I knew he was ill but not dying, CW. What you wrote is beautiful and painful in so many, many ways. We have much in common. If I was close to you all I would drag my fubared body over and help ya all out however I could. I am rapidly running up on old age and will be probably be on my own again. Very tough and what CW is all true. When we get older, different things concern us and become our focus.


YR, very wise words CW has written. She is correct about your posts and one will be up shortly over at my site, as I mentioned. We ARE NOT the enemy.

Rick Lakehomer said...

YR,

Here is the link to your article up on my site. Little exposure is always a good thing.

http://callofthepatriot.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-angry-conservative.html


Your welcome!

The Conservative Wife said...

Now that is beautiful! And careful there... I might just put you to work. Lol. The other day, my husband and I were walking on our paths and I saw a beaver. Right there, standing in the middle of the path. I was so excited about having a beaver! Hubby said that's not a beaver and I said is too. Anyway, not a beaver. A nutria. (Yuck) why was I excited about a beaver? Because for that spilt second, I had visions of training him and his friends to get busy cutting down the dead trees. I thought, great, now I'm thinking of making little beavers my indentured servants! I'm a slave driver I tell ya. Lol thank you and God bless you.

neil schnurr said...

As you can see, CW and Rick are better people than I, because they both already offered an olive branch,and I haven't. Now, if I say that I am sorry, I'm going to look like a big phony. The truth is, I am sorry if I offended you, and 25 or so years ago, I was making statements that were very similar to the ones you posted. The only difference was, there was no internet back then so a lot fewer people ever heard me.
Anyway, I think we all made CBC a lot more interesting than it usually is. Don't you?

Young Republican said...

Thanks really appreciate the shout out

Young Republican said...

I accept thank you

Rick Lakehomer said...

CW,
Thank you and few could come close to keeping up with me behind a saw back in the day when I did this for a living. VERY FEW.


Really a shame I am not closer. I worked in the woods as a firefighter, logger and all around utility timber type dude. I LOVE falling trees except old growth unless it NEEDS to be taken out. One thing I can still do is run a chainsaw even though it kills me pain wise. So much is wasted after fires, just kills me. Environazis have taken those jobs away as well. Slave driver??? Oh well, as fubared as my body is I still love to work and will until I am called home. Just cannot find anything workwise. Being over 60, white male and disabled really makes it all much tougher. So I just push on as folks like us do. BTW, I used to help run trap lines in the high country and Nutria are nasty and can be very damaging.

The Conservative Wife said...

Yeah... he tried to look all innocent but I knew he was hiding nefarious intent behind those little beady eyes. lol

Rick Lakehomer said...

Of course and glad to help out. Your perspective matters and least I can do. Liberalism as it is today is a terrible thing. It has descended into the pits of hell into progressive regressive garbage.

Rick Lakehomer said...

You may have spoken too soon, Neil. I retracted my calling YR an Obama voter and liberal. If this is I am sorry or taken as such, oh well. I did not retract the other name which I will not use again for now because I really am a nice person. Offered an olive branch, damn it to hell I did. No, none of us see you as a big phony, quite the opposite and I cannot speak for everyone else here of course. Most assuredly spiced up CBC and I wonder if BC enjoyed this foo fah rah as much as we did? At least BC did not have to jumped in and smack us about. Another thing, my family would NOT say I am a nice or better person than anyone. I seem to have born with an ever getting worse case of permagrump.

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