This Chart Shows Why Right-Wing Media And The GOP Are Doomed

[kpete]

We keep hearing that the Republican Party is in danger of becoming extinct. Not only is the GOP alienating millions of voters and standing by policy positions in the face of heavy opposition, their base of voters is literally in decline, as are the ratings of conservative media.

The latest chart of the day via Wonkwire shows population distribution among various age groups from 1905 to the present day but also projects age distributions up to 2060. What does this have to do with the decline of the Republican Party and right-wing media? By 2025, just 12 years from now, the largest age group in America will be those under 40 years of age. And that spells doom for the GOP and their various propaganda arms.



Read more: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/08/15/this-chart-shows-why-right-wing-media-and-the-gop-are-doomed-chart/#ixzz2c9HXx03v

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. Whaa?

Most americans have always been under age 40. What's different is the growing percentage of people over age 40. The chart above shows how our average age is getting older and older.

[onehandle]

2. But the younger, more liberal voters are getting older, and staying progressive.

I posted this graphic the other day.

There is a jump in Fox News viewer aged people right now. Then that age drops flat and remains flat, as they die off.

This age of insanity is on it's last legs.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023457233

[lumberjack_jeff]

4. The hippie generation elected Reagan.

Past performance, and all that.

I agree that the fox news schtick has reached the end of it's shelf life, but I don't think demographics has anything to do with it. No demographic was as liberal as the 60's hippies and they're the ones holding the signs in the OP.

[AgingAmerican]

7. Yeah, right

Hippies brought us Reagan....sure, if you say so. Hippies are holding those signs, uhuh sure they are.

This is the most ridiculous post I have read all week.

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. The guy holding the sign appears to be about 65.

Last edited Fri Aug 16, 2013, 07:13 PM - Edit history (1)

How old would he have been in 1968?

Check the audience shots of Woodstock, if you don't see him, you're seeing his peers.

It is stupid, reductionist illogic based on the most superficial kind of identity politics that assumes that once these old people are dead, and "my generation" is running the show, things will be all better.

The logic behind the OP is no better from projecting that the newest voters 18 years from now will be wearing diapers and drinking formula.

[AgingAmerican]

9. A small percentage of the population were hippies

Right wingers were for the Vietnam war. Hippies were against it. Look at their hats. Do the math.

"Hippies are now the tea party" is just stupid.

[nomorenomore08]

12. And of those who "turned conservative" later on, I tend to assume their politics were superficial

to begin with. They may have dabbled in the counterculture a bit, but that doesn't mean they were deep-down committed lefties.

[AgingAmerican]

15. The tea party isn't 'conservative'

The tea party is reactionary AKA fascist

[nomorenomore08]

19. Okay, only "conservative" by American standards I guess. You make a very valid point.

[AgingAmerican]

23. "people turn conservative later on"

is a GOP talking point

[Berlum]

32. ...just last night my elderly father, a former rock-ribbed Republicon, told me why

he and many of his pals -- who had all been life-long Republicons -- has as of late ditched the GOP. He said they were all embarassed by the hate, fear, negativity and fail. They have turned their back on the crap the GOP is spewing.

[n2doc]

34. Yes, but there is some truth to it

It is not a natural process, though. It is caused by increasing exposure to RW media propaganda as one gets older and watches more TV and listens to more radio. I have seen this happen to relatives. They start of as normal people, then after a few years of watching Fox, they have become rabid RW'ers who hate everyone. This happens even though they still profess to love their 'liberal' relatives.


We need to kill off the propaganda. And it is not confined to Fox.

[lumberjack_jeff]

16. What reason is there to believe that today's young liberals are acting on core beliefs?

Every generation invented sex and counterculture.

Since everyone in my generation thinks like me, when we become grownups (and all those old people, especially white people and especially men, die) things will be all better.

The OP fails on two main points:
1) the country is getting older, not younger, and
2) as groups of people age, their politics change with them.

[AgingAmerican]

17. People do not become right wing as they age

That is a Republican talking point. They stick with their core beliefs. Their core beliefs become outdated.

If they are to change their core beliefs, this usually happens at the age when they are idealistic. Post adolescence to mid 20s.

[nomorenomore08]

21. That's kinda-sorta what I was saying in my earlier comment.

I don't doubt that a lot of folks who participated (or had pretenses of participating) in the 60's/early 70's counterculture were always right-wingers at heart, and that the "generation gap" in many cases was superficial if not illusory. While there's nothing inherently wrong with "free love" - i.e. casual or relatively casual sex - and sure as shit nothing wrong with opposing the Vietnam War, either one of these stances can be easily reconciled with a right-wing libertarian viewpoint.

[AgingAmerican]

24. Libertarians are extremist fascists

And they hold these views for decidedly different reasons than Democrats. Libertarians do it out of selfishness. Democrats and liberals oppose war out of selflessness.

It's the old, "broken clock" thing.

[nomorenomore08]

25. The contemporary American breed, by and large, certainly are. Just look at Rand frickin' Paul.

I was just saying that people holding certain "hippie"-like political views don't necessarily have to be left-wingers, or even left of center. Which we obviously agree on.

[AgingAmerican]

28. Libertarians are a sliver of the electorate

Rand Paul doesn't stand a snowballs chance in hell.

[nomorenomore08]

30. I don't disagree. They are a rather ridiculous fringe, who aren't nearly as important as they think.

[nomorenomore08]

26. I'm sure at least some of today's young progressives are only nominally so, in reality.

That seems to be true of any political movement. And I agree that "Everything will be better in the future!" is a fallacy.

As I already alluded to, though, people's "true colors" (politically speaking) tend to show themselves over time. With some exceptions, people who start out leaning left or right generally become more entrenched in their views. You'll find tons of people on here claiming they've become more liberal, and I have no real reason not to take their word for it. Likewise I'm sure you'd find plenty of Freepers who say the same RE: their conservatism.

[lumberjack_jeff]

33. Personally, I'm somewhat more liberal than I was when I was young.

But some of that can be attributed to, like Obama, my "views evolving" as the culture changes around us.

My observation is that those of us who become more liberal are a minority. I think that people do tend to become more conservative in many ways as we become parents and grandparents.

By "conservative" I mean in the sense of being risk averse and valuing tradition. I don't really mean the kind of moronic ignorance and gullibility exemplified by the people pictured in the OP.

Defending our civil liberties is now being argued by the Paulites as a conservative value. We surrender that argument at our peril. Voters concerned about that issue should be knocking on our door to find elected officials who want to end wars, demand habeas corpus and insist on an end to wiretapping.

When Bush signed the Patriot act, the most "conservative old white guy" I knew was the only other person I knew who was shouting from the rooftops about what a bad idea it was. That issue should have remained a reason to not vote Republican.

On that point, now there's little difference. Supporting the constitution is a fringe position in either party.

[nomorenomore08]

35. I agree with the vast majority of your post. There's also the fact that what's "liberal" now

may well seem conservative - relatively speaking - a few decades from now, due to social change.

"Supporting the Constitution is a fringe position in either party." Sad but true...

[lumberjack_jeff]

37. And vice versa.

When I was born, the top federal income tax rate was 92%. In 1912 Eugene Debs won 6% of the popular vote for president. The progressive party led by Teddy Roosevelt had this as a platform.

I don't envision our society getting back to that ethos in my lifetime. My fear is that my kids will think of today as the good old days.

[nomorenomore08]

39. Absolutely. Your kids are all younger adults, correct? I really fear for my generation...

[NickB79]

45. You've never heard the term Reagan Democrats?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_Democrat

[AgingAmerican]

46. So, Reagan Democrats were "Hippies?"

Um....ok.

[joshcryer]

43. Contrary to popular belief, the Vietnam war protests were meager.

Under 100k people. Say 90% were hippies. That does not a significant movement make. The US was also more oppressive to protest back then (again, contrary to popular belief). The last big protest almost half of the protesters were arrested. Try that now with people with cell phones and internet access. Good luck with that.

Contrast this to the Iraq War protests which brought out millions in the United States alone (tens of millions globally).

10-20 years from now if a President wants to invade those numbers will only be bigger.

[onehandle]

3. Yep. The white males in that photo are not long for this world.

Leaving behind younger, more progressive people to replace them.

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. Dang, if only there were a final solution for white males.

Here's a bold and controversial idea; how about we try to get them to vote for us?

[onehandle]

6. Once a person hits his 50s (or 65+ in that photo), and self-identifies as a conservative...

...there is no righting that ship.

It's too late.

[Scootaloo]

29. Get who to vote for us? The white males or old Republicans?

If the first, well friend, there are plenty of us already, and I assure you, you probably don't want the Democrats to change their stances and policies to embrace the ones that don't already vote Democratic.

if the latter... well, they exist in a closed loop where everything reaffirms conservativism, and any crisis is to be met by becoming MORe conservative. Good liberal policies are bad because some liberals will benefit from them, bad conservative policies are good becauase they'll hurt liberals, conservative victories and liberal losses are affirmations of the inherent rightness of conservativism, while conservative losses and liberal wins are simply because we need to get more conservative.

We are witnessing the heat-death of the conservative movement of the united States. You can't stop it, you probably can't slow it down, all you can do is try to mitigate the carnage it causes, and hope that the heavy elements it sheds in the process can be reconstituted into something useful.

[nomorenomore08]

31. Agreed all around. Though I wouldn't stick a fork in them just yet.

Like undead fiends, they come back again and again.

[joshcryer]

42. Sorry jeff but the polling statistics don't lie.

White males overwhelmingly vote for the Republicans.

Now the Libertarians are trying to take away the younger white males.

Because that's all the right wing has left.

[lumberjack_jeff]

44. When we read that women vote for Democrats, we say that the Republicans have a woman problem.

When anyone observes that men tend to vote for republicans, DU (and the party in general) collectively says "good".

Women voted for Obama by 12%. Men voted for Romney by 8%. If we'd been able to swing men into the D column, we'd have a democratic house of representatives.

A good way to stop the exodus of men from the party is to have not reauthorized the patriot act and to get a handle on the out of control domestic spying programs.


The point of politics is to get people to vote for you, even the ones with boy cooties.

[joshcryer]

47. DU is not happy that white males vote GOP.

DU would prefer that they vote Democratic or even third party (that would give the Democrats much better standing).

Political rhetoric is one thing. Political reality is another thing entirely.

Political reality is one which is controlled and pressured by lobbyists. One in which corporations have a significant persuasion on the politicians. It's one reason Obama has supported the corporate jobs program called the NSA.

[underpants]

10. The only thing that has kept the RNC/GOP alive since 2006 is Fox News

everything is a copy-cat business and yes men who get paid to affirm.
Fox News makes the most money so all of TV media follows them.


Simple enough?

[Brigid]

11. I can only speak for myself, of course, but . . .

I am in my fifties, and find myself getting more, not less, liberal as I get older.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

13. Same here. (I resisted the sudden urge to say "ditto" :) )

[nomorenomore08]

22. A lot of people (if not most) become more set in their beliefs as they age.

I'm probably not old enough yet for that kind of self-assessment - I won't be 30 for over a year - but in 10 years I've gone from vaguely left-leaning while mostly apathetic, aside from my (certainly correct) knee-jerk hatred of W, to a fairly solid (though still mostly Dem-voting) Social Democrat.

[kelliekat44]

14. They don't seem to know that spending has already been cut. nt

[mick063]

18. I grew up in the 60's and went to high school in the 70's

Based on personal observation, there was a divide that was easily distinguishable by the length of hair. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, perhaps many exceptions, but for the most part, you could tell political ideology from a glance.

From my recollection, there was a decent proportion of "short haired" young adults. There were a decent proportion of young adults that smashed "Beatle" albums in religious protest. There were a decent amount of young adults that were definitely racist. There were a decent amount of young adults that believed a mother should stay home and tend the children.

The press declared a generation gap based upon campus protest, but I believe there was still a divide amongst youth split upon the "rural verse urban" lines that you see today.

Urban youth was very vocal, the center of media attention within urban campuses, and provided many graphic images. What we didn't see was the young man working his fathers farm, hunting/fishing with his dad at a remote river, or coming back from active duty and dismayed by his reception. There were a sizeable number of young folks that were not hippies and thus not captured by the media.

There was a group in that era labeled the "silent majority". There were many young folks that identified with it.

Certainly there was some crossover from the hippie side in to conservatism. Many became disillusioned quickly with the hippie lifestyle and wished to raise families in accordance with "traditional" culture. Many became opposed to the movement similar to how a "born again" Christian finds God. The end of the Vietnam war and the passing of civil rights legislation virtually removed the dissent of youth and calmed a very volatile period. The fight was over. It was time to get on with their lives, make a living, and raise their families.

Not stating facts or statistics, but simply my perspective as a young man of that era.

[Safetykitten]

20. Wish it was true, but not likely.

[Scootaloo]

27. Inherit the wasteland!

Yup, the cannibal generation is eating itself into extinction, but it's going a damn fine job of pillaging and salting the earth on its way out.

[uponit7771]

36. careful, a lot of folk here don't like it when the GOP is spoken against

[UTUSN]

38. I can't pinpoint the label for this type of slur against unnamed people, not exactly "broad brush"

so what is this called? Just something not nice about fellow members? I think one alternative in the past has been to Alert on specific instances of violators.

[B Calm]

40. K&R

[joshcryer]

41. Doesn't include immigrants, which are also making up a majority.

The US is heading in one direction.