I honestly don't think Republicans grasp how out of touch they are with the under 30 crowd

[Harmony Blue]

Listening to older white men, they rail, and rail about chem trails, government conspiracies to keep people on food stamps,taking guns away etc.

They assume when they talk about this, that I agree with them. I am male, white, and Christian, and yet I don't agree with any of their views at all. They are shocked when this happens, but there is more. Most of the people I know that have successful careers now, after high school, are women. Most of them are not white, and they are mostly non religious/atheists. Facebook, twitter, and the internet in general, has raised a large social awareness about people across the globe. If there is an injustice anywhere on the globe, now all "feel" that injustice, not those that live in that region.

We all are citizens of the world, and these artificial boundaries, and racial divisions seem so petty and utterly meaningless. Stereotypes also seem to be losing their luster, because we can see for ourselves that they do not stand the test of time. Given how interconnected the global economy now is, the under 30 crowd appears to be ahead of the curve in understanding this. Emerging markets like Vietnam are promising beacons from the ashes of a bloody war because of their under 30 crowd.

If Republicans think they need new messaging, or branding of the conservative movement they can try. But that will fail, because they can't see that the greater good is important to this new global collective. The concept of the greater good has always been a Democratic party ideal in the United States, so for the Republicans to capture this essence of empathy, they will have to transform themselves into Democrats.

I seriously doubt that will happen.

[Flashmann]

1. The concept of the greater good

Runs contrary to the grain of every fiber of a republicans existence........That notion will never be absorbed by the mindset they are enslaved to.......

[morningglory]

2. Teh repoops is over, man (see elehhhhhh's post)... nt

[SWTORFanatic]

3. You mean the under 35 crowd. I am 32, people my age think the

republicans are full of it too.

[Myrina]

7. I'd go for 'under 40', actually ...

n/t

[Flashmann]

11. I'm 58

And I've said for YEARS,the thugs are full of shit.....Since Eisenhower left office in 1960,the gop has focused on what they can do TO the people,rather than FOR the people...At least the ones in the big arena.....Nationally.....There are likely pockets,scattered,where the rw has a measure of common sense.....Not anywhere I've ever been,though....

[exboyfil]

4. I have been pretty open with my girls about

my belief that same sex couples should have the same protections under the law (I argue that it is a matter of fairness). For that reasont that have been candid about discussion their friend group. Now remember that this a 16 and 15 year old that listens only to Christian music, attends Wed. night youth activities at the church, and lives in a pretty conservative community full of intact families. They say their peer groups have a number of gay and bi-members and it is no big deal. They see almost universal support for same sex marriage in their classes. Much of this their friends do not discuss with their parents because of the fall out of such a discussion.

I live in a purple state.

The Republicans are going to be in for a big surpirse in 2016 if they continue to fight same sex marriage. Both of my girls and their friends will be voting in the next presidential election.

[WestCoastLib]

5. I'd say it's under 35...maybe even 40...

They don't realize how quickly they are losing the people they are supposed to have. My wife and I discussed it this weekend.

We somewhat fit into the demographic group that "should be" republican. We don't make over $250,000 combined, but we are well over $150,000. We are married, have children and are both high level professionals, each of us in upper management for corporate America.

Here's the kicker though, Republcians have been spouting this Anti-European nonsense for so long, telling us that we do it the right way and European models are so wrong. But my wife and I work our asses off for our quality of living. Each of us to the tune of often 60 hour weeks. And we don't get overtime for that, on salary. We get shit vacation time, mediocre benefits and see the real corporate owners keep the massive profits for themselves at the expense of giving better raises, and time off each year.

Now, I was raised in a Democratic family and have always voted that way, but my wife wasn't and her change has been more recent. Republicans think upper management types, that make good money, like us should be for big business and on their side, but they have even been losing this group for a long time. Even corporate types see the value in moving to more European practices. How about some freakin' vacation time, some family leave time, some benefits if we are going to work our asses off.

And this is where they are on economy / big business issues, which they believe to be their strength. I purposefully didn't get into the social issues, religion issues or anything else that's a ridiculous turn off. Their corporate message no longer even resonates with who it should. And it's entirely because of that greedy %1 that would rather cut bonuses for their entire staff so that they can take an additional 7 figure bonus themselves. We work directly under these people and know them well. Trickle down can never work, because we understand these people's mentalities explicitly. They aren't sharing.

[Myrina]

8. Question:

If you're on salary vs. hourly, why are you working 60 hours/wk?
You're just giving your boss free labor.

[WestCoastLib]

12. 2 things...

1. It's an employers job market. Tough to say no to your bosses in this environment.

2. With that said, It's not that I'm being asked to work any specific number of hours. I'm in charge of a department and there's simply a certain amount of things that I'm responsible for. We don't have the resources or man-power to do it in 60 hours and the powers that be won't hire more. Any time I take off work only makes my job harder. Also, my job is in IT, which means people call me to fix their problems whenever they have them. Sure, if that's after 5:00 PM or on a weekend, I could say "fix it yourself", but that's not who I am. And I would be screwing over other employees that I work with if I did that, not ownership. It's not the owner or president that is calling me with issues, it's other regular employees that need help.

[Speck Tater]

6. I know older white men who claim Communist sympathizers are behind OWS.

They are stuck in the cold war like aging jocks are stuck in high school.

[barnabas63]

10. Sure...a lot of older white people think this (not all)...

...and you can't tell them any different either. I'm to the point of just agreeing with them and saying, "So?" I mean if that's what people want - regardless of how much we disagree about what "that" is - it's just as valid as anything else in history people have voted for, or put time and energy into.

If they want to think America is going "communist" let them think that. Tell them they have to just deal with it. Oh, and quit being drama queens while you're learning to deal with the new reality.

[geek tragedy]

9. Sadly, Romney actually won young white people.

Much more narrowly than older white people, but still the entire margin amongst younger voters was among young people of color, to whom the GOP offers less than nothing.

[BlueDemKev]

13. They think young people are simply naive...

...and will become more conservative as they get older and "mature." They take great heart in Winston Churchill's quote: "If you're not a liberal by the time you're 20, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 40, you have no brain."

I wonder if Churchill said that the day the British people threw his governing Conservatives out of office in the 1945 general election in what was then the greatest landslide in British history?

[Dirty Socialist]

15. Churchill did not say that

It's been attributed to him, but he did not say that.

[BlueDemKev]

18. Really? What's your source?

[k2qb3]

14. In 2016, everyone who voted for Reagan will be over 50...

For everyone who wasn't old enough to vote for Reagan the guy who represents the Republican party is GWB. Nobody wants more GWB.

[MuttLikeMe]

16. I like how someone on MSNBC put it the other day

I think it was on Martin Bashir. He said Republicans are "Mad Men in a Modern Family world". lol

[VirginiaTarheel]

17. You mean under 55 crowd