Progressing a Whole Generation

There was an interesting piece in yesterday's American Prospect that goes further into what I spoke about yesterday with regard to the partisan shift between generations.

Often times we hear the adage that young people are liberal when they are young but as they grow older they become much more conservative because they are making money and having children and regularly attending religious services.

AP says that isn't true and uses a few generations as evidence - Hippies, Reagan Young Republicans, and Roosevelt Democrats (I gave them my own names). The young voters of the 60's and 70's were the anti-war anti-government voters that I saw fueling the Dean movement and who are becoming bloggers - some went more conservative, many didn't. The Roosevelt Democrats we still see advocating democratic policies and saving Social Security today. People like my grandfather who still uses the same language you would hear coming out of an FDR White House adjusted for key players. And Reagan Republicans who still recite the same tired references to "the free market" and "privatization."

Will the Millennial Generation be saying "Hope" and "Change" for the next 50 years? AP says its likely...

"Currently, we are beginning an even more dramatic turn. Today's young people -- often called the millennial generation -- could pull American politics even further to the left, and for a longer time, than the Reagan generation pulled our politics to the right."

In 1984, 59% of young republicans cast ballots for Reagan and their loyalties have mostly remained with my parents' generation maintaining their republican ideals. While this is troubling for progressives what is more threatening for republicans is that the Millennial Generation - while it is progressive - is also significantly larger. It isn't just a percentage its actual numbers - and it isn't a fluke "we like Obama" attitude its a political philosophy.

"In State of American Political Ideology, 2009, we learn that young people are the most progressive age group overall and the most progressive on social issues, which might not be surprising. But they are also the most progressive age group in their opinions about the role of government, which might be. And as the other report, New Progressive America, points out, this generation's share of the voting population will increase every year until 2020, when they will represent nearly 40 percent of the electorate."

As Craig wrote about this weekend we finally have an end to the culture wars because a majority of Americans care more about actual issues rather than legislating values. This leaves the GOP to search for what is next for conservatives to divide the people and distract them from actual issues.

AP further points out that the Millennial Generation is one of the most diverse generations in history particularly their parents' generation and significantly more diverse than the oldest generation. While there is no real way to know what policies and politics will do to the political ideology of a generation - if history tells us anything, they will probably stick around.

"Just as the views of the Reagan generation were shaped by the seemingly ineffectual Carter presidency and the seemingly successful Reagan presidency, the current generation will be shaped by the Bush and Obama presidencies -- one an unmitigated disaster, the other a story still being written."