Teenagers today seem to think conservatism and the republican party are utter evil. 90% of them don’t really know much on either side of political issues, American history, or the actual constitution of the demographics of both the democratic and political party. What they do see is that young celebrities love the democrats and the republicans get a bad rap. Why? Does anyone really know?
I mean, most kids don’t even know what the real difference between conservatism, republicans, liberalism, and democrats.
Let me break it down the easy way.
Conservatism.
There are really thre major categories you can be conservative in: Fiscal conservativism, legislative conservatism, and traditional conservatism.
If you are a Fiscal conservative, you believe the government should tax as little as possible, be as small as possible, run as little debt as possible, leave as many things as possible to the private sector, and most of all spend as little as possible.
If you are a legislative conservative, you believe in protecting original civil liberties. You dislike new legislation unless absolutely necessary. You dislike court decisions that include “implied powers” but you do believe in the original intention of law.
If you are a traditional conservative, you believe in traditional values. These tend to be patriotism, family values, anti-drugs, anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage (though not as much anymore), and a few are active religious believers.
Liberalism.
There are really three major categories you can be liberal in: Fiscal liberalism, legislative liberalism, and traditional liberalism.
If you are a fiscal liberal, you believe the government should tax a lot for the greater good and many services should be provided by one institution- the government. You believe the government can grow in size in terms of programs sponsored, but not in terms of power so to speak.
If you are a legislative conservative, you like laws that promote civil equality, and protect certain individual rights over the moral justification for laws in the first place. You also enjoy a loose interpretation of the constitution and you like constant modifications to the constitution.
If you are a traditional liberalism, you promote the counter-culture and are against the current system. You like to see things progress from where they are now towards an end (there are many ends among liberals)
Republicans(GOP)
Republicans like to promote free trade, business, and tradition (listed above in traditional conservatism). Modern republicans like to defend the country, and are less likely to sign binding treaties and overextend diplomatic boundaries. Most (about 70%) republicans are conservative so their plans are generally lucid. The other 30% consists of mainly moderates.
Democrats
Democrats were once pro-slavery and pro-segregation but now they are trying to repair their image with very aggressive equality legislation. They like the ACLU, and like to promote liberal ideas. More importantly, they believe in extending the power of the government, and are almost socialist in nature.
This is where the democratic party splits into Liberal-elitists and the Unionized class.
Liberal-elitists
First lemme deny the negative connotation of the term “elitist.” Liberal-elitists are those who are relatively well off, usually upper middle class- high class. Most hollywood celebrities belong to this group as well as the majority of teenagers/ americas first time voters. These people are usually well off enough that they don’t worry too much about their own financial survival. With the free time, they get to be idealist and like to become active in politics. Being well-off themselves, they never really experience what its like being dirt poor and having to be selfish (but that doesn’t mean they don’t care about the poor). As a result, they are very idealist and since most haven’t had to work hard for their money (very broad generalization, im really speaking on the celebrities and pop culture at this point), they like taxation and socialism. A HUGE population of these people are relatively naïve to what it takes to survive financially first hand, and many lack a lot of knowledge of history or politics. This group is really attractive to younger voters because it is inherently rebellious. If you are reading this, are on NS, have the money to ski, and consider yourself liberal, chances are you are a liberal elitist. These guys only make up about 30% of the democratic party.
Unionized class
These democrats generally support the blue-collar lower/middle class, they are pro taxation in that, the more rich you are, the larger percent of taxation (I forget what the economics term is, I got that question wrong on the final lol. If someone can name it, +karam). This taxation system is based upon the idea that if one’s income is low, and they get taxed, they won’t be able to buy things. Take the following example: Bob makes $10,000 a year and Mike makes $1,000,000 a year. The basic cost of living (a relativly constant thing such as groceries) is say $7,000 a year. Now lets say the income tax is 35%. Bob is left with $6,500 and mike is left with $650,000. Mike can still easily afford groceries but bob can’t. They like to support union wishes and dislike the freemarket. They like to impose many government regulations on the market.
The reason the republican party gets a bad rap from today’s youth and teenagers is because of many things- adolesence breeds rebellion, middle/upper middleclass breeds liberal elitism, pop culture, celebrities over-extending their intellectual bounds, but most of all because of several misconceptions of the GOP.
The minute group of rich people who vote Republican come from old money or easy money.
This is simply not true. The main reason people vote republican in the first place is because they feel that taxation is taking their hard-earned money. Most of these “evil” type republicans are stock brokers, doctors, lawyers, and business men. Let me remind people how competitve all of these fields are and just how hard it is to become a successful doctor, lawyer, or businessman no matter what your demographic background. On the other hand, it’s really the liberal elitists who fill this description.
The rest of the Republican party are stupid rednecks or from the south.
Yeah its true a lot of traditional conservatives hail from the south. These conservatives make up a large portion of the republican party. However, most rednecks from the south are actually Democrat. In short; most conservatives are from the south, but most of the south are democrats. Most southerners and almost all rednecks (“redneck”demographic consists of whites earning less than $35,000 combined annual income and reside in areas of a population density of less than 500 per square mile) are part of the Unionized class of democrats. They vote so that they can cash in on social security, relieve their taxation and possibly collect welfare. Lets not forget democrats were started by Andrew Jackson, a southerner. The democratic party itself is there for the “common folk” or the lower class.
Republicans only care about money.
This is somewhat true but the overlying picture is that they want to improve the condition of life in the USA. They want the economy to boom. In fact, most republicans value family, community, nation, and sometimes religion over their own economic status.
Republicans are very pro war.
This is not true. In fact, republicans are actually mainly isolationist. Only George W Bush is pro war and he had a historical anomoly- 9/11. Republicans remember the lessons learned from the Cold War and NATO controversies. They tend not to sign binding treaties that would drag us into war. They also tend not to meddle in foreign affairs. Democrats on the other hand, such as Bill Clinton, liked to settle peace in areas such as Israel, Lebenon, Syria, Pakistan/India, etc.
Republicans don’t care about the poor.
This is also not true. Republicans only really don’t want the government driving up debt and heavy taxation. They still donate much to charity and most create, endorse, or own charities. They just believe things such as welfare should be largely a private sector issue.
Republicans are racist biggots.
Democrats were the pro-slavery and pro-segregation party only 40 years ago and extend for more than 200 years ago. Members of the KKK were almost all democrats and still are democrats. Democrats along with the ACLU are the ones who allow KKK and neo nazi demonstrations in public(because they believe in letting everyone express the 1st amendment no matter what). They are also the ones who allow KKK and neo nazi parades and town festivals. Most Republicans like to avoid color all together and view only the issues, not the person addressing the issue.
Republicans are all ignorant idiots who have too much faith in the USA
Yeah we have a lot of faith in the USA. Am I still living? Am I relatively safe? Are my relatives being dragged off to a dungeon because they express anti-government ideals? Are there sedition laws? When I go outside, is there utter anarchy with car bombs exploding every hour and people weilding AK47s in public? Are there spaceships being hidden from us? Is the government sending me subliminal messaging through radio waves? NO thank you very much. I guess this issue is a matter of opinion.
Are republicans against the government overstepping their bounds and getting too big? YES! Do most support the Patriot Act? Yes, but not in the parts that you think. Many people don’t truly understand the patriot act, but that is for another thread. In general, republicans would like there to be no government, but that would just be impossible.
Well I hope the past half hour I spent typing this up will shed some light on republicans and conservatism and I hope many people will stop posting threads blaming us for a lot of the worlds problems. I don’t plan on converting anyone, but I hope this educates some who are in dire need of education and for those who are undecided, to read this. Republicans may not be the cool rebellious group, but historically they’ve done pretty well I’d say.
