David Frum’s Diary on National Review Online
Of course the Reagan era is over! Ronald Reagan was elected president 28 years ago. I try to imagine: When I was in college in the early 1980s, what would I have thought if my conservative elders had insisted that all the answers were to be found three decades previous.
“We shouldn’t be trying these newfangled ideas like Kemp-Roth! We should be asking: ‘What would Arthur Vandenberg do?’”
We’d have thought they were from the Middle Ages. Well that’s how we sound to today’s young people. No wonder 20-somethings lean Democratic by a 12 point margin. They think we’re out of date. Maybe they know something.
I doubt it. Judging by their behavior, in general they seem to be economic, political, and historical ignoramuses - which is probably what you would logically expect from our degraded and perverse educational system.
Instead of blabbering on about whether Vandenberg or Reagan or Kemp-Roth resonates with these nitwits, David, how about making reference to policies that have a demonstrated historical track record of, you know, actually working. Or are in some way relevant to, you know, the historically held principles of conservatism.
Or isn’t that new-fangled enough for you and those young birdbrains you want to impress with your hipness, grampy?
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Well it’s hard to beat a message like “The government can pay for everything for everyone” when talking with a bunch of people who just got out of school. “We can just tax the rich people!” as if we aren’t already, and they can’t even define what rich is. A single 20-something can live a pretty extravagant life for $40K a year, and so of course have no idea what ‘rich’ is, until they try to buy a house.
So, does that mean we conservatives and libertarians shouldn’t even try, we should just sign up with the Republicrat party and get the great government buyout off and running?
Young people aren’t stupid, though they are ignorant. Even as a youth I respected those far older than I who were willing to sit down and make a reasoned, cogent case for some principle or other, rather than simply telling me “That’s the way it is, sit down and shut up.”
And the catechisms of individual liberty should be very attractive to the young, as long as they are honestly and clearly presented.
At the time of the Revolution, the country was split 3 ways - stay in slavery to the King, become free, go with whoever won. And this from a population that was made up of people who had fled Europe as though their feet were on fire. I’d say we have an even smaller percent of people who want to be free today. Maybe as little as 20% (the number who voted for Perot and smaller government). Yes, we can keep trying. But we’re doomed if we believe the ballot box is the way. Or education. History shows clearly that large majorities throughout time have preferred nanny care over personal responsibility.
Yes. And the young who are not completely brainwashed and have the ability to use deductive reasoning understand..but they seem to be a minority
Reagan’s election itself negates his whole premise. How did Reagan get elected then since his whole platform was a throwback of 60 years or more?
Okay, Jack and Guy, I guess I’ll just shut DP’s doors and get on with my life. I’m sure I can find something better to do that waste my time on hopeless causes.
It took a revolution for the 33% to get their way over the 66%. And it will take another for the 20% to beat the 80%. As I see it, your part in the run up is to keep the pot boiling until people see that only direct action will win the day. Thomas Paine was a blogger as were all the editors of the penny sheets.
The Founding Fathers did a a great job but they took too much for granted the anomaly that is America. There needed to be a lot more safeguards against big government in the Constitution. And it should have been a lot harder to amend it.