Rare News Desk
Not long ago I wrote an article that detailed how Millennials don’t understand what the word “socialism” means or what the ideology actually entails.
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They attribute socialism with words leftists throw in with it like “fairness” or “helping the poor” and move on. Meanwhile, Millennials have a negative outlook towards the word capitalism, associating the word with only corporate interests and the rich.
The bad news is that the misunderstanding Millennials hold towards these two ways of organizing society isn’t going to be rectified overnight. The good news is that regardless of the misunderstanding of the word itself, Millennials are more against socialism than they actually know.
While Republicans try to get it across to the younger generation that we love us some free market, the message is often packaged and delivered by people who have zero idea on how to talk to the youth while the left hammers talking points about “corporate interests” and “tax breaks for the rich.”
Thankfully, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul doesn’t seem to have this problem. Not only does he know how to talk the talk, he knows what Republicans have to do to walk the walk.
Reason.com’s Nick Gillespie sat down with Paul and struck up a conversation about the 80 million strong Millennial voting block. The Senator had some very profound but common sense things to say about attracting the youth vote.
“If I’m a Republican and I’m going out and saying, ‘We have limited resources and we can’t have everyone on food stamps,’ by golly I need to be a Republican who says ‘We’re not giving one penny of corporate welfare,'” said Sen. Paul.
That statement that carries a lot of weight. Millennials often think of Republicans as favoring corporate interests over the common citizen, and Rand Paul wants the youth to understand that the real Republican way is to allow a business to succeed or die on its own merits. In other words, capitalism.
Rand also acknowledges a Millennials don’t fit neatly into the Republican or Democratic way of thinking. The senator pointed out that the youth tend to think fiscally conservative, but socially liberal.
Issues like gay marriage, and marijuana legalization are issues that Millennials tend to look favorably upon, but also look favorably upon responsible spending and lower taxes.
“They are primed for someone who will come to them with a message that is not entirely Republican and not entirely Democrat,” he said.
Millennials seek a more middle way of governing America than Democrats like Obama or any of of his predecessors can give them. They are at the same time are wholly untrusting of establishment Republicans who often look down on issues that are important to the youth
Rand Paul makes it very clear how the Republicans can overcome the stigma put upon them. “Republicans can only win if they become more live and let live,” he said. He’s right. And that’s exactly the message those 80 million who will cast votes in 2016 want to hear.
