Young Right Tries to Define Post-Buckley Future

NY Times ^ | July 17, 2004 | DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

[Pharmboy]

This was a page one, Saturday article. For the most part, this was written straight, without sneering (unless i missed it).

Thought you Freepers would like to see this.

[madprof98]

But several conservatives, young and old, said the greatest division in the movement pitted young traditionalists against their more libertarian peers. David Weigel, 22, the former editor of a conservative magazine at Northwestern University, a contributor to the libertarian magazine Reason and an intern at the editorial page of USA Today, said that last spring his college paper had trouble finding any conservatives on campus who supported amending the constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

He contended that even young conservatives who maintained a strict moral code for themselves were increasingly reluctant to regulate the behavior of others. "I am personally abstinent," he said, "and I plan to stay that way, but I have no problem with international aid programs that use or distribute condoms."

So the latest thing in conservatives is the "personally opposed but" crowd? Maybe today's young people are so indoctrinated in individualism and relativism that they no longer even think about the quality of the larger society in which they will have to raise their children. But maybe this is just wishful thinking on the part of the NYTimes crowd. I certainly hope so.

[Always Right]

"It tells you almost nothing about where a person stands on a lot of questions," he said, like gay marriage, stem cell research, the environment and Iraq.

Oh yes it does. Conservatives are against gay marriage. Conservatives are against fetal stem cell reseach. Conservatives are for sensible protections of the enviroment. And Conservatives strongly support the war on terror.

[Mississippi Individual]

As a young conservative myself, inspired by William F. Buckley Jr., I really don't think the movement is as disjointed and 'confused' as this article would try to describe it.

Conservativism has a definition, and true young conservatives know and support that definition.

[Old Professer]

If conservatism is dying it is simply because there is nothing left to save.

[Pharmboy]

No...I don't think that's what this is saying. The negative from this article is that there's no cohesive movement, which is their wishful thinking. For the Times to even admit that young, bright, engaged people are conservative is pretty good.

I always find it amazing that any story good-to-neutral story about our side that they publish is almost always printed on Saturday, the day of lowest circulation.

[randog]

So Buckley retires and the NYT immediately looks under rocks to find no-name twenty-something Libertarians to crown as heir-apparents? No mention of the mass of time-tested conservative banner-carriers out there.

[Pharmboy]

Well...that is certainly one interpretation.

But, to give them the benefit of the doubt, they did define it in the headline as "young right." I think it's amazing that they even acknowledge that there IS a young right.

[BunnySlippers]

Thanks for posting. I'm bookmarking this one.

[BunnySlippers]

I work in the stockmarket and almost all the young people joining our firm are conservative ... and most vote Republican.
It's hard to find a liberal among them ... and this is here in Los Angeles. Another field would yield different results no doubt ... but there are lots of young conservatives.

[Pharmboy]

I agree...your observation is also borne out by the fact that both Jews and African Americans under 30 are much more Republican than their parents.

[NYCVirago]

Could somebody tell the member of the "young right" that he'd look more professional if he didn't dress like a 70s game show host? Yikes!

[The Scourge of Yazid]

Hey!

For your information, plaid blazers are making a comeback!

Mark my words!

[randog]

For your information, plaid blazers are making a comeback!

You first.

[Happygal]

I can live with the jacket. But I can't forgive the John Edwards haircut! ;-)

[Polonius]

Could somebody tell the member of the "young right" that he'd look more professional if he didn't dress like a 70s game show host? Yikes!

I had the same thought. Does being a conservative have to be associated with looking like a complete dork (bow ties, plaid blazers)?

[The Scourge of Yazid]

Thanks, but I'll pass.

I don't wear any article of clothing that can't be purchased at either The Salvation Army or Urban Outfitters.

[The Scourge of Yazid]

Robert Dawson, circa 1978:

(Sheds a solitary tear.)

Why do you have to be so cruel?(!)

[The Libertarian Dude]

"Indoctrinated in individualism"?

I hear Limbaugh and Boortz tell us it's the liberals' HATRED of individualism, that's part of the problem, and if Ted Kennedy says individualism is evil, then it must be the opposite, and when the Hildabeast growls out the words "it takes a village", that just further bolsters the idea that the individuality is crucial to our survival.

What's the context of your statement? I'm curious.

[George W. Bush]

I think Buckley has been retired for years. This merely formalized it.

Every year or so we see these kinds of articles breathlessly describing "new directions from young liberals (or conservatives)".

Drivel.

I expect neo-con ascendancy will continue for some time. The momentum is with them currently. And neo-con interests coincide with the RINO-ization of the GOP and the sidelining of fiscal and social conservatives. Neat and tidy, this is the Standard Total View.

And Buckley's feelings and those of these young conservatives don't really mean diddly.