It can come back, and it probably will. However, it's not going to come back until the Right changes its focus. For the last 15 or 20 years, the Right has focused so heavily on motivating its base that it has forgotten the art of persuasion. For an ideology to stay alive, its adherents have to engage a constant struggle to win over each generation. The Right has gotten lazy and incompetent in this area, so it is getting overwhelmed by the Left, which is at a big advantage by having the media and education (at all levels), where they essentially have a captive audience.
Can young people be brought around? Sure, but you have to make an effort. You need an army rhetorically disciplined advocates who will argue the merits of conservative policy and the demerits of liberal policy in an intelligent manner that is tailored to the audience you're trying to reach. That's why I say our movement needs to be a lot more William F. Buckley and lot less Sarah Palin (or worse, Donald Trump). A bunch of incoherent old guys (or even young guys and women) yelling isn't going to cut it.
Also, you can't treat young people like **** by dismissing their concerns. For example, when young people complain about the skyrocketing cost of tuition, what do most conservatives do? They self-righteously tell them to **** off and deal with it. That's not going to cut it. Young people are getting ripped off, and they know it. You're not going to convince them that they aren't. The good news is that there is a very strong conservative case for tuition reform, but nobody makes it.
And hell, look at Social Security. It's a HORRIBLE deal for young people, but how often do they hear the argument? Virtually never. And of course Trump is doubling down in the opposite direction. He's probably on Hillary's left on the issue.
Move away from the political realm for a moment. If went into a car dealership looking for a new sedan, asked the salesman a question, and his answer was, "stop complaining, buy the car, and shut the **** up," would you buy the car? Well, don't expect young voters to vote Republican when that's the message they typically get.
And this is another problem. I'm not sure if this is in the talk radio talking points, but this is mostly mythology. They've actually done pretty well at keeping Obama at bay. If you don't think so, then tell me what they should have done. And don't just say, "be tough." Be specific.
If Trump wins this election, then not only will conservatism have lost the country, but it will have lost the Republican party. There won't be a conservative party in the United States anymore. That's not just making things worse. It's catastrophic and on a long term basis. There's a big cost to Hillary winning, but she can mostly be kept at bay if we hold onto Congress. Furthermore, we can regroup and live to fight another day in 2020. If Trump wins, the conservative movement will be over, and it will be replaced with a big government nationalism. That's not a net victory.
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