3 Problems Only Conservatives Can Solve That Millennials Will Love

February 09, 2018

Young Voices Contributor

With 22 percent of 18 to 34 year-olds self-identifying as Republicans, and with Democrats winning young people by unprecedented margins in the Virginia gubernatorial election, the GOP should be concerned about its unpopularity among millennials. Furthermore, despite the successes of capitalism and the mass suffering caused by socialism and communism, millennials seem to narrowly prefer socialism to capitalism.

In response to these developments, many defenders of freedom tend to focus their energy on debunking progressive policies. Most conservatives know that Sen. Bernie Sanders’ healthcare plan would cost $32 trillion dollars, and that a higher minimum wage hurts small businesses and low-income workers. However, a movement cannot only be defined in opposition to another. These progressive policies may be foolhardy, but they address problems millennials want to see solved.

The conservative agenda should be one about equality of opportunity and knocking down government-imposed barriers to success.

Beyond simply extolling the importance of free markets, competition and limited government in a macro sense, defenders of liberty ought to apply these principles to specific issues of interest to millennials. Rather than preach the gospel of the free market, conservatives should take to heart the American Dream: the idea that every child in America can succeed if they work hard enough. As such, the conservative agenda should be one about equality of opportunity and knocking down government-imposed barriers to success.

1. Occupational licensing

For example, conservatives should take a page from Arizona governor Doug Ducey’s playbook and champion occupational licensing reform. The percentage of jobs that require government-issued licenses has exploded, from five percent in the 1950s to 30 percent today. Supposedly, these laws exist to protect public health and consumers, but that argument falls apart considering the fact that it takes less time to earn an EMT license than to become a licensed manicurist, among other jobs unrelated to public health. Additionally, a recent study suggests there’s no difference between the quality of product from a state that requires a license and a state that does not require a license.

The real purpose of occupational licensing requirements is to enrich license holders at the expense of the general public. License holders experience an increase in their incomes, while the economy loses $203 billion dollars in GDP annually. Those losses are most sorely felt at the bottom of the income distribution. Thanks to the hundreds of hours of schooling, fees often in excess of $1,000 and sometimes even a college degree required to get a license to perform a job such as manicurist, barber or florist, low income people --- especially young ones --- are excluded from the opportunity to enter the middle class. As the perfect example of government regulation that hurts the least fortunate, occupational licensing is an issue conservatives trying to convince young progressives about the virtues of limited government would be wise to address.

2. Incarceration

Secondly, conservatives should take on the prison system. On its face, the fact that the US has the highest incarceration rate in the world should frighten any freedom-lover. While a combination of factors are to blame for this shocking statistic, from overcriminalization to the War on Drugs, one overlooked element is the abnormally high recidivism rate in the United States --- 76.6 percent of criminals are arrested within five years of leaving prison.

The cycle of re-incarceration is a drain on the economy. If an individual joined a gang at an early age, they may not know any marketable skills, and if they don’t learn any in prison, they’ll turn back to crime to support themselves because they won’t be able to find beneficial employment. Additionally, high recidivism rates are a burden on the taxpayer. We spend 80 billion dollars a year on incarceration. An inescapable cycle of re-incarceration is not consistent with a land of opportunity. When someone is released from prison, they have paid their debt to society, and as such, they should be able to experience the same freedom other citizens have. The “discipline and the Bible,” tough-on-crime approach to incarcerated persons should be replaced with more rehabilitation and job training.

3. Higher education

Lastly, conservatives need to address the political issue most directly affecting millennials: higher education. When Sanders promises “free college,” Republicans scoff, but often fail to respond with their own models on how to reduce college tuition prices. Yet a conservative model already exists: Purdue University under Mitch Daniels. Since taking charge at Purdue, the former Republican governor gutted administrative spending, a major driver of higher education’s ballooning cost, while offering more pathways to graduate early and expanding into the technical education market. By reducing costs, Daniels has been able to freeze tuition increases, while seeing applications soar and diversity within STEM fields flourish. Those are outcomes left-leaning students would like to see in higher education, yet they were achieved using conservative principles.

To turn the tide with young people, Republicans must provide tangible solutions to millennials’ concerns that are at the same time consistent with the values of free-market capitalism and limited government while promoting the American Dream.

Joe Biden gets FACT-CHECKED after claiming President Trump failed to prepare for coronavirus: 'You and Obama depleted America's stockpile of N95 masks'

THE CORONAVIRUS HEADLINE TIMELINE: Where we are NOW vs. where China was THEN

NOAA

With all the panic surrounding the coronavirus outbreak, it's important to stay calm and remember where we are as things begin to get worse in the US. We are currently around 50 days behind China in the course of this illness and you won't believe some of the stories and headlines that were out there at the time. Check back each day as we update these stories, here are a few:

February 4th — 63 days ago

Hangzhou and Taizhou, cities 500 miles from virus epicentre, locked down

The city of Taizhou and three Hangzhou districts will only allow one person per household to go outside every two days to buy necessities, city officials said. The areas between them account for more than nine million people.

China, desperate to stop coronavirus, turns neighbor against neighbor

Nationwide, despite China's extensive surveillance network with its facial recognition systems and high end cameras which is increasingly used to track its people, the gov has turned to familiar authoritarian techniques - such as setting up dragnets and asking neighbors to inform each other.

Hong Kong Issues Tracking Bracelets To Virus Carriers

Victor Lam, the government's chief information officer, said the wristbands will be connected to a phone plugged into the mains at the wearer's home. If the wristband moves too far away from the phone, an alert will be sent to the authorities.

Hong Kong leader orders officials not to wear masks to save stocks for medical workers

However, Lam was spotted wearing a mask on Tuesday morning when receiving petitions outside her office from protesters angered at her government's response to the outbreak, just before meeting reporters.

'Striking' coronavirus mutations found within one family cluster, Chinese scientists say

Viruses mutate all the time, but most changes are synonymous or "silent", having little effect on the way the virus behaves. Others, known as nonsynonymous substitutions, can alter biological traits, allowing them to adapt to different environments. Two nonsynonymous changes took place.

Coronavirus Cases Have More Than Tripled In Past Week; 20,000 Sickened In China

China says it has more than 20,000 confirmed cases of the Wuhan coronavirus, representing a huge leap from the 4,400 cases reported as of last week.

February 13th — 54 days ago

Hubei's coronavirus cases rise 10-fold after change in diagnostic criteria

Health authorities in China's Hubei province – the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic – reported on Thursday 14,840 new confirmed cases, almost 10 times the number reported a day earlier, and new deaths attributable to the contagion rose to 242, more than double on the day.

Top CDC official says US should prepare for coronavirus 'to take a foothold'

"At some point, we are likely to see community spread in the U.S. or in other countries," Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. "This will trigger a change in our response strategy."

Coronavirus Outbreak 'Just Beginning' Outside China, Says Expert

The coronavirus outbreak may be peaking in China where it was first detected in the central city of Wuhan but it is just beginning in the rest of the world and likely to spread, a global expert on infectious diseases said on Feb. 12.

Coronavirus still stumps experts on when human carrier turns infectious

Global health experts are divided on whether the coronavirus outbreak has peaked or worse is to come, but a more fundamental problem for front-line hospitals and laboratories is identifying when a person carrying the virus becomes infectious to others.

Why many deaths will never appear in official figures

Wuhan's overburdened health workers are unable to confirm many of those who died were suffering from Covid-19, so they will not show up in official figures

Hong Kong government to extend school closures until March 16

Hong Kong schools will remain closed until March 16 at the earliest and an important exam for primary school pupils has been cancelled, the education minister said on Thursday.

February 14th — 53 days ago

Wuhan doctors battle outbreak in diapers as masks rub their faces raw

Medical personnel in Wuhan, outfitted in protective suits as they battle the coronavirus outbreak, wear diapers as they work through gruelling shifts, often until skin irritation from their masks leaves bloody marks on their faces.

44 more on Diamond Princess cruise ship test positive

The new cases bring the number of passengers and crew members infected with the virus to 218.

Japanese Health Official Contracts Coronavirus Aboard Diamond Princess

A Japanese health official who visited the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess in Yokohama has been diagnosed with the Wuhan coronavirus, Japan's health ministry reported Wednesday.

Shunned Cruise Ship With No Sick Onboard Arrives in Cambodia

A cruise ship that spent two weeks at sea after being turned away by five countries over fears that someone aboard may have the coronavirus arrived in Cambodia on Thursday to the relief of passengers and the praise of global health officials.

CDC blames label mix-up after mistakenly releasing coronavirus patient

A labeling mix-up was to blame for a San Diego hospital mistakenly releasing a patient infected with the coronavirus, officials said Tuesday.

Bat curry continues to fly off the shelves in Indonesian

Bats, rats and snakes are still flying off the shelves at an Indonesian market known for its wildlife offerings despite a government request to take them off the menu over coronavirus fears.

The invisible enemy

"This was a sneak attack, like a thief in the night."

"A wartime President."

"A great battle, against an invisible enemy."

"We will win and declare a great victory for our country."

All of these are direct quotes from President Donald Trump, all uttered since March 1st of this year.

And of course, all of them ring decidedly true and make perfect sense. Even Trump's most ardent opponents have referred to the current situation in which America finds itself as a once in a generation emergency, and that we should be on a wartime footing. They've called for more and more power to be handed to, no, more explicitly they've called for more power to be taken by the President to do battle against "The Invisible Enemy," everything from commandeering manufacturing plants to logistics and shipping companies to pharmaceutical manufacturing and research, to nationalizing the banking sector and all mortgages.

On the other hand, the President has preferred to form a partnership with private industries to wage the war. Turning to America's great companies to produce masks, respirators, ventilators, medicine and vaccines that will ensure our country can and will prevail.

The United States – and the entire world – is engaged in a great battle, against an unseen enemy. An enemy that threatens to kill our people and destroy our nation and our way of life. It's an enemy that we have seen and fought before, as a people. We have faced this enemy throughout human history, over and over we've had to battle it. All of us are descendants of survivors of the countless previous wars that humanity has had to fight against this hidden enemy of man.

The enemy is a disease. The enemy is a virus.

The enemy is not SARS-CoV-2, Coronavirus.

No, the virus we're battling against is Slavery.

Call it what you want. Socialism. Collectivism. Communism. Statism. Despotism. A one-world government. Those are all forms of the same thing: some people's individual liberty captured for the betterment and benefit of others. All of those are forms of enslaving some men to the will and needs of others.

A virus is a biological construct. It's a biological disease caused by a virus, an unliving, unthinking sliver of organic material and takes over cells to turn them into factories that produce more viral particles to take over more cells until, ultimately, the host is killed. Doing battle against a virus requires treating both the symptoms caused by infection as well as finding a vaccine that can destroy the virus itself.

But slavery is a political and moral construct. It's a social disease caused by an immoral idea, spread by unthinking, unfeeling human beings who transmit the disease to others turning them into factories that produce more unthinking, unfeeling human beings. They take over the lives of more and more people within a society or a country until that country is destroyed. Doing battle against slavery requires treating both the symptoms caused by the infection within a society as well as finding a cure that can destroy the idea itself.

President Donald Trump is absolutely correct. This is a war.

President Donald Trump is absolutely correct. This is a war. He's also correct, we have fought this type of war before.

But this is not a war against a coronavirus. That's child's play. Terrible though it may be and despite the thousands of lives we may lose to COVID-19, it's relatively straightforward how to defeat it. Prevent the spread, find a cure. And we will. America and the world will survive this pandemic as it has survived a million others in our past. Each of us is the descendent of survivors of a thousand biological plagues.

The President rightly stated, we cannot let the cure for COVID-19 be worse than the disease itself. And he has the right idea in terms of the outcome here: we can't let our response to coronavirus destroy the American economy.

But saving the American economy isn't really the objective. A healthy, productive American economy that enables people to generate wealth and accumulate things is a consequence, an outcome, it's not a cause in itself. What has enabled the American economy to be the most robust and powerful engine for human ingenuity, productivity and wealth generation in world history is individual liberty? Men free to think and build, to seek new achievements and to be rewarded for doing so, to collaborate with each other, to challenge and compete with each other, driving each other to be smarter, to work harder, to find the better way to solve problems.

That is America. That is the battle we're in, what we're fighting to save. Beating COVID-19 is easy, it's only a matter of time. This particular virus may be new to us, but we know the formula for its defeat, much like the long-march to destroy the NAZI war machine in World War II, the writing was on the wall long before Berlin fell. Germany's defeat was inevitable once America entered the war. So too, the defeat of SARS-CoV-2 is already a foregone conclusion, the application of human ingenuity and thousands of years of human inventiveness and knowledge ensures our ultimate victory over this latest scourge.

But that is not the great threat. If the cure for COVID-19 is the slavery of some men for the benefit and betterment of others, then perhaps it would be better for COVID-19 to take us all. If the cost of defeating the biological virus is that we succumb to the political and moral disease of collectivism, then Trump's fear will have been proved right and the cure will have been worse than the disease.

Look at what's being proposed here. In the US, the government should take over every major industry, from healthcare and pharmaceutical companies to grocery and food delivery to airlines to shipping and transportation. Construction, take it over! Banking system, take it over! Stock market, take it over!

And on the global stage, the United Nations is now calling for a permanent 10% global tax on the GDP of every country.

And on the global stage, the United Nations is now calling for a permanent 10% global tax on the GDP of every country.
Ostensibly designed to fight COVID-19, but made permanent to enable the UN to fight future pandemics, as well as the ongoing pandemic of Climate Change…oh, and Poverty and Income Inequality, and sexism and nationalism and a thousand other isms they believe are unfair.

The United States is less than 5% of the World's population, but we represent over 25% of the world's GDP. So, the UN is effectively proposing that about 4% of the population transfer 10% of our wealth each year to support the remaining 96% of the human race, including supporting countries who are our enemies and who seek our very destruction.

What is proposed here is nothing short of the permanent enslavement of the United States for the betterment and benefit of every other national on earth.

There is no doubt the human race will survive COVID-19. Human beings have survived a thousand similar pandemics with barely more than a blip in our progress as a species.

But the plague of collectivism, the idea that some men should be slaves to others, that some people have some sort of right to lay claim to the intellect and productive energy of others, that is the real battle. That is the true invisible enemy that we must yet again defeat.

Ask yourself, would you have some right to charge into Mike Lindell's My Pillow bedding factory and point a gun at him and his workers to force them to produce cotton face masks to avoid being shot? No, of course the idea sounds preposterous and all rational thinking human beings would clearly see that as an immoral, criminal act. And yet many people are proposing that we do exactly that, just the gunman wears a blue UN Helmet or carries a US Marshall's badge.

Alternatively, does Mike Lindell have the right to choose to convert his factory over to making cotton face masks, at his own expense and to pay his workers to make those masks instead of making pillows? Yes, that is moral, that is a human being engaged in activity that he believes to be virtuous and right and, yes, for the love of all that is holy — profitable.

Just as with COVID-19, the defeat of all forms of slavery should be an inevitability. And yet from every corner of our country, the call is for the forced enslavement of some people for the benefit of others.

President Trump has this right. We cannot let the cure for COVID-19 come at the cost of our economy. And if that is the objective, then it is our original principles: individual liberty, freedom of movement and speech, that is what must be defended. That is how we protect and restore our economy and our country. That is how we ensure that our children's children will also be descendants of survivors of plagues and pandemics, whether they are the biological - or the moral kind.

UPDATE: Here's how the discussion went on radio. Watch the video below.

YouTube youtu.be

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: April 6th

Glenn gives the latest coronavirus numbers, updating YOU on everything needed to know as Americans and officials monitor China's new COVID-19 virus:

Daily Stats as of 5:30 AM CT (from John's Hopkins)

Total Confirmed Cases Worldwide: 1,284,805 (up over 250,000 from 1,030,324 Friday)
Total Confirmed Deaths Worldwide: 70,328 (up 16,100 from 54,226 Friday)
Total Confirmed Recovered Worldwide: 271,782 (up from 219,896 Friday)
5% of Active Cases are considered serious (requiring hospitalization) Steady from 5% Friday, but down from 19% high back in February
Note that about 11% of US Confirmed Cases require Hospitalization, roughly on par with Italy at 12% requiring hospitalization but lower than Spain, where 17% of patients require hospitalization.
US has 336,851 Confirmed Cases and 9,620 Deaths, up from 245,380 cases and 6,095 cases Friday
The US currently has 309,254 Active Cases of COVID-19, with about 1% of the US Population tested

NY Times: Official US Death Toll Off a Bit...By About 100% https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICO0KwPFWcI, https://www.wsj.com/video/in-ecuador-epicenter-families-forced-to-leave-dead-outside/B35D7405-55AC-4876-821F-8B995AAEF1BD.html

In one Italian village, a Mayor reported he had more than 300 bodies, presumed COVID-19 deaths, which officials had not picked up or counted in Italy's official numbers. "The army told us Friday, then Sunday. We're still waiting," he said.

Virus Can Contaminate Facemasks up to 7 Days https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3078511/coronavirus-can-remain-face-masks-week-study-finds

The pathogen that causes COVID-19 is gone within three hours from surfaces like printing and tissue paper, but can last for days on banknotes, stainless steel and plastic, researchers from University of Hong Kong find.
The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can adhere to the outer layer of a cotton surgical face mask for a week, according to a study by researchers from the University of Hong Kong (HKU).
"This is exactly why it is very important if you are wearing a surgical mask you don't touch the outside of the mask," Dr. Peiris, research lead, said.
"Because you can contaminate your hands and if you touch your eyes you could be transferring the virus to your eyes."
In the instance where the public or health care workers must be forced to reuse masks due to short supply, the study recommends using surgical gloves and frequently washing hands immediately after using facemasks.

USA Today Factcheck: Did Obama Deplete US National Stockpile of N-95 Masks? True! https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/04/03/fact-check-did-obama-administration-deplete-n-95-mask-stockpile/5114319002/

USA Today researchers Fact Check Daily Wire article from last week that the Obama Administration failed to replenish the National Stockpile of N-95 masks after using for Swine Flu (2009) and Hurricane & Flooding clean up operations (2012).
The article notes available funds were used not to replenish masks: "With limited resources, officials in charge of the stockpile tend to focus on buying lifesaving drugs from small biotechnology firms that would, in the absence of a government buyer, have no other market for their products, experts said.
Masks and other protective equipment are in normal times widely available and thus may not have been prioritized for purchase, they said."
Overall, USA today flags the Daily Wire story as True, lending credence to the Trump claim that the stockpile program was 'in a shambles' when his Administration took over.

"Most Comprehensive Pandemic Response Plan In History" Bush Plan Based on Spanish Flu Book in 2005 https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/george-bush-2005-wait-pandemic-late-prepare/story?id=69979013

In the summer of 2005, President George W. Bush was on vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, when he began flipping through an advance copy of a new book about the 1918 flu pandemic. He couldn't put it down.
When he returned to Washington, he called his top homeland security adviser into the Oval Office and gave her historian John M. Barry's "The Great Influenza," which told the chilling tale of the mysterious plague that "would kill more people than any other disease in human history."
"You've got to read this," Fran Townsend remembers the president telling her. "He said, 'Look, this happens every 100 years. We need a national strategy.'"
Thus was born the nation's most comprehensive pandemic plan -- a playbook that included diagrams for a global early warning system, funding to develop new, rapid vaccine technology, and a robust national stockpile of critical supplies, such as face masks and ventilators, Townsend said.
The effort was intense over the ensuing three years, including exercises where cabinet officials gamed out their responses, but it was not sustained.
Large swaths of the ambitious plan were either not fully realized due to lack of funding from Congress, or were entirely shelved as the 2008 financial crisis took hold.

The Latest Casualty: Corona Beer Officially Stops Production https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/03/business/corona-beer-production/index.html

Production of Corona beer is being temporarily suspended in Mexico because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Grupo Modelo, the company that makes the beer, posted the announcement on Twitter, stating that it's halting production and marketing of its beer because the Mexican government has shuttered non-essential businesses.
This week, the Mexican government announced the suspension of non-essential activities in the public and private sectors until April 30 in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. The country has more than 1,500 cases and 50 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins, but researchers fear the actual number of infected and dead could be much higher than reported as almost no testing has occurred in Mexico.
Grupo Modelo stated it is ready to enact a plan to "guarantee the supply of beer" if the Mexican government decides to include breweries as essential, according to a statement.

Japan, Hong Kong May Declare States of Emergency After Virus Researgance https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3078542/coronavirus-japan-set-declare-state-emergency-amid-surge, https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3078491/coronavirus-hong-kong-may-have-impose-wider-lockdown

Both Japan & Hong Kong saw new waves of COVID-19 cases as travel and work restrictions were lifted about 10 days ago.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to declare a state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic, a government official said on Monday, as a recent surge in infections sweeps Tokyo and other major cities.
The news comes after Japan officially moved the 2020 Olympics to 2021.
In Japan, An Emergency eclaration, the first of its kind in that Nation, would restrict individual rights and allowing prefectural governors to call for specific limitations on people's activities.
It has been made necessary by a rapid nationwide spike in cases that poses significant risks to lives and the economy, an official said.
In Hong Kong, officials report they may have to impose strict lockdown with people told to stay home, government adviser says, amid warnings of third wave of infections swamped hospitals over the weekend.
The Government put Hong Kong residents on notice for hardline approach to coronavirus seen in countries including Italy and Britain.
Epidemiologist Dr. Kwok-yung of The Hong Kong Medical University warns of a third wave of infections as mainland Chinese had resumed work with some traveling to Hong Kong last week.
Dr. Kwok-yung recommends reinstating the travel restrictions from Mainland China.

Dark Days Ahead https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/05/politics/jerome-adams-coronavirus/index.html

The US Surgeon General said this week is going to be the "hardest and the saddest" for "most Americans' lives," describing the upcoming grim period of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States.
"This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it's not going to be localized, it's going to be happening all over the country and I want America to understand that," Vice Admiral Jerome Adams said on "Fox News Sunday."
Adams continued: "I want Americans to understand that as hard as this week is going to be, there is a light at the end of the tunnel."
Doctors are expecting peaks in Death Rates to occur in some of the hardest-hit areas, including New York, Louisianna, and Chicago.
Washington State, one of the earliest hit states, experienced a peak in cases and deaths nearly two weeks ago, and now new cases and deaths have declined for 2 weeks straight.

Bill O'Reilly: Trump's reelection chances depend on WHEN the coronavirus is under control

Bill O'Reilly joined Glenn Beck on the radio program Friday to talk about how he thinks President Donald Trump will fair in the 2020 election given the current struggling economy due to the coronavirus crisis.

O'Reilly said he believes President Trump will win in November if the coronavirus pandemic is under control by this summer, but if schools and businesses are still closed by September, it may be trouble for Trump -- even with former vice president Joe Biden's seemingly declining health.

"What I've said from the very beginning of this whole ordeal, is that if Donald Trump can get the pandemic under control this summer, he wins. If by September, it's not under control, the kids cannot go back to school in many places, people are not opening up businesses again, he loses," O'Reilly said.

However, the Democrats have a major problem because Joe Biden ... is tottering. His mental acute is not what it used to be and everyone around him knows that. That's why Andrew Cuomo is warming up in the bullpen," he added. "But Trump knows that his whole future in politics depends on getting this pandemic to subside."

Watch the video below to catch more of the conversation:

BILL O'REILLY: Trump 2020 Election Based on Controlling Coronavirus Pandemic by Summer youtu.be

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