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.

What will happen while Glenn is away on vacation?

As many of you now know, Glenn has taken off for a much-deserved, two-week vacation with strict orders not to watch the news. Well, two weeks is a long time in the news world, and a LOT can happen while Glenn is away.

What do you think will happen while Glenn is away? Will Biden take another fall? Will the government finally confess knowledge of alien lifeforms? Let us know what you think below.

Will the Government confirm the existence of aliens?

Is Biden going to fall again?

Will Kamala Harris become president?

Will Hillary Clinton announce her candidacy for president?

Will AI start an uprising?

Will World War III start?

Will Bud Light go out of business?

Will it be confirmed that Fidel Castro is Justin Trudeau's father?

Will California criminalize pianos due to their historic associations with the ivory trade?

Will Joe Biden give a speech where he recounts an encounter with Bigfoot?

How my family's Target boycott is affecting my wife (satire)

Bloomberg / Contributor, nito100 | Getty Images

If you've been tuning in this month, you'll know that my family and I have been boycotting Target since they released their problematic Pride collection. We are determined, but boy has it been difficult... particularly on my wife.

I'm not saying that I kept a diary of my wife's Target withdrawals... but I'm not saying that I didn't either.

Here are the "alleged" entries of my family's first week of boycotting Target.

Day 1

My wife began the day optimistic. Determined. She kept saying, "I can do it. I can do it. For the sake of what is right, I can do it."

For a moment there, I thought this boycott was going to be kind of easy. I thought she would bounce into action, and never look back.

At about noon on day one, she started to crack just a little bit. She looked at me and said, "The only jeans that fit me properly are from Target. Where am I going to get my jeans? What will I do without my favorite jeans?"

One weird thing. She has been speaking differently. It's almost like a nervous tick. Random words come out at random times. Day one, I kissed her good night and said, "I love you." She said, "I love Lindt Lindor Milk Chocolate Candy Truffles."

And I think that has something to do with Target, but I'm not really sure.

Day 2

My wife began laughing today... a LOT. But then, abruptly, her laughter broke into a disconcerting grimace that reminded me ever so slightly of a gargoyle.

I tried to remind myself, "This is going to be a good thing. This is going to make a difference," and my wife proceeded to give me a long-winded rant about how Satan tempted Jesus, and how this is my temptation in the desert. Shortly after, I found her reading her Bible in Matthew chapter 4, repeating, "40 days of THIS?!"

She tried to go to Walmart and even made it about 10 feet into the store... but then she sped home and took a shower for 45 minutes.

Day 3

Have you seen The Shining? The way Jack Nicholson slowly becomes unhinged?

It's beginning to feel like that on day three, at the house. Several times, I caught her petting picture frames. When I asked if everything was okay, she said, "I can't find gallery frames for an excellent price anywhere. You know. Think of the frames."

Later, I caught her piling bath bombs onto her side of the bed.

I said, "Honey, what are those for?"

And her answer was a little terrifying. I can't really remember. Only something about the onslaught of a war of sparkles and tiaras. So I don't know what that means.

And I didn't ask.

Day 4

The shakes have begun. Confusion has overtaken her eyes. Every couple of minutes she gasps and looks around, face full of panic.

She cries in agony, "WHERE will I find oversized blouses?" She gasps again, "What if somebody has a birthday? Where am I going to go? Where am I going to go? What if there is a birthday?"

Day 5

Midway through lunch, my wife shrieked, realizing she was only seven decorative pillows away from an empty bed top.

Our day somehow got worse when news broke that Chip and Joanna Gaines had just released their new candle trough.

That was day five.

Day 6

The rations have vanished.

The boycott now has begun to affect the family's food supply. This morning, I asked my wife, "Do we have any milk?

My wife whispered, "Don't you know where the milk comes from? Don't you know where I get the milk?"

I answered, my voice quivering, "Milk? What milk? I don't need any milk!"

She was almost out of Meyers soap and nearly caved when the revelation kicked in that she might have to go to Walmart.

To make matters worse, Target had just released their new Meyers fall scents, including, but not limited to pumpkin spice—and if you don't have pumpkin spice Meyers soap, who are you, really?

Then things really spiraled when she needed to pick up Starbucks honey flat white and some new laundry detergent. For the first time in a long time, this was going to require TWO stops, and let me tell you, those two stops did not make her happy.

At bedtime, she locked herself into the guest bedroom and insisted on being left alone.

Day 7

For the first day, I have a little hope.

The whole thing was awful. Terrible. Miserable. Heartbreaking.

But still not bad enough to make me or any of my friends want to chug down a Bud Light.

Do aliens... EXIST? Or is it a distraction?

Rastan | Getty Images

Yesterday, whistleblower David Charles Grusch, a decorated Air Force veteran claimed the Department of Defense has a secret team aimed at "retrieving non-human origin technical vehicles, call it spacecraft if you will, non-human exotic origin vehicles that have either landed or crashed."

Talk about UFOs and aliens has typically been siloed to the realm of sci-fi and "conspiracy theories." However, in recent years, publicized evidence of UFOs and whistleblowers, like David Grusch, have brought the once fantastical subjects into the mainstream. Could it be that alien life forms do, in fact, exist? Have they already arrived and been kept secret underneath the government's nose? Or could this all be a ruse to distract us from more pressing stories in the news cycle?

We want to hear from YOU! Do YOU think aliens and UFOs are a distraction tactic, or do you think there's truth behind these whistleblowers?

Do you believe the government has intel about UFOs?

Do you believe the government has intel about alien life?

Do you believe the government is hiding this intel from the general public?

Do you believe alien life exists?

Do you think the media is using this story to distract us from other issues?

Remembering D-Day: We are called to the same standard

Universal History Archive / Contributor | Getty Images

79 years ago today, my grandfather jumped out of a plane. He was 17 years old when he joined the 101st Airborne Division, and at the ripe age of 18, he boarded a C-47 aircraft with the rest of his company destined for Normandy. On June 6, 1944, he jumped out of that plane onto Utah Beach, becoming a part of what would become the largest amphibious invasion in military history, Operation Overlord, or, as it's more commonly known, D-Day.

Though only 18, my grandfather was one of the oldest soldiers in his company. He recounted how many, like himself, lied about their age in order to have their shot at fighting for their country. As Omaha Beach veteran Frank Devita recounted:

We were all kids. We were too young to drink. We were too young to vote. And we were too young to die.

And many of them did.

On June 6, 1944, almost 160,000 troops from the United States, the British Commonwealth, and their allies began what would become the ultimate demise of the Third Reich, concluding one of the darkest chapters in human history. 2,500 of these soldiers were American boys who gave the ultimate sacrifice in Normandy, where most of them remain, their bodies never making it back home to the country for which they paid the ultimate price.

2,500 of these soldiers were American boys who gave the ultimate sacrifice in Normandy.

Underwood Archives / Contributor | Getty Images

In an age seemingly devoid of courage and virtue, it is natural to picture these soldiers as the greatest of men. And they were. However, we must remember these exemplars of manhood were boys, young boys, who exhibited the courage and virtue that we so seldom see in those twice their age today.

We must remember these exemplars of manhood were boys.

Remembering D-Day is not only sobering regarding the loss of life and innocence; it's sobering to consider how far our country has strayed from the ideals exemplified by the "greatest generation."

79 years ago, Americans knew what they were fighting for. As a Jewish man born in Berlin, witnessing the rise of fascism and socialism at the expense of individual liberty and the sanctity of life, my grandfather was eager to go back to his birthplace as an American soldier to fight for the fundamental principles of life and liberty that he and his family had been denied in Nazi Germany.

They were some of the lucky individuals who were able to escape—and there's a reason why he and his family chose America as their new homeland. The life and liberty they had been denied in Germany were regarded as sacred in the United States.

Yet, do we still regard these things as sacred?

JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER / Contributor | Getty Images

Most of the United States still hold that the sanctity of life is contingent upon convenience and circumstance. Economic policies continue to morph closer to the socialism adopted by the rest of the world in the 20th century, penalizing the success and merit that was once tantalizing to immigrants like my grandfather. Moreover, 2020 extinguished any doubt that the freedoms we hold dear are expendable at the whims of our ruling class.

This isn't the same America that provided refuge to my grandfather's family nor is it the same country that he and his brothers-in-arms fought for.

On this anniversary of D-Day, it is important that we remember the sacrifice given by the young American boys, who became the greatest of men, on the beaches of Normandy. However, perhaps it is just as important to remember that we are called to the very same standard as they so powerfully exemplified: to love our country and the principles of life and freedom that stand in stark contrast to much of the onlooking world and to have the courage to defend it, even if it requires the level courage that these young men were called to.

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