In the “big sort” phenomenon, Americans have become increasingly ideologically separated from other areas in the nation, with pockets of Blue America becoming bluer and Red America becoming redder. Not only is this reflected in geographic boundaries, but also in the politicians we elect. Starting in 2008, Obama’s presidency spurning the “pivot to the center” has fostered increasingly radical ideas and policies.
To keep up with the political climate, Trump’s rise to the presidency under a platform that is also perceived to be radical is a result of the Obama administration’s legislation. However, the large gap from the center, leading to a record-breaking distaste for both Trump and Clinton during the 2016 election, has left people party-less.
With 23 percent of young Republicans defecting from the party after Trump’s election, and a CNN poll revealing that one-third of undecided voters would vote for Libertarian Party, this is the time for the Libertarian movement. Even the party itself admits that its gain in popularity is not due to their appealing platform, but capitalization of the “deep dissatisfaction within major party candidates,” Executive Vice President at the Cato Institute David Boaz told The Christian Science Monitor.
With two years since the 2016 election, however, it is also clear that there is some reason to stay. Younger voters, particularly the iGen, are more conservative than Reagan-era GenX teens; however, they are also less likely to support gun control and national health care regulation, which are traditionally conservative ideologies.
In an analysis by Time, professor of psychology at San Diego State University Jean Twenge notes that libertarianism is the political party that aligns most with individualistic culture. While libertarians are more individualistic about equal rights issues and collectivist about social programs, conservatives tend to switch the lens and be more collectivist about equal rights issues and individualistic about social programs.
Twenge attributes the shift of young Republicans towards libertarianism to the latter party’s focus on “individualism,” noting that the candidates that will shape the next political era will be more authentic to attract the cultural individualism.
However, this definition fits President Trump, as well. His constant Twitter updates and rhetoric makes it clear to those who support him and those who oppose him that at the very least, his character can be trusted to be his real personality because he says what he thinks.
So, the reason why more young Republicans are more libertarian is not as clear cut as the Libertarian’s party would like to think.
In an era where social media and technology brings America closer, it also reinforces and perpetuates conformity to the status quo. The result? A type of “emotional blackmail” in aligning oneself as Republican is exceptionally prevalent in the younger generation, political scholar Michelle Alexander says Yes! Magazine.
Teenagers such as Gabby Derosier, a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, find it easier to call themselves libertarian. Not only was the reception to beliefs labeled but Derosier and other Republican students also from her peers, Derosier and other Republican students found that the culture was encouraged, or overlooked, to say the least, from positions of authority like professors.
Furthermore, the traditional appeal of the Republican party to its majority older-generation base has left the younger generation with fewer grounds to stand. Derosier admits to Vanity Fair that the Republican party has been standing up for the right platforms and positions, but “wish[es] that they would say that more often than they do.”
Younger Republicans are not turning to libertarianism out of their own beliefs more often than they are to external pressure.
The United States was formed based on equality for all, especially for minority groups. Young Republicans should not have to feel marginalized or discriminated against for their beliefs, and in choosing to stand up for themselves and their party, they can return what the status quo should mean to the nation–one that upholds the freedom of speech and liberty.
Photo by Josh Esh
