Ten days ago, Kristi Russell published an article on The Odyssey called “Stop Yelling At Me For Being Conservative: What you shouldn’t say to millennial republicans.” I don’t identify as conservative but it was an interesting read, and one that had some good points (a few less so…) that I felt were worth discussing. I’m going to discuss the points in Ms. Russell’s article first, and then add a few things that we also should not say to millennial democrats. I encourage you to read her article first, but in case you don’t I will include short summaries. Again, her article can be found here: http://theodysseyonline.com/ksu/stop-yelling-at-me-for-being-conservative/343522
She starts by noting that society has a funny way of making Republicans “seem like the scum of the earth.” She asks a few rhetorical questions, such as, “How dare we Republicans view economics and politics differently?” I agree with this - I do think republicans, particularly young ones, are unfairly judged; but, I also think democrats are judged in similar ways. We have a judgement problem in this country and it prevents us from getting down to solving the many issues we face. Ms. Russell then goes on to list things millennial republicans are “beyond tired of hearing.” Her points, and my commentary, are below:
“You’re just a college girl, what do you know about politics?” She explains that she does research, watches the debates, etc.
This is actually a point I very much agree with. Young people in this country are often not taken seriously, no matter what their political views. We are just as capable of researching and forming an opinion.
“You only believe what your parents raised you to believe.” She then goes on to say her parents taught her to work hard from age 16 so she could learn to budget and save, and they didn’t teach her to “rely on other people to get what I want” which made her believe “success comes from hard work and dedication” and identifies these among other reasons she outlines as the reason she identifies as conservative.
I agreed with this initial point. I think it is unfair to assume people can’t form their own opinion, and I think this ties back into the idea of not taking young people seriously. However, as the paragraph went on, I felt that she was implying that liberals/democrats don’t know or believe in the concept of hard work. I, too, had to get a job from a young age - 14 actually. I was the first of my friends to be working and one of the only of my friends who had to contribute toward buying my first car. The idea that liberals don’t work hard or don’t believe that hard work is important is a huge misconception, and one I will discuss later.
“You’re voting for him?” She writes, “Yeah! I am! Funny, I thought we were all entitled to our own opinion. It turns out this is my opinion, and [insert candidate] has my vote. Cool how that works, huh?”
Whether we like it or not, this point is true.
“The GOP candidates this time around are horrible.” She goes on to explain that there are no ideal candidates and never will be.
Again, a true point.
“You’re crazy if you’d vote Trump over Sanders or Clinton if he’s the chosen GOP candidate.” This actually appears later in her article but I wanted to get the political discussion out of the way all at once. She explains that Trump is not her first choice but she will support him as the nominee, and that what would really be crazy would be to vote for Sanders or Clinton over Trump “just because he has offended some people before.”
This is actually a tough one. I’ll start by saying that, although it is true that there will never be a perfect presidential candidate, I think this round’s group (on both sides) is particularly wrought with imperfections. I don’t think any of the candidates, from either party, is exactly what the country needs right now. But what I do know is that Trump is absolutely not the right choice. I’m not saying conservatives should go completely against their beliefs and vote democrat; I’m honestly not sure what they should do - rally around a third candidate? Support the possibility of a contested convention? I’m not sure. But it’s a discussion that the party should have because Trump has run a campaign centered around hate and violence. Even though I think there is a good chance he is playing all of us and is going to turn out much more moderate if he gains the nomination, the fact that he has rallied so much of the country around hate and demagoguery should frighten everyone. I beg conservatives to not lump defending him in with defending other valid beliefs. He is in a league of his own, and not in a good way.
“You’re so selfish.” She writes, “Define selfish. I want my money to be my money and I want my rights to be my rights; I was unaware that that labels me as “selfish.” I am confident that I can survive without the government’s help.”
Again, I started out agreeing with this point and ended up disagreeing. It’s not fair to call someone with different beliefs selfish. But the idea that being confident you can survive without the government’s help being equal to the government not helping anyone, ever, is a connection I can’t make. I, too, am confident I could survive without government assistance. But, in the event I ever fell on hard times, I would sure be glad I had a safety net to fall back on. I know conservatives who have utilized some form of government assistance but still talk down on it. If we want to have a discussion about what types of assistance make the most impact, and whether the government should really be administering it or if local organizations/nonprofits/etc should be, that is a conversation worth having. But the idea that no help should exist just because you don’t need it is not a fair call to make.
“But don’t you care about the old people/the kids/the environment/the homeless people/etc?” She explains that she does care and would like to donate to these issues if she “had enough money to do so” but due to all the taxes being taken from her, she can’t. She also calls taxes a “forced donation.”
Whew, I don’t even know where to start with this one. I think government spending is definitely something that needs to be reigned in. However, if we are going to talk about government spending, we need to talk about ALL of it. Defense spending accounts for more of our spending than safety net programs. Government officials salaries are guaranteed even if they move to a lower level. Endless tax loopholes prevent extremely wealthy and corporations from paying their fair share of taxes. These are things that I would like to discuss. But please do not use taxes, which mostly go to things that we all use and need, as an excuse for not donating to things. I found this one of the less justified points she made in the article.
“But what about the minorities? You’re just racist.” She explains she believes diversity is one of America’s greatest qualities but “Do you know what else would be fair? For even the members of minorities to get jobs and earn their way to success just like I’m trying to do. If illegal immigrants want to come to America, then they can go through the citizenship process, get a job and contribute to society. If they want to be treated equally, they need to start viewing themselves and treating themselves as working American citizens who pay the same taxes, get the same jobs and fight the same daily battles that we fight.”
This is by far the worst point she makes because it is full of things that more than hint at discriminatory views, and are often just not true. First, I will address the illegal immigration issue. Between 50–75% of people who are not here legally pay a lot of taxes, despite not being able to use a lot of the services taxes pay for. Funny how our government will look the other way on legal status and issue an ITIN number to collect money, but will not make it any easier for these people to become citizens. I can assure you they would be happy to “get the same jobs” if they were eligible for them and they FOR SURE fight “the same,” often many more, daily battles that we as citizens fight. I’m not even sure what this daily battle comment is referring to, but I know that undocumented immigrants go through a lot. Now, if we want to talk about ways to curtail illegal immigration, let’s talk about that. Because it’s unfortunately not just “building a wall” and leaving it at that. Many people who are not here legally right now entered the country legally and have overstayed their visa. If we want to talk about reducing illegal immigration, we need true comprehensive immigration reform, and we must stop demonizing the people who are currently here.
As far as minorities just needing to “Get a job and earn their way to success” believe me, they try and often do. However, if we really want to discuss “minority issues” we need to discuss the years of both explicit and implicit biases these groups have faced for years and are still facing. I am probably not the most qualified to discuss this, as a white person, but I will try my best. On top of years of structural issues that have prevented your average minority family from achieving the same levels of success as your average white family (housing discrimination both historical and current, etc.), you also have criminal justice system injustices (non-white offenders are given harsher sentences than white people for the same crime), media bias (white criminals are often discussed more favorably than black victims), as well as individual discriminatory behaviors that often may be subconscious, such as people with “black sounding names” being less likely than people with “white sounding names” to get invited to a job interview even with similar resumes.
Now, conservatives will often do one of three things when this discussion arises. Sometimes they will point out a few successful non-white people as evidence that “it can be done.” Sure, there will always be people who manage to overcome all of these and many other issues. Their achievements are important and should be celebrated, but it doesn’t negate the fact that these issues in place for your average non-white American. Other times they will find a non-white person that agrees with them and parade their response over social media. Yes, there are always going to be people of all races that are in denial about the level of corruption and discrimination that exists. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Lastly, they will sometimes point out a video of a non-white person saying they never intend to get off welfare or something of that nature. Sure, there are people of all races that take advantage of the system. But those of both races who are legitimately using the system FAR outweigh the few that take advantage. Just as a conservative would not want the actions of one rogue police officer to represent the entire police force, or the actions of one punch-throwing Trump supporter to represent all Trump supporters, why would you use the actions of one non-white person misusing government assistance to prove that minorities don’t work hard or that assistance shouldn’t be offered to anyone anymore?
If you want to have a discussion for how to fix these structural and individual biases, let’s talk about that. Whether or not the answer to these issues is “more government” is a worthy topic of debate as government actually contributed to or caused some of the issues minorities face today. But ignoring that these issues exist at all is just blatantly ignoring facts and research - and, to be honest, these views are a little close-minded and could benefit from some compassion and a true history lesson (not the kind of watered-down, whitewashed history we learn in school).
“You’re heartless.” “You’re ignorant.” These were two separate points but I combined them because I agree that these terms should not be thrown around at conservatives just because you may disagree with their points.
Ms. Russel concludes her article by saying, “What you should be saying to me is “Thank you,” because I’m voting for freedom. I’m voting for civil liberties. I’m voting for constitutional rights. I’m voting for the will to succeed. I’m voting for the reward for hard work. I’m voting for the things that will actually help America keep prospering.
So, here’s what I’ll say to you: You’re welcome.”
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Now that I have addressed her points, here are a few things that millennial liberals are “beyond tired of hearing.” To be clear, these are not things that Ms. Russell says in her article, just things that conservatives as a whole like to say about liberals.
“Libtards.”
I don’t even know what to say about this. Not only is this INCREDIBLY offensive to individuals with disabilities, it just makes no sense. If conservatives don’t want to be seen as “hateful” “selfish” or “ignorant” for having a specific set of views (criticisms liberals are definitely guilty of launching), why would you do the same thing to people with more liberal views than you? And must you also offend people with disabilities in the process?
“You have white guilt.”
No. An accurate view of historical and present injustices that some groups in this country have faced is not white guilt. I will admit that it took me many years to become aware of some of the these issues because they aren’t something we like discussing in America, and I still have A LOT to learn. But I don’t have “guilt” over what is happening because I did not personally contribute to it - however, what WOULD make me feel “guilty” is not using my position of relative privilege to speak out against it and to try to take steps to rectify it. This is a learning process for white people, but being open-minded and willing to unlearn many of the subconscious biases we are taught from a young age is not the same thing as “white guilt.”
“Everyone struggles.”
This is usually said as part of the white guilt conversation. Yes, we all struggle, and many people born into a position of privilege, or even sometimes power, have also overcome a lot. But personal struggles are not the same as structural, systemic struggles. This video is a good, basic depiction of structural issues, but in summary, understanding that low-income people and non-white people face challenges that middle and upper class or white people just do not have to deal with does not negate your personal struggle and achievements.
“You want everything for free.”
Believing that a country that calls itself the greatest in the world should provide things such as affordable college is not “Looking for a handout.” (I know this criticism is used in areas other than higher education, but that is a popular one in today’s discussion.) Many other countries provide free or affordable college, and while America is a large country and our system would need to look different, our current system is broken. We are on the verge of a student loan crises that will almost surely cause the next financial meltdown. Young people are not able to stimulate the economy in ways that previous generations could because the cost of college has gotten out of control. Just because democrats and republicans have different ideas of what the government’s role in these issues should be does not mean we are “looking for a handout” or are unrealistic about “hard work” and “free stuff.”
“You don’t believe in hard work” also sometimes seen as “Those liberal protestors don’t have jobs”
I’m not sure where this stereotype came from. The majority of my friends are democrats, and we all have jobs. Believing that minimum wage should be a living wage, recognizing that “trickle down economics” doesn’t work, and thinking that a social safety net to protect citizens are all important does not mean we don’t work hard or don’t think others should work hard. Additionally, recognizing structural issues that low-income groups and minority groups face that cause them to have a more difficult path to success does not mean we don’t think those groups should work hard - it means we think that barriers to their success should be removed so that hard work can actually get them to the same result as other people’s hard work.
“You want the government to control us.”
Just as you have specific views about what the government’s role in things should be, so do we. And just as conservatives/republicans fall along a spectrum, so do democrats/liberals. For me personally, there are areas I think the government has way too much involvement in and other areas that I think they need more involvement in.
“You don’t believe in freedom/the Constitution.”
The not believing in freedom comment is just laughable, so I will just address the Constitution piece. I believe the Constitution is a very important document that provides overall guidance for running our country. However, it is a document that was created over 200 years ago when I am pretty sure our founding fathers could not conceive of the fact that we carry computers around in our pockets, run our country without slavery, have semi-automatic weapons, educate all our citizens up to age 18, etc. If we refused to ever amend the Constitution to make it more applicable to our current life, women and non-white people would still have no rights. I believe that many of the ways people try to use the Constitution now would very much anger the “founding fathers” and I also believe that many of the people who claim to love the Constitution the most can still engage in some selective reading from time to time. (Can we talk about the words “well regulated” in the second amendment?)
— — —
What you should be saying to me is “Thank you,” because I’m voting for equality. I’m ensuring the government can’t tell me what to do with my body - or yours. I’m ensuring that all those who love each other, including LGBT couples, have the right to marry. I’m voting for the idea that if you ever find yourself facing hard times, you will get the assistance you need to get back on your feet. I’m voting for K-12 and higher education policies that will keep us competitive. I’m voting for religion to have no place in how we govern. “I’m voting for the things that will actually help America keep prospering.”
You’re welcome.
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If you made it this far, congratulations! I wrote this piece because I found the original article really interesting and worth discussing. This article is not meant to disparage Ms. Russell or her beliefs, but rather to further discuss some of the points (many of which were valid, at least in my opinion) that she raised. I also want to point out that both liberals and conservatives, especially young people, face a lot of criticism from one another. We often want the same things but have different ideas of how to achieve them. If we spent less time judging and more time having discussions like this, we could probably find middle ground much easier.
