Rage and Age on the Right: Part III

Age is the third reason why there's Rage on the Right.

This is the third reason you won't find anywhere else.

The New York Times did a study of the 18% of Americans who sympathize with the Tea Party. They found a whole host of interesting demographics and characteristics, some totally bizarre.  For example, Tea Party people themselves feel better off under President Obama than do other Americans.

But here's the defining characteristic: they are old. 

Three. Age causes the Rage.

The generation gap is absolutely huge, and the cause of many if not most of the divisions in our country. If only people over 40 voted, John McCain would have been President.
If only people over 40 could decide, we would not have had healthcare reform.
And if only people under 40 could join the Tea Party, there would be only a few followers.

Interesting dilemma for Republicans: healthcare, trains, financial reform, etc. are all good for business, all good for society, all will happen.  How Republicans adapt and embrace the 21st century will be interesting. 

Photo: Birthplace of the Republican Party, at the time a school house. Photo by our Nine Shift photographer, Doyle Darvis.

Comments

[Politicsasusual]

Well - the Baby Boomers are more likely to be very concerned about their retirement and their health care - which of course is in danger of being adjusted. The funny thing about being a Republican is they like to pull the 'I worked for this' card - but then expect tax benefits which only compromise these benefits.... double edge sword. That's why the party also targets religious groups and the working poor.

[Suzanne]

When I checked on the link, this is what the NY Times said:

"The 18 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Tea Party supporters tend to be Republican, white, male, married and older than 45."

I find that interesting, because the oldest Gen Xers are turning 45. Harvard Business Review columnist Tammy Erickson (a Boomer) writes (http://blogs.hbr.org/erickson/2009/01/across_the_ages_in_2009.html)

"Will these new roles suit the times? I think perhaps they will. Bill Strauss and Neil Howe, coauthors of Generations, posit that each generation makes a unique bequest to those that follow -- and generally seeks to correct the excesses of the previous generation. They argue that the Boomer excess is ideology -- and that the Generation X reaction to that excess involves an emphasis on pragmatism and effectiveness.

This generational priority will give X'ers a strong advantage in remaking organizations to reflect twenty-first-century realities: the need for transparency, accountability, real-time performance, lack of ideology, top-of-market effectiveness, and cash value."

So it makes sense that the Tea Party supporters would be Boomers and not Xers or Millennials. You really don't get more ideological than the Tea Party.