Are NJ Republicans heading for civil war?
Sussex County WatchdogBy Rubashov
Remember the great culling of 2007? That's when a bunch of young up and comers like future Bridgegate figure Bill Baroni, future LGBT lobbyist Tom Wilson, and a number of individuals associated with the Chris Christie project decided that some incumbent legislators had been there too long. They were members of the Great Generation, had fought our nation's wars, and had rebuilt our party after the Watergate debacle. But the youngsters said they were old, their time was up.
And so they set upon them and worked from within and without to push them, unceremoniously, from office. Guys like Senator Bob Littell resisted such rude attentions, so they circulated rumors about his health and attacked him on blogs like the old PoliticsNJ. In fact, the genesis of this blog can be traced from those efforts to defend that old gentleman.
It is a decade later, and another culling is afoot. Only this time, it is being led by the fag end of a depleted and demoralized party who strangely believe that the road to salvation is to become as close to the Democrats as possible on issues like abortion, LGBT, the Second Amendment, climate change (or global warming or whatever they are calling it this week), crime, Abbott Districts, COAH, and pretty much everything except a few balance sheet issues and the hobby-horses of this lobby group or that.
The voices in favor of this culling are not just limited to the metro-sexual wing of the Young Republicans. Younger party leaders, some quite powerful, will assure you in all seriousness that the future of the Republican Party is about identities instead of ideas. They earnestly believe that we must compete with the Democrats in having our very own LGBT or Muslim contingent. Some will insist that only a set of breasts and a fashionable haircut will win the day.
As with any culture brought up on watery advertising, they eschew data and have developed myths and mythological figures. Chief among these is the "soft Republican." They will tell you that we must ignore all those old-timers who still judge people by their ideas and conduct, instead of their identity or surface appearance. "Soft Republicans" (limp dicks?) is where it's at. These softies -- in both mind and groin -- constitute a great untapped vein of young voters. "They are the future!" Or so we are endless told.
So here is a wake-up call for the metros who seem to run the party these days. The data is in, and you are going to have to wait awhile for that coming day of the 57 genders. The old f*cks aren't dying off quick enough and they'll dominate the party until some of you are well into middle age.
Nearly half a million registered Republicans, 43 percent of all Republicans in New Jersey, are aged 60 or older. Another 31 percent are middle aged -- 45 to 59. 10 percent are 35 to 44. 9 percent are 25 to 34. With just 6 percent 18 to 24. The Democrats are not so much a young party as a middle aged one, with their two youngest groups coming in at just 8 and 13 percent, respectively. 37 percent of their voters are aged 60 or older.
The truth is that young people really don't like political parties. They don't trust them. So if you really want to appeal to the young -- quit party politics and organize a group around an issue that matters, like human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children.
Political party organizations are about as exciting as newspapers and about as relevant. Except for the BCRO, whose website currently features a couple in a rather explicit situation. But old people like them -- political parties and newspapers, that is -- and so for the next few more years we will have them. But nothing is following. There will be no GOP metro-sexual new day. There will be something else, but it won't be a party as we know it today.
Now don't all you metros go running to the lavatories at once. Your sperm counts weren't that much to begin with. Have a good cry on your best mate's shoulder and buck up. Because the old f*cks are still here... and so you still have a party. But you are going to have to cater to them. Or lose even more than you lose now.
