by Dr. Ellen Brandt
Forget the strident - and downright loony - "Republicans are dying off" propaganda. One of the GOP's major strengths right now is its older and wiser base within the "Gray Population," already more than 2 in 5 U.S. citizens - and almost certainly an absolute Majority of voters in the next 3 or 4 presidential cycles.
Here's the rule of thumb every intelligent GOP activist needs to remember: If the "Mainstream Media" - particularly on the Internet - are overwhelmingly biased towards the Other Party and its interests - which they are - they will try their best to bamboozle us and steer us wrong whenever they can.
And nowhere have the "MSM" camouflaged Reality quite so much recently as in their treatment of changing American Demographics and what they mean for our political life right here, right now.
The "MSM" has been talking up - incessantly - various constituencies which traditionally vote more for Democrats than for Republicans, while talking down constituencies which have traditionally voted GOP.
We'll talk about their highly inaccurate takes on so-called Minority voters in future stories. I use the qualifier "so-called," because every American is now a member of one or more Minorities. The sole Majority is women over men - and that, alas! is caused by women still outliving men by several years.
But the focus of this article is not on ethnicity, religion, or sex. It's on age, a factor which increasingly does divide American voters - with Republicans gaining the clear advantage.
The absolutely worst - and most calculated - distortion about Demographics the vaunted "MSM" have tried to bamboozle politicians and political activists and the general public with is exactly how America's age-based constituencies are evolving - and what that means for the U.S. electorate and its immediate priorities.
More than 2 in 5 American citizens - and about 1 in 2 American voters - are already age 50 or older.
If you didn't realize that, you're not alone. And your being kept in the dark about it has been entirely intentional.
We all saw the screeching headlines - still occurring - about the Millennial generation of very young Americans now "outnumbering" the generation largely made up of their own parents, the Baby Boomers.
That may be true - but it doesn't matter, especially politically.
First, a qualification of the "Millennials Reign" story from the Demographic profession. Demographers have been arguing amongst themselves about where the Millennial generation should begin and end.
Since their parents, the Boomers, are an 18-year generation - those born in 1946 through those born in 1964 - many demographers believe Millennials should also be classified as an 18-year generation, ending in the year of the Millennium, 2000.
So Millennials right now are aged 15-33, although some Demographers place both the top and the bottom a bit lower for some reason, classifying them as currently aged 12 or 13 to 30 or 31.
OK by me. And, as one can see, the youngest Millennials will not be able to vote in 2016, despite the fact that Nancy Pelosi, among other fanatics-for-their-Party, has proposed a new voting age of 15 or 16 - or possibly, age 3. (We understand Toddlers For Hillary is gearing up at preschools around the country.)
We also should stress - briefly, because we'll talk about it in later stories - that the very young have been very poor voters in America for many years. In the last election, only about 1 in 4 of them bothered going to the polls, as opposed to strong turnouts for voters over age 50.
But none of the foregoing is the major point - or the major Bamboozlement that the "Mainstream Media" has tried to pull off.
No, the main point is simply this: Baby Boomers are by no means all voters over 50. How could so many intelligent and aware politicians and political operatives and political commentators somehow failed to understand this for so long?
The Boomers, currently aged 51-69, are still a massively large generation. They are also the best-educated generation in U.S. history - before or since - and are still generally very healthy, physically and otherwise, with the possibility of a full one-third or more of their lives - i.e. 30 or 40 years - still ahead of them.
But there are many healthy, active, intelligent Americans older than Boomers - i.e. age 70 and above. In fact, this age cohort contains quite a number of government leaders - in all three branches - including the majority of the Supreme Court, several Cabinet members, and all sorts of Congressional bright lights. The 70-plus cohort, for example, includes Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, and John Kerry, on the Democratic side, and John McCain, Ron Paul, and Mitch McConnell, on the GOP side.
This year, 2015, marked a significant Demographic turning point, as the first of the Gen-Xers, another well-educated and influential generation, started turning 50. And that generation is "front-loaded," meaning there are more Gen-Xers in its vanguard than bringing up the rear.
Counting all American citizens age 50 and older - Baby Boomers in our 50s and 60s; the many Americans aged 70 and older; and the beginning of the Gen-X generation turning 50 - about 43 percent of Americans - or more than 2 in 5 of us - are already members of the "Gray Population."
And that is going to accelerate, not decelerate, over the next decade or two, with Americans 50 and older reaching a possible high close to 50 percent of our citizenry - or 1 in every 2 of us - in another 10-12 years.
Ignore the "Grays" at Your Peril, Politicians!
In voting terms, this aging Demographic is going to be not only important, but, many of us believe, beyond a doubt the most important factor in deciding which Party wins the presidential race in 2016 - and 2020 - and 2024 - and maybe even 2028.
Because despite Congresswoman Pelosi's efforts, it is very unlikely that those under the age of 18 are going to get the vote any time soon.
And, if one leaves out Americans aged 0-17, about 50 percent of those eligible to vote right now, right here, in the upcoming 2016 election - and probably in the next 3 presidential contests after 2016 - will be members of the"Gray Population" aged 50 and older.
I am talking in absolute terms, remember, not in terms of "likely voters."
If you factor in the voting percentages of young voters versus voters over 50 - especially since those currently over 50 now include all Baby Boomers, an historically politically aware and politically active group - who goes to the polls and who does not in this election and the next several elections after this is going to skew in a fairly astounding fashion towards the "Gray Bloc" of voters.
So far, as we all know, voters over 50 have been favoring the GOP.
But keep in mind that our "Gray Population," as currently constituted - particularly we Boomers in our 50s and 60s - tends to be well-educated; opinionated; and in many cases, greatly disenchanted with the political status quo.
Above all, we are not content to be taken for granted.
Most of us understand, even if some politicians and media people do not - yet! - that it is we "Grays," not any other constituency the Bamboozlers are trying to thrust forward as swing votes, who will likely determine the outcome of both the primaries and the Big Race in 2016.
The GOP may have us right now. But the Party needs to hold on to us against what are certain to be strong attempts to herd us into the Other Party's fold.
We will talk much more about what key issues the "Gray Population" cares about - and how to adjust our Party's stances to deal with these issues - in future articles.
But before we do that, simply allow the overriding Demographic Reality to percolate throughout the GOP and become a front-burner focus for every one of us.
***** Over 2 in 5 American citizens are already age 50 and older.
***** About 1 in 2 American voters will be age 50 and older in 2016.
***** People age 50 and older tend to vote in high percentages.
***** People age 50 and older are intelligent. They are aware. And they are issues-oriented.
Start favoring and wooing your Gray Base, GOP! They're the Party's hidden ace in the hole. Don't forfeit a major asset based on misinformation or Media-fostered bias.
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Link to the Party of YES Group at LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Party-YES-7472991/about
Link to Group manager Ellen Brandt's LinkedIn profile:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellenbbrandtphd
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