After attending the Young Women’s Leadership Summit hosted by Turning Point USA June 15-18, it has become apparent “right-wing” millennials are not as rare as the mainstream media attempts to portray.
Over a thousand young women from across the nation attended the event which branded itself as anti-big government. Many speakers were brought in for the conference to address different topics.
When I asked the other young women at the summit what political party they affiliated with, I received one of the following four responses: Republican, Conservative, Libertarian, or independent.
Every girl in attendance identified as anti-big government, but there was a wide range of political affiliations. These women all share the same core values but are wary of certain labels because of stereotypes: i.e. Republicans are characterized as old, white, heterosexual males, yet none of the women at this event fit that description.
Ben Shapiro, conservative political commentator, was one of the first speakers at YWLS. Shapiro spoke about an ideal political party where libertarian and conservative viewpoints merge. As I listened to him justify this ideal political party, I realized our generation is already moving in this direction.
Shapiro said, being a group who supports small government, we should strive to be libertarian on social issues. On economic issues, for the same reason, we should strive to be conservative.
I scanned the room during Shapiro’s speech to observe the reactions of the attendees. Many of the other thousand young women all seemed to be in complete agreement.
TPUSA takes pride in being a pro-capitalist group but also stands for protecting the rights of the individual against government. This organization has chapters in high schools and college campuses nationwide, making it the perfect way for like-minded young people to come together and discover they are not as abnormal in their beliefs as a society would like them to believe.
This organization has paved the way for this entire new party. Conservatarian is the way of the future for right-leaning millennials.
Despite what the media attempts to portray, young conservatives on campus, members of TPUSA or many members of College Republicans are not racist bigots. We are actually normal human beings with disagreeing views on economics. Our generation is living proof of this new party forming—a libertarian on social issues and a conservative on economic matters.
Conservatarians are the conservatives, Libertarians, Republicans and independents of our generation. We see the liberties of all Americans and fight for them. Many of the young people who believe in small government being the answer are sick and tired of being labeled as evil for having different views. We are finding ourselves running away from labels to avoid this stereotype associated with our political beliefs.
The reality of it all is our generation is separate from the older generations of right-wing thinkers because we have different beliefs on social issues. We truly are forming an entire new political party. The Conservatarian Party is the future for right-wing millennials, like me.
–Nellie Perry is a journalism sophomore