Religiosity is commonly the strongest signifier of a romantic match. For better or for worse, young Republicans are finding that “MAGA” fills that role well enough.
The rumor is that outright conservatism is how young, urban professionals now do best at finding dates and party invitations. More than a rumor: Profiles of the “Make America Hot Again Scene,” a play on “Make America Great Again,” color the pages of the New York Post and Wall Street Journal with details of young people who “embody a new kind of conservative, one who is less focused on sticking to the party lines and more interested in swinging the culture to the right.”
One has to wonder, though, how much of a culture shift the movement intends. With the concept still driven by “hotness” and ideology, is it really anything new?
It is true that these MAGA parties are fertile ground for pushing up marriage numbers, and the like. Given their foundational political beliefs, right-voting young people are more likely to get and stay married. This holds especially true for the youngest set of Generation Z, who are the most likely to rate traditional milestones as important, and also the most likely to display the sort of reactionary tendencies that explain their proclivity for political extremes, Left or Right.
But these come down to details of life experience and moral system, neither factors on which hot, MAGA parties brand themselves. Their preferred aesthetic of a reclaimed nightlife promises little in the way of a more principled conservatism. The small, sexual freedoms chalked up to personal preference are the most subtle and most formidable opponent to cultural renewal, as well as the least likely to be forfeited, while the youth’s call to arms is the framework of the Left, differently stylized.
There’s a reason that the “MAGA face” has been a target of left-wing outlets. They recognize some of themselves in the concept, but what’s more, it’s a real pattern: People show growing demand for “Mar-a-Lago-style” plastic surgery procedures. The MAGA identifier becomes apparent even in the most unique aspects of a person. What they have in common beyond appearance, no one really knows.
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The prominence and confidence of the MAGA identity are fair: President Donald Trump won even the popular vote this go-around. But if it is so ubiquitous, there must be a point at which it fails to work as the sort of distinguisher that enables a dating scene.
Maybe “Make America Hot Again” parties are just the tactful start to reclaiming aspects of a normal youth. If one knows young people, though, a certain capriciousness is in their nature. And where MAGA takes the place of a more serious moral grouping, the young people attached to it will push it as far as they can go.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
