The Challenge for Conservative Parties

The election of Joe Biden as the United States President was the first example that proved what was clear to many of us: The coronavirus is one of the attributes that influence elections in democratic countries in the western world - and they usually hurt the ruling party. Public opinion polls about Conservative leaders like Angela Merkel in Germany, Boris Johnson in Britain, and Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel show that this criticism has far-reaching implications. We all hope that the vaccines will bring the world back on track and will bring faster growth, but that will take time. 

It is obvious to all that the coronavirus is a challenge, but alongside it there’s another challenge that’s important for Conservative Parties in the Western world: voting patterns of citizens of Western countries indicate that the young generation votes in high numbers for left-wing parties, or at the very least they are having antagonism towards the Conservative Parties and those bring to a lessening of voting for Conservative candidates. This is most prominent in Britain and The United States. Furthermore, there are entire areas in certain countries where the future looks challenging for Conservatives: in Warsaw, Budapest, Bratislava, London, Tel Aviv, Prague, Vienna, and in other major cities the control of Conservatives looks as distant as ever. 

The combination of the younger generation not voting for Conservative Parties in the masses alongside the antagonism towards Conservative Parties in entire areas is in fact the hardest challenge for Conservative Parties in the near future. This could lead to a worse off world - much worse off. 

It is a fascinating occurrence: the Conservative ideology and parties that promoted a free market brought the world the most prosperity the world has ever known and with a great gap from any method that preceded it. This prosperity is described today in a very sophisticated manner: first and foremost, the opposers of the free market rely on short term memory in the political arena and romanticize the Social Democratic-Communist world of the past as an ideal - even though reality proved to be the exact opposite. Secondly, the young generation, born into this prosperity and who don’t know life under Communist rule or the economic restraint of the past, looks towards the Socialism of today as an ideal. 

This argument of mine could be challenged with the argument that in many places in the world Conservative Parties comfortably rule. But that’s misleading. The world is going through far-reaching demographic changes and the staticness of Conservative leaders could leave the party out of government for many years to come.   

We shouldn’t forget: in many countries, the media, academia, judges, and bureaucrats try to appeal against the people’s ruling and they grant really significant support in different ways to those trying to go against the Conservative Parties. Therefore, the question ‘what’s next’ is very important. 

First, Conservative Parties have to go through a rebranding. They need to partner with professionals in this field. This is practical and desirable. The only language in which one can communicate with the young generation is through ‘young language’. That’s how, for example, we all engage on Twitter and Facebook, but forget that many young people left these platforms a while ago and are now on platforms such as Instagram and Tiktok. In addition, the academic world is going through drastic changes. Although on the one hand, the radical left has taken over the academic world entirely, on the other hand, many young people understand that in a rapidly changing world they need to find alternative higher education institutions in order to gain experience for their careers. Focusing on these areas will bring about change. Alongside them, there are research institutes that affect mostly adults. Those research institutes have to find the young. 
 

Secondly, Western society is changing demographically. Old and new immigration brings new social structures to traditional societies in the Western world. That’s how, for example, the Hispanic community in the United States and the Muslim community in Britain are groups that want to assimilate and not be estranged from the society they came to. Therefore it’s of the utmost importance to invest in these types of communities and create a dialogue that will bring future voters. 
 

However, the most important place to focus on is the media. It is well known that the media has changed drastically nowadays. The Conservative Parties have to create an alternative that will reach each and every young person. An excellent tool to do this is via the social media platforms I mentioned above, in order to produce content that the Conservative Parties will want to share.
 

Just before the turn of the millennium, the Social Democratic Parties controlled most western countries. A politician from Israel’s Labor Party announced to the whole nation how Social Democracy had won and the game was over. Only a few years later, and the situation had turned 180 degrees. We cannot let it turn back.