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8B – Daily News – Monday, March 21, 2011 'Children of Reagan' reshape Congress WASHINGT ON (MCT) — The thing Rep. Scott DesJarlais remem- bers most about the ener- gy crisis of 1979 is col- lecting extra gas money from his buddies. The Republican from Ten- nessee was 15. When President Ronald Reagan was renominated by his party in 1984, Rep. James Lankford, R-Okla., was outside the Dallas con- vention center with his friends, wishing he was a few years older so he could vote for the man he already idolized. Rep. Cory Gardner, R- Colo., considered himself a Democrat when he went to college in 1993, the first year of Bill Clinton's presidency. By the end of Clinton's second term, Gardner was a small-gov- ernment Republican, a law student and president of the conservative Feder- alist Society. When voters elected 87 new GOP members to the House last year, they chose a crop of young, conservative politicians _ more than half in their 30s and 40s _ whose per- spective differs dramati- cally from many of their older colleagues. Their arrival has sped up the generational shift in Con- gress, where baby boomers and their elders are gradually being replaced by members of Generation X. These politicians belong to the first modern generation of Americans not expected to earn more money than their parents. It's a generation defined by their distrust in institu- tions and, for many, a deference to markets. They've never been draft- ed to go to war and they've rarely heard a politician make the case that the federal govern- ment can provide the cure for the nation's ills. Many of the young Republicans formed their lasting political notions during the presidency of a man who was born 100 years before they were sworn in. The average age of the GOP freshman is 47, meaning many probably cast their first presidential vote when Reagan was re-elected in 1984. "These are the children of Reagan," said Henry Brady, a political scientist at the University of Cali- fornia, Berkeley. In their two months in office, this group of young lawmakers has established itself as a dis- tinct and powerful force in the newly Republican- controlled House. Their focus on a drastic reduc- tion in federal spending and their bravado in bucking party leaders has driven the agenda in that chamber. When House Speaker John A. Boehner, R- Ohio, proposed a series of budget cuts last month, the freshman class pushed him to up the ante and cut more deeply. Then, last week, dozens of conservatives voted against a stopgap budget bill backed by Boehner to stave off a government shutdown. Although most of the freshmen voted with Boehner, as a group they are clearly impatient with the pace of the cuts and provided roughly half of the Republican votes against the bill. "Systemic change to our spending habits is required, and we do not have the luxury of time," freshman Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said of his "no" vote. Where it all is going is still unclear, but the answer may be found in the generational traits that unite the freshman GOP class. The new Republican House members are 10 years younger, on aver- age, than the chamber as a whole, and 15 years younger than the mem- bers of the Senate, histor- ically a more gray-haired institution. The last comparable generational shift in Con- gress occurred in 1974, when a class of 75 Democrats was elected following President Richard Nixon's resigna- tion. That group included the first flood of early baby boomers, a group that shared a pro-reform agenda and an anti-war zeal. Many of them proved to have significant stay- ing power, moved up through the leadership ranks and changed the way Congress operated. Though demographers differ on where precisely one generation ends and another begins, many describe Gen-Xers as those who were born between the 1960s and early 1980s. With this group, early awareness of Vietnam and Watergate _ or learn- ing about it later _ helped develop a perspective that America is endangered, said Neil Howe, a leading expert on generations. "There is a sense of business one of THE BEST? Is YOUR If so, you likely know by now! But if you have not yet placed an ad to say THANK YOU to your customers who voted you #1 in your business category, better call your Daily News advertising representative right away! D NEWSAILY (530) 527-2151 RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY living near the edge and living near disaster and breakdown. That is still there today," Howe said, noting the way that many of the GOP freshmen dis- cuss the current fiscal sit- uation in the U.S. Though plenty of Gen- Xers became Democrats _ President Barack Obama at 49 just ekes in under Howe's definition _ the current crop of Gen X politicians leans to the right, according to Howe's research. These young conserva- tives did not relate to the stereotypical portrait of the scruffy Gen X slacker. Instead, they identified with another cultural model. "People joked that I was an Alex P. Keaton when I was a kid," said New Hampshire Rep. Frank Guinta, 40, refer- encing Michael J. Fox's briefcase-toting young Republican character in the 1980s sitcom "Fami- ly Ties." "I was reading The Wall Street Journal at a young age. I was engaged in the mar- kets." Political scientists note that political affiliation and notions of govern- ment are typically formed between the ages of 15 and 25, and solidified by 30. That puts many new members of Congress firmly in the Reagan- Bush era, a time that brought hordes of new, young and mostly white faces into the Republican tent. Some freshmen described vague remem- brances of the Reagan era as a subtle turnaround in mood they could feel even as children. "I remember as an elementary school stu- dent, it was waiting in line to get gas, it was 'put a sweater on,' it was kind of depressing," said Lankford, 43. "And then this 70-year-old man just stood up and started just speaking out. I don't know why, but a lot of people in my generation heard the message and things turned around." Having raised taxes and boosted federal spending, Reagan would not have met many of the hard benchmarks now being set by this class of the lawmakers. "Often, the children are more strident than the parent," Brady said. for space reservations in the official “Best of Tehama” edition is Monday, March 21 at 5 PM. DEADLINE