The left doesn’t really have this problem, and it’s easy to see why.

(READ: The GOP Has a Youth Problem and It’s Costing Them)

Where the GOP dismisses the youth, the left embraces them. It consistently seeks ways to connect with them and sway them over to their side. From the entertainment industry to the halls of academia, the left’s eye is always on the youth.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve written articles that involve the youth and, without fail, the comments section will be littered with the opinion that the youth is lost or that they don’t matter because they don’t vote. That’s a bad tactic, for starters, as you’re missing out on the opportunity to teach someone while they’re more willing to absorb lessons about why freedom-minded thinking is the best kind.

Secondly, it’s a gamble. The GOP just assumes that as people get older they’ll just stop being a Democrat. That’s clearly not true, as a solid chunk of the voting public votes blue in every election.

Thirdly, the idea that the youth don’t vote has been blown out of the water, and I think the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the youth vote during the midterms is a really good example of how this idea should be tossed in the garbage. We’re living in a different political realm than the one we lived in just a decade ago, and the youth are involved.

So, what’s the solution?

Here are five things that the GOP can begin doing, if it wants to take back the youth vote.

Treat Them Like People, Not Children

It’s good to start out by reframing how we look at the youth. While teenagers and young adults are highly inexperienced and ignorant of many things about the world, they’re still people who want to be treated as such and should be treated as such. This means including them in the conversation when the conversation is had.

The conservative movement wants the best for the youth and loves to see them engage in the movement, but has more of a habit of treating them like showpieces than people. They love to wheel them out to almost reassure themselves that conservatism is still cool, but then after that, they have a “children should be seen, not heard” mentality.

That has to stop immediately. While it’s still important to teach them where possible, the interaction can’t stop at the teaching. Their world is different from yours and while it may seem trivial and frivolous to you, this is their current experience. They deserve to be a part of the conversation because they live in the same world as you do, while living through it in a far different way that you’re not fully understanding of. They might be ignorant of the long game of humanity, but you’re just as ignorant of the fresh culture that the youth live in.

This leads me to the next point.

Listen to the Youth to Absorb, Not Just to Respond

As I said, what the youth are going through and what they’re experiencing may seem trivial. Their social pressures and immediate goals might seem immature to you, but this is where they are in their life stage right now and it’s important to them.

The right must begin listening to the youth about their concerns, their opinions, and their dreams. When they do so, listening must be done for the purpose of absorbing, not just replying or teaching. While it’s fun to share “back in my day” stories, we’re no longer in your day. It’s theirs, and things have changed. You might not like the new way the youth communicates, their slang, their manner of dress, or how they have fun, but this is how it is now and things aren’t suddenly going to go back to the way you did them.

If you don’t listen to them when they talk about the things they do and go through because it’s not how you think things should be done, then someone else will, and the ones that do will have their heart and mind.

Engage in the Culture

Politics is downstream of culture, and culture is where the youth are swimming the most.

Another issue about the right is their attitude toward entertainment. If I bring up comic books, movies, video games, or television, I’ll usually get a response from one or two people talking about how talking about this stuff is a waste of time, when we need to be focusing on more important things like the latest thing a Democrat said that’s dumb.

Guess what? That dumb thing that Democrat said is being taken seriously by a lot of people, especially the youth, because the culture taught them that this dumb Democrat is actually smart. Modern politics is a symptom of a cultural disease, and the real fight for the country is happening on the entertainment stage.

Do you know who’s really affecting things from the top? YouTube channels like Nerdrotic, ComixDivision, and Critical Drinker. They talk solely about entertainment but their communication about how modernity is screwing up Hollywood is probably doing more to make people aware of the idiocy and ridiculousness of social justice than any speech Ted Cruz gave.

In fact, if I were to line up 100 people and ask them to recite their favorite line from a modern politician, I bet I’d get 100 blank stares. Ask for their favorite line from a movie made within the past decade, however, and everyone will have one.

Art has a way to reach hearts and minds in a way nothing else can. The GOP, however, believes it will reach the youth by…speaking from podiums and holding summits? I’m 39 years old and I can’t count the number of speeches I’ve attended recently where I’d get bored listening and start playing on my phone or just zoning out.

Consider this: When Christ really wanted to get a point across, he told a story. Stories are how we’ve been getting across the importance of values, beliefs, and morals since we were in caves. If the GOP thinks it’s just going to win people, especially the youth, by simply talking to them about facts, figures, and even logic, then they’re deluding themselves.

Couch American Values In Rebellious Terms

We fought a war to win our freedom as a country from a tyrannical ruler that encouraged inequality on a massive scale. Since the natural order of man is to drift toward authoritarianism, the American experiment is the rebellion.

Modernity has done a very good job of painting American pride as a caricature of corrupt rich, old men puppeteering fat, white people wearing American flag polos and jean shorts, saying the pledge of allegiance to a cross. To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with any of those aforementioned things (except maybe being fat) but the most egregious thing about this is that it’s covered up the fact that the American experiment is probably the greatest and most successful revolution and continued rebellion the world has ever seen.

Communism, socialism, and big government authoritarianism is the establishment filled with rich, old, white, corrupt people pulling others’ strings. It’s forced obedience under the rule of people who will change laws at the drop of a hat to suit them, while following none of them themselves. There is no rebellion in despotism; it’s just surrendering to it.

But the left has done a very good job of making it seem like authoritarianism is a revolution. It promises a utopia if it succeeds, and everyone will be well taken care of, everyone will be equal, and peace will reign.

That’s a load of crap, and any student of real history knows that. The right must regain what it seized a long time ago; the idea that the real revolution is the one that resists authority. The rebellion is still ongoing, and it’s a constant fight to keep despots at bay. If it can couch American values in those terms, it will scratch the inherent itch in every youth that calls for rebellion, change, and a better world.

Teach the Difference Between Equity and Equality

One of the things I continuously see the youth confused by is the “equality” idea. Without delving too deep into the meaning of the word, “equality” sounds like a no-brainer. It sounds nice, kind, and fair.

But for a society, equality is pretty evil. Under the excuse of “equality,” people can rob, enslave, deprive, and even kill others. The idea that everyone must be the same is something impossible to achieve because equality still requires people to be in charge in order to enforce this “equality.” This “equality” will have to be enforced because human nature will not allow a person to stay satisfied with his or her condition. Improvement will always be desired, and with that desire will come action, and with that action will come strife.

Their real goal is equity. Real equality is where a person can work hard and earn more, and keep what they worked for. Everyone gets a shot under equality because everybody is playing by the same rules. The only thing holding someone back is their own lack of will to be greater.

The term “equality” has so pervaded our society that many don’t understand what equity is or have even heard the word.

It’s not too difficult to teach the difference between equity and equality, and once those lessons truly get underway, you’ll see a lot of youth understand what is and isn’t better for society and themselves.