On O.C.’s GOP, This English Is Outspoken : Right’s Right, Says Head of Young Republicans

Kurt English does not much care for all this talk about the battle underway for the “soul” of the Republican Party. The 36-year-old president of the Orange County Young Republicans prefers more basic terminology.

“I don’t think political parties have souls. Human beings have souls. I don’t speak metaphorically; I like to keep it in a more nuts-and-bolts fashion.”

While the rest of the country may be wondering where the Republican Party is headed, English harbors few doubts.

In this, one of the most conservative of American counties, English says the ascendant generation of Republican activists and leaders with whom he regularly rubs shoulders is not moving toward the middle. They are increasingly conservative, he says, fueled by a high degree of economic anxiety.

“I’ve heard that more people under 40 believe in the existence of UFOs than believe they’ll ever see a Social Security check when they retire. When I say that to young Republicans in their 20s and 30s, they always laugh and no one ever disputes it.

“This country didn’t have 25% illegitimacy rates in my father’s or my grandfather’s time. They didn’t have the kind of irresponsible deficits we have. And we don’t have an expectation that our parents implicitly have, that they’re going to be taken care of by Social Security and Medicare and retirement. The money isn’t there.”

During his father’s time, English lived in Encino, surrounded by Democrats. In a family where Republican Party membership is nearly genetic, English looks back at his younger years as a political growth experience.

“In junior high school, virtually every child claimed his parents were voting for George McGovern for president.”

And there was Watergate.

“I would come home and see Sen. Sam Ervin every day on public TV conducting the Watergate hearings. But I thought the Republicans seemed to be very honest about the fact that there were some people who did things they shouldn’t have done, that there was no moral justification for the Watergate burglary.”

English moved to Orange County about 10 years ago with his Republican heritage intact, lured by the beach air and the conservative climate. The Newport Beach resident brings his straightforward approach to political punditry to the airwaves as host of “The Conservative Voice,” a fledgling radio talk show that is broadcast one day a week from Riverside County station KPRO-AM. He suspects a loyal following among insomniacs.

Soon to outgrow his 11-year affiliation with the Orange County Young Republicans, where membership privileges expire at age 41, English says the rise of Pat Buchanan is no big surprise to Orange County’s core conservatives.

“Pat Buchanan represents a group of people who feel the Great Society and the liberal welfare state have contributed to the decline of our country. Part of the reason people like to vilify Pat Buchanan is because of his style. If Ronald Reagan and Pat Buchanan said the same things, the reaction would be different.

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“Even Bill Clinton and Pat Buchanan are saying some of the same things. Look at Bill Clinton’s State of the Union address. If you could have taken Bill Clinton’s voice away and used a Republican’s voice, a Republican could have given that speech.”

But even among amiable Orange County conservatives, English says agreement can be hard to reach on issues that are also dividing GOP presidential candidates and their supporters, such as foreign trade.

“But there’s no implosion coming, as I know the liberals are hoping and wishing for. This is just a good old-fashioned American discussion of issues during a primary.

“The media likes the horse-race aspect of this thing and the fact that there have been some passionate disagreements, and one or two of them may have lost their temper a time or two. But these are issues these candidates really care about. People who don’t give a hoot never lose their temper.”

English does not believe the fractious GOP primary battles will cause any serious harm to the Republican Party. He sees the contest more as a test of the growing acceptance of conservative political ideology in mainstream American thought.

“The conservative economic message has carried the day over the last 15 years. Starting in 1984, the 18- to 24-year-old voters voted more conservatively than their older cohorts from the hippie era. There are many of us who voted for Ronald Reagan in our first presidential election, in 1980 or 1984. We have been called the Reagan generation, and I would consider that a compliment.”

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Profile: Kurt English

Age: 36

Hometown: Los Angeles

Residence: Newport Beach

Education: Three engineering and science degrees, master’s of business administration and law degree from USC

Background: Moved to Orange County about 10 years ago; works as a business consultant and fund-raiser; hosts a half-hour radio talk show on conservative politics; newly elected president of the Orange County Young Republicans

On the future: “When I’m retired, the now unborn people who will then be 25 and 30 years old will say: ‘Hey! You people who were alive in the late 20th century, you spent your retirement. You spent it on the Great Society, you spent it on all that deficit spending. Tough luck.’ ”

Source: Kurt English; Researched by RUSS LOAR / For The Times

Los Angeles Times