Opinion
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Young Conservatives Coalition Uses Modern Tools to Promote Timeless Principles
By: Kevin Mooney
Commentary Staff Writer
03/06/09 5:41 PM EST
Younger voters who are becoming more libertarian could help to rejuvenate the Republican Party in upcoming election cycles with candidates who are serious about constraining government and expanding individual liberty, David Kirby president of America’s Future Foundation (AFF) .
Kirby was one of several leading activists who took part in a gathering of young professionals who identify with the conservative cause held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel last Friday Feb. 27. The Young Conservatives Coalition (YCC) includes 18 to 40 year olds who are ambitious to help shape a new platform for the 21st Century rooted in long-standing American ideals that can draw in younger voters.
The YCC event attracted hundreds of young activists who were on hand for the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). The coalition seeks to answer two questions: 1.) What does it mean to be a conservative in the year 2009? And 2.) Who will lead the next generation of the conservative movement?
A recent Gallup Poll shows that 18 to 29 year olds are more likely to be libertarian than conservative and that Republicans have an opportunity to “get in front of this train”, Kirby told hundreds young activists. There were over a million such voters who supported Ron Paul in the Republican presidential primary last year, but only one-third came back and voted Republican in the general election.
Christopher Malagisi, president and principal founder of the YCC said his organization is ideally positioned to communicate the many appealing aspects of the conservative philosophy to a new generation of voters that did not have a living memory of notable figures like former President Reagan.
“We need libertarians and social conservatives together,” he said. “We also need to dispel the myth the people under 40 reflexively identify with Democrats and liberals. There was a lot of misinformation and confusion about where the major presidential candidates stood in last year’s election.”
Both parties have been complicit in expanding government beyond its constitutional boundaries and in accelerating wasteful spending, Sarah Smith vice-president of YCC observed. For this reason, economic issues can be used to unite the various branches of conservatism into a unified and forceful political movement, she said.
“We need to get back to first principles, we saw these ideas work under Reagan.”
The YCC came together for three main reasons: 1.) The need to educate and articulate conservatism to the next generation of voters and activists; 2.) Allow young conservatives the opportunity to lead in this time of transition; and 3.) Harness the power of modern technology, the Internet, and next generational ideas. YCC members have the aptitude and ability to meet these challenges.
“We did not fight the ideological battle on the Internet last year as a movement,” Smith acknowledged. “We are seasoned and we are ready. It is our time to step up. We need to tell people in our generation what it means to be a conservative in 2009.”
Looking ahead to the near future Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), said at the meeting that it was possible for Republicans to re-take the House of Representatives in 2010 given the early missteps of the Obama Administration and the growing appetite among the public for financial relief.
-- Kevin Mooney
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