In the weeks leading up to the 2014 midterm elections, Red Alert Politics will be profiling select candidates that are either a part of the so-called millennial generation or have a strong connection and inclination toward policies that will primarily impact Gen Y.
We’ll be talking about student loan debt, the high unemployment and underemployment rates for this age group, and just how important it is for the largest generation in history to be represented in Congress.
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For Carlos Curbelo, running for office is personal. And he thinks the 2014 midterm election should be personal for every member of his generation.
“My generation doesn’t feel like our political system represents them or responds to them in any way,” the 34-year-old said. “That’s very dangerous. We have to find a way to change that.”
Curbelo, who is looking to replace U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia in Florida’s 26th Congressional District, hasn’t always wanted to be a politician. But after his first daughter was born in 2009, he realized that he needed to get involved in the decision making process.
He was elected to serve on the Miami Dade County School Board the following year.
“I started thinking about the future, about her future,” he said.
It was that same reasoning that led Curbelo to a congressional run.
“Over the last few years I have heard a lot of D.C. politicians talk about how they are worried about their children and grandchildren,” he said. “I realized they were talking about me and about my daughter’s generation. If they are so worried about us, I think it is important for us to be at the table as some of these big decisions get made in our country.”
But if elected, Curbelo promises that he won’t just be heading to the Capitol to sit at the proverbial table. He wants to shake up the current structure. In a phone interview with Red Alert Politics, Curbelo highlighted some of the major changes he would like to see come about during his tenure.
He specifically called out the language in Obamacare that defines a full-time employee as anyone working 30 or more hours a week. He said this has created an incentive for companies to reduce people’s hours to 29 or less.
Curbelo said this policy reminds him of his dad, a Cuban immigrant that came to America in the 1960s.
“When my dad arrived in this country as an immigrant, he didn’t want to work 30 or 40 hours. He wanted to work 80 hours, because that is what he needed to do in order to be able to get on his feet and to take care of his little brother,” he said. “Policies like the 30-hour work week hurt people like my dad and other hourly workers that want to provide a better life for their families.”
The current tax structure also penalizes these workers, he said.
“We need to reform our tax system so it rewards hard work and not special interest. I’m for closing tax loopholes that are basically corporate welfare and reducing the marginal tax rates for all Americans and the corporate tax rate,” Curbelo said. “I believe if we reconfigure our tax rate, we can achieve all that. That is going to lead to job growth and better jobs.”
Curbelo admits that changing the tax system will be hard and “not very popular,” but he said fixing it will start to help a slew of other issues facing the country.
One of the problems that Curbelo believes can be alleviated in part through this reform is the student loan crisis.
“I think we have to take a broad perspective and think, ‘What reforms does our government have to enact that will allow the economy to grow and to create the quality jobs that college graduates would like to have?’” Curbelo said. “That’s why this has become a crisis. If people had good salaries and could pay their debt, we wouldn’t have a crisis. What is happening is very sad. We have made a promise to young people in this country for decades now that if they work hard in high school and get good grades, then go to college and get a four-year degree, they are going to have a quality job. That’s not true anymore.”
The other step Curbelo said the government can take to help with the high levels of student loan debt is to create a “rigorous accountability system” for higher education institution.
“We pump billions of dollars into higher education institutions in this country every year, and these institutions, many of them, are not transparent with their students. We should hold colleges and universities accountable for the public funds they receive. Where is this money going to? Is it going to the massive education bureaucracy? Is it going into pensions? Or is it going to educate students and then to help them find jobs after college?” he said.
“…These aren’t easy issues, but it’s time for Washington to take on some of these tough issues and stop applying Band-aids to major problems. We have a patient that needs surgery and we apply Band-aids. That is not going to work in the long term.”
