The New Republican

[TheNewRepublicans.net]

What can we do to attract the youth to the Republican party? How can students be engaged?

Our forum is an open-minded forum that is aimed at students (http://thenewrepublicans.net). We were recognized on Politico.com. We are building this grassroots movement with students from the ground up. We would like your input, and invite any of you who are interested in joining us on our team.

Thanks!

[Terrence Abrams]

To attract more College Republicans, to turn our universities and colleges RED , in fact, we must do the following:

1) Re-write the top 10-20 philosophical positions and talking points of the party. This includes modifying 3 big points that poliitical pundits press on about, only to please their radio sponsors. Don't get me wrong, I love most of those folks, but there are three ridiculous points, that if re-written, and widely supported (which I guarantee, they would be...) will logic-and-smart-proof the party both in overall philosophical stance, and makes the party FAR more attractive to college kids opening up their minds.

2) Exercise a "managed" media boycott and press release strategem. This is a difficult concept for many, but with major media in the tank for liberals, in the most lopsided manner in history right now, making sure media delivery to the masses of university students must be kept in high respect and approval of college kids who will question the DNC way of selling off our country.

3) Establish on or near-campus offices, which we have thousands of volunteers willing to do, for Conservative/Republican enlightenment and motivation. We must establish, like our DNC competition, on-campus ground troops spreading the CORRECT words and ideals. Unlike our DNC competitors with ACORN-based bs tactics, we'll not hide our core elightenment spots, we'll make them sound student voluntary, and keep up the honest and open education about what our country is really going through, demarkation of the ultra-liberal professors with counseling on how to get through their class without their pathetic influence, AND break-out a college-level platform about how the RNC helps eliminate poverty by putting disadvantaged minorities and folks down on their luck, into business for themselves, one of the most exciting concepts young students can be embraced with.

4) Organize University Radio efforts on the local college intranets and web portals. Easy and inexpensive to do.

5) Coordinate the above efforts through select individuals with a voice and influence in the selective all minority Fraternity and Sorority organizations. DO NOT LET ANY STUDENT GROUPS align with the DNC without a sincere effort to involve them in the RNC.

6) Explain how our open borders policy is killing their university tuition, fees, taxes and academic standards. This is an easily proven and display formula by video, that leaves no question but to support the RNC position on this issue. Students have a lot of epiphanies when their own interests are threatened by an invulnerable topic presentation.

7) Coordinate ALL favored and university-local Church groups into your campus office efforts.

8) The one funded portion could be an increase in Conservative based sholastic merit scholarships.

9) Coordinate all Hollywood and music media mogul conservatives, (there are enough of them...) to work through RNC university efforts to keep the Star-power effect working on our youth, for those many who cannot see through the media lib-filters.

10) Without sounding like old-fogeys,,, be ready to recite the proper Republican positions and solutions when dealing with the student masses. This has to be done by everyone involved; Parents, Friends, Bloggers, Radio hosts, Celebrities, campus volunteers,,,, you cannot ever push a position without really knowing what you are talking about, and never be afraid to admit and deal with any Republican mistakes or corruption situations proven against our bad members of the past.

The most important starting issue is Point #1.

Do all of this, and we win back our kids.

[TheNewRepublicans.net]

Thanks for sharing! I've taken notes.

Terrence Abrams said:

To attract more College Republicans, to turn our universities and colleges RED , in fact, we must do the following:

1) Re-write the top 10-20 philosophical positions and talking points of the party. This includes modifying 3 big points that poliitical pundits press on about, only to please their radio sponsors. Don't get me wrong, I love most of those folks, but there are three ridiculous points, that if re-written, and widely supported (which I guarantee, they would be...) will logic-and-smart-proof the party both in overall philosophical stance, and makes the party FAR more attractive to college kids opening up their minds.

2) Exercise a "managed" media boycott and press release strategem. This is a difficult concept for many, but with major media in the tank for liberals, in the most lopsided manner in history right now, making sure media delivery to the masses of university students must be kept in high respect and approval of college kids who will question the DNC way of selling off our country.

3) Establish on or near-campus offices, which we have thousands of volunteers willing to do, for Conservative/Republican enlightenment and motivation. We must establish, like our DNC competition, on-campus ground troops spreading the CORRECT words and ideals. Unlike our DNC competitors with ACORN-based bs tactics, we'll not hide our core elightenment spots, we'll make them sound student voluntary, and keep up the honest and open education about what our country is really going through, demarkation of the ultra-liberal professors with counseling on how to get through their class without their pathetic influence, AND break-out a college-level platform about how the RNC helps eliminate poverty by putting disadvantaged minorities and folks down on their luck, into business for themselves, one of the most exciting concepts young students can be embraced with.

4) Organize University Radio efforts on the local college intranets and web portals. Easy and inexpensive to do.

5) Coordinate the above efforts through select individuals with a voice and influence in the selective all minority Fraternity and Sorority organizations. DO NOT LET ANY STUDENT GROUPS align with the DNC without a sincere effort to involve them in the RNC.

6) Explain how our open borders policy is killing their university tuition, fees, taxes and academic standards. This is an easily proven and display formula by video, that leaves no question but to support the RNC position on this issue. Students have a lot of epiphanies when their own interests are threatened by an invulnerable topic presentation.

7) Coordinate ALL favored and university-local Church groups into your campus office efforts.

8) The one funded portion could be an increase in Conservative based sholastic merit scholarships.

9) Coordinate all Hollywood and music media mogul conservatives, (there are enough of them...) to work through RNC university efforts to keep the Star-power effect working on our youth, for those many who cannot see through the media lib-filters.

10) Without sounding like old-fogeys,,, be ready to recite the proper Republican positions and solutions when dealing with the student masses. This has to be done by everyone involved; Parents, Friends, Bloggers, Radio hosts, Celebrities, campus volunteers,,,, you cannot ever push a position without really knowing what you are talking about, and never be afraid to admit and deal with any Republican mistakes or corruption situations proven against our bad members of the past.

The most important starting issue is Point #1.

Do all of this, and we win back our kids.

[Josh Lerner]

As a college student who is actively engaged in the "selling" of our party to the so-called "youth vote," I can say there are three things we can do to position ourselves well in future elections (we'll never outright win the youth vote, but we should be able to keep it within 10 points):

1. Create more of what I call "positive social conservative incentives." Instead of focusing on banning things or being seen as harbingers of censorship or dictatorial actions, we should actively promote social values through positive reinforcement. Things like the family tax credit or a weighted household negative income tax are seen as intrinsically more positive than gay marriage bans or the overt Christianization of our platform (things like the "war on Christmas" may briefly outrage older voters, but their long term sustainability is nil and they have no resonance with people under 45).

2. Embrace fiscal responsibility. This will have more impact on the 24-40 demographic than the 18-24 one, but the idea of a responsible party who's prudent with your money has a natural appeal to those who are just starting to balance checkbooks and realizing how hard it can be. The essence of the idea rests on three components. First we must work to simplify the tax code. I know this somewhat contradicts the aforementioned incentivization of virtue (because it seems that one must use tax credits to do this, which always makes the code more complex), but there are elements of the Flat Tax--which is essentially what I'm proposing--that could be modified by direct cash transfers rather than just tax breaks and credits, which would create after-tax payments that could be ignored by some or worked through and receive that cash payment, which eliminates the contradiction. Filing taxes would be simpler and one could apply for (at a later date) the direct cash transfers if one is so moved. Next we should work to something like a balanced budget amendment; there are feasibility reasons as to why that is not desirable, but while we are out of power the clamoring for one could be a persistent thorn in the side of the Obama administration that could bleed them a little dry. The final thing is running against a bailout culture. Regardless of the economics of said issue, the politics is pretty cut-and-dry; the American people despise such bailouts and, if we can spin it as interest group politics as normal (and with the decreasing political power of the unions, we should have no problem turning people against them quickly), we can position ourselves as the responsible ones in the room; the voice of maturity and wisdom in a tumultuous age.

3. This point is far more important than the previous two; those points were on the policy side of things which can only have so much impact on the effectiveness of a campaign. This point is absolutely crucial; we must have rapid response teams of educated and informed Republicans working at every campus across the country. This means that College Republicans at every institution around the nation must work to build an effective and proactive counter argument to the ubiquitous left-wing organizations and functions on campus. What I envision is something akin to the Clinton War Room in every college in America; a group of students who have a response to every left-wing talking point about any issue imaginable who go around and speak up for the virtues of our positions. Have your own events, work to establish some credibility with the totality of the student population. Be able to respond to editorials in the student newspaper with cool and quick precision; let no liberal bromide go unchallenged. And, even more important, begin networking with as many students on campus who disagree at all and for whatever reason with the left wing consensus of the campus. Work with as many groups as you can; establish libertarian groups, Christian groups, pro-Israel groups, pro-second amendment groups, etc. on campus and allow people to join any or all of them. Create a mass movement (and siphon away University funding while your at it) and network within said movement. And, where the groups disagree, publically argue (whether this is through staged debates or something similar) the virtues of one position versus the other; show that what constitutes the Republican coalition is far from monolithic and hardly exclusionary. Then do proactive things to attract people; host fun events that act as long commercials for the party as well as serious events to force people to think. Invite speakers to campus that might actually interest some people, and while you’re at it, advertise those well.

It is the responsibility of every member of this party to work to maximize our breadth and depth with regards to the selling of the party. Do not worry about being ridiculed or hated; it comes with the turf and, as Friedrich Nietzsche once quipped, “that which does not kill you makes you stronger.” Allow people to see the left for what they are—mean spirited bigots—rather than what they want people to see them as. If we have an active party everywhere, we force the Democrats to respond everywhere as well; we can increase pressure on their infrastructure that may sever their proletariat coalition into the factions from whence it came. College students must see that there exists an alternative to the left wing ideology force fed to us every day; active and lively parties can force just enough doubt into their minds. Remember: organize organize and organize! We mustn’t be silent any more.

[Terrence Abrams]

I don't mean to sound trite to you Josh, you make great points, but these are all correct 'philosophical' points that do need execution, and covered in 2 of my 10 points above.

you have further illustrated the content that would be contained in my solution proposal above. We'd reinforce young Republican effforts on campus with the support office sites, technology infrastructure and networking with the best impact resources.

Valuable content like what you provided right here, would in happily included in the platform we'd bring to the students. You have the content as many of us have also mentioned, I proposed the tactics to deliver your content. It is a great partnership if we can get it going.

[Daniel Kaplan]

Terrence and Josh, the dynamic duo! Great work so far, guys!

[TheNewRepublicans.net]

Thanks for your input. I'm reading all of your comments.

Today's entry is on Faith. I wonder how you all think about the role of faith.

[Julie Oubre Fell]

Ok, just a thought...today's youth not unlike generations before, are a social breed. They love music, dancing, meeting new people....we need to peak their language.

I think that if you hold FREE events that have fun things to do, they will come. Unfortunately, they are products of their parents. Most of them did not discuss current events or politics at the dinner table and many of them are/ were lucky enough to have their whole family sitting together at all.

I am a member of a Christian church and we have been working on reaching out to the youth. If the youth are not in church, then we go to where the youth is.

If the cause is important enough, you will go to the people instead of making them come to you.

Start in the universities. The party needs to sponsor events on the school grounds, legally by promoting Young Republican organizations and getting down in the dirt with them and mentor them.

Make the events fun! No young person wants to sit in a stuffy classroom or hotel meeting room and listen to old people talk about politics. Some would rather watch paint dry.

Hope this helps.

[Julie Oubre Fell]

One more thing! I read through all of the comments and they were great! I agree with most of them, but I am 31 and I am interested.

If I passed this page along to a young person that is in college or just graduated from college, they would read about 10 lines of commentary and then switch to yahoo's entertainment page.

I know that it stinks, but it is the truth. Unfortunately our youth is a group that pays attention more to actions rather than words.

We need to speak their language...to be cool...hip...fly....dope (or whatever they say now)...geez, I sound more like I am 50.

That is my point though...research what THEY are interested in...what THEY are concerned about and see if we can meet them in the middle.

[TheNewRepublicans.net]

Thanks Julie.

"Speak their language" - how are we doing at The New Republican? http://thenewrepublicans.net

[realityunwound]

I have access and good relationships with many students (I'm 32) and many of them who would still consider themselves social conservatives... voted Obama.

I had a great conversation with one this weekend. I prodded a little bit and his answer for why he voted for Obama over McCain...

gravitas

Now, the easy thing to do is dismiss it as shallow and all that, but it's a significant answer. John McCain failed to capture the imaginations of America's youth. Barack Obama didn't.

My relationships and conversations convince me... conservative policies are more solid, more palatable, and ultimately more effective than liberal ones. At the end of the day, however, voter/consumer confidence comes down to salesmanship in an election.

My longwinded point... the problem isn't as much our ideology right now as it is our candidates. We can do better than John McCain. Great thoughts.

http://www.realityunwound.com

[Nathan Davis]

The NEW REPUBLICAN should be passionate and not tricked by the status quo of our party.
the first thing the GOP should do is not endorse the recent book in which Mike Huckabee lambasted the only movement within the conservative ranks that had any energy and that could have turned back the tide of the Obama agenda: the Ron Paul Revolution. Calling the libertarian and fiscal conservative movement "a divisive movement that will destroy the conservative base" is ill-conceived, propaganda, and/or a lie.
His perspectives on the Ron Paul movement was premature, filled with betrayal, and went against the vision of the last true conservative leader, Ronald Reagan who stated that it was the libertarian who is the core of the conservative base.

The educated and freethinking of our society would follow Ron Paul, and we will regardless of what the mainstream says, however if we are not approved or even accepted by the party, the greater public is shooting itself in the vitals.

I ask those of you who refuse to even acknowledge Ron Paul... What individual in this party would you put your faith in or for that matter, even respect? John McCain(really, great smile)? Mike Huckabee (can I laugh a moment)? Sarah Palin (The PTA presidency maybe)? Mitt Romney (well I guess the Church of Latter day saints is a decent belief -ahem cult-)? Ann Coulter (the jaw wired shut blonde)? Fox News (Thats all I hafta say I think)?
Don't get me wrong, I like what this site is trying to do, but don't you see, WE have been doing this "rebuild the party" for so much longer than all of you, so please listen and learn from what we have learned.
Up until a few weeks before election night the number one person of the interweb was not the illegal immigrant on the verge of the white house or the former naval officer who left his first wife for fame and fortune but a humble republican congressman from Texas... A pro life, fiscal conservative, with knowledge and experience that exceeds any American citizen else suggested or whom you might want to pretend to respect and lead this nation.

My tears have been dried up for awhile now
JOIN THE REVOLUTION WE ARE THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF LIBERTY

[Terrence Abrams]

Ron Paul had some good ideas and some true conservative standings; he also has some good virtues and compassionate, worty portions of his political record.

Then Ron Paul lamblasts many others, without fact or accuracy, as "War Mongers" and "Tax Thieves"... just as inaccurately as anyone else has mis-labled him.

His end effect, since Paul was not as accurate as his loyal followers seem to think he is, was quite divisive amongs Republicans in this last election.

I know, I live in one of his central constituency districts and neighborhoods. I spoke with many of his supporters, all loud and ready to fall on the sword for Ron Paul.

Then we had discourses on the facts, everything Paul said, and what was upheld by fact, and what was empty on crazed rhetoric.

His followers in one of his most loyal districts began to doubt him.

Ron Paul is a good guy, not a bad politician, but he has a few crazy postions, many strong ones, and he was divisive in several ways no matter from what angle you want to view it. He is responsible for criticisms like Huckabee's just as Huckabee got his own self into trouble.

Recognizing fault with Ron Paul is not a loss of compassion. Doing what I proposed for the new republicans could unite the best of Ron Paul with the best of other Republican leaders.

Ron Paul bowed out of the party, so if you're that headstrong for him and not caring of the full set of facts, why are you here?