The new year brings both promise and regret. Irony is the companion of Baby New Year. We are hopeful for the new opportunity, and regretful for any errors and omissions of the last year. I noticed that my children seem profoundly effected by the New Year. Perhaps they have fewer years to reconcile, so the peaks and valleys seem more contrasted? I don’t know, but I do know that something brand new is sweeping our Country, and it is not yet on the radar of the typical pollsters.
Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit wrote a great post about it today. He points out that if youth ran the world, we would really be a “blue country.” He offers a map illustrating the demography of the youth vote. Eastern cultures understand that wisdom comes with age, and this map clearly shows one good reason for that. On his post, Jim points out that less than 50 percent of 16-24 year olds are employed; the lowest numbers since WWII. Even after all the “stimulus” money was spent? And in a year when their parents probably really need their help!
Gateway Pundit points out that 68% of the youth vote went to John McCain and Sarah Palin in 2008. Just joking–clearly you ARE paying attention. They decidedly supported Obama, and now what do they have to show for it?
As the youth took inventory of their status in this political climate, their political engagement has shown signs of serious increase. I met carloads of kids from as far away as New York State that drove through the night to attend the first St. Louis Tea Party. Many approached us and confessed that they had voted “blue” in the last election, but that this (the spending, namely) was not the “hope and change” they were looking for. They were there in search of marching orders; direction. They wanted something tangible they could do to reverse what they had already done.
Young bloggers have multiplied in my observation, and youth on Twitter and Facebook have seemingly multiplied. Numerous youth have emailed me (in the hundreds) about how they can be involved. More than a decade in politics, and I have never seen young people asking to be involved like this. My friend, Brett Dinkins, President of College Republicans at the University of Missouri, Columbia reports that membership has increased more than 500 students. That is a first for a non election year, according to Jeremy Hagan, the former Chapter Chair Mr. Dinkins notes that he has personally attended several Missouri Tea Parties and the National Tea Party, as well. He believes that the new involvement is not the same young people, but that these are a new, fiercely independent breed of Republicans ready to exact their values on the GOP and hold them accountable if they stray from their promises.
My own daughter’s reaction to the New Year was to invite her friends to join her in a page called “The St. Louis Tea Party Youth.” She grew from around 100 members to almost 500 members in one 48 hour period. As I mentioned on the show last week, she asked me how she is going to be able to pay off the more than $200k debt she already owes under this administration’s new spending policy. She knows that she has to climb quickly to the top of the pack if she is to be able to afford to live in this Country. She was raised in the Capitol from birth, and she loves this Country. She is a Patriot. She sees the founding principles of the United States crumbling at her feet, and she is committed to doing her little part to prevent such a tragedy.
If the current approach to teens conitnues to be “Rock the Vote” (see my post “Rock the WHAT?”) and fisting pamphlets as described on Gateway Pundit’s site, then the blue forfeits the elections to the red for the first time in our Country’s history. If the other side continues to spend money to establish all time high unemployment, taxation, and ill ease, the only thing blue on the map will be the songs the current officeholders are singing. As B.B. King said, “The Thrill is Gone.”