From:	Alex <Info@crnc.org>
Subject:	last night made it clear
Date:	Wed, 04 May 2016

Scrolling through social media right now, it's clear that after a big night in American politics, there's a range of emotions.

But I've seen so many College Republicans are taking a different approach.

Instead of celebrating or lamenting, many of young voters posted pictures of their proudest moments of being a young conservative, sometimes with no commentary at all.

I smiled as I looked at all of these treasured moments: grinning with candidates at CPAC, having fun with friends on campaign trips, and tabling with fellow CRs.

This is what the movement is all about. Mobilizing young voters.
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We keep hearing that this primary process is about an underlying, seething vitriol that has slowly been infecting the electorate. Flip on cable television, and I guarantee you can find any number of talking heads saying some iteration of that while furiously bobbing their heads.

But young voters are not just angry; we're frustrated, which partially explains why so many posted those pictures last night.

Whether they said it or not, they wanted to remember what inspired you to be a Republican in the first place. Maybe it was a teacher or a parent instilling the importance of free market values. Or, perhaps it was that first College Republican event where they knew they had found lifelong friends.

Whatever it was, they made the gutsiest decision of them all: being a Republican at a time where leftist bullies on campus want to shut down your events and publicly shame you for your beliefs.

But I'll admit, I'm frustrated with the other people in those pictures — the guys who showed up with big talk about the importance of young voters and left college students with only with a slice of pizza, a pat on the head, and a t-shirt. Did we ever see them on campus while Obama for America was opening field offices faster than Starbucks? Did they make an effort to communicate with our peers online, even as it became clear that that's where our generation was consuming information?

No, and it's mainly why we found ourselves on the losing end of election night in 2012.

The CRNC has been pushing our candidates to learn from those mistakes and to find new ways to connect with young voters since 2013. Don't change our principles, we argue, but rather change the way we express them to a new generation of Americans. We've been aggressive, and we've been able to make important gains through research and tactical improvements. There are leaders who have made a genuine effort to the same, but not enough.

Where does that leave us today? Regardless of your chosen candidate this cycle, one rare area of agreement seems to be a restlessness for change in the Party. And, who better to have led that change from the very start?

That's right, I'm talking about the youth vote.

College Republicans are a part of the generation that has fundamentally reshaped the way our world works. I'd argue that the general frustration with Washington isn't a neatly packaged talking point fit for cable news, but rather, the inevitable byproduct of an old, top down government in D.C. attempting to control the open and diverse times in which we live. We know that better than anybody because we live it out every day in the way we learn, buy things online, and communicate with our friends. Instead of giving young voters a 5 second photo op, those leaders should have been finding 5 new ways to make sure our perspective was heard.

Young voters decided the last presidential election and will do the same this year.

The good news is that our generation is starved for an alternative. Democrats have had 8 years to make their case to our peers from the biggest stage in the world, and yet we find ourselves with more millennials who identify as independents than ever. All of our candidates are capable of making a simple, but powerful argument to young people about how free market, conservative values empower us to make our own choices (see: Paul Ryan). But to show them how, we first need a seat at the table.

Will you help us make sure young voices are heard this cycle?

Young conservatives are not going to abandon the Party and we're not going to abandon the movement.

And College Republicans are going to fight as hard as ever to ensure that the voice of this generation is heard loud and clear.

Alex Smith
Chairman
College Republicans National Committee

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