A lot of changes are happening at the Republican National Committee. With Michael Steele as the new chairman, the RNC is refreshing its entire staff and opening its ears to outside ideas. Although I had previously endorsed Saul Anuzis for the position, I am cautiously optimistic with the approach Steele has taken thus far.
In my eyes, one of the more valuable appeals of Steele is that he defies the negative stereotype that the Republican Party has garnered over the past few years: he is not white, not southern, and by no means a “typical conservative.” He is also willing to take unorthodox measures to retool the RNC, as evidenced by the Tech Summit that the RNC hosted last Friday. Some of our brightest minds — people like Mindy Finn and David All — have been charged to lead six groups focusing on different areas, including Grassroots (David) and Victory (Mindy). This is pure peer production, something I have been calling for the RNC Chair and the Republican Party to embrace for a long time. Other bloggers, including Melissa Clouthier and John Hawkins, have blogged extensively about this topic, and so I’ll leave it to them to explore this in more depth.
That said, our focus here is on the “NextGen” GOP, and so this leads to my biggest caution and concern. When I previously evaluated Steele’s plan for engaging and winning over new young voters, I gave it a near failing grade because I felt that it almost entirely lacked substance. To this point, I have yet to see any significant new effort to win over millennials from Steele and the RNC, and this is seriously distressing. Whether this is a reflection of Chairman Steele’s priorities or simply the result of an ongoing and incomplete shakeup remains to be seen, but I am hopeful that it is the latter.
Just over two weeks after the election that placed Michael Steele at the reins, true progress seems to be occurring at the Republican National Committee. However, it is rather worrisome that despite progress in many areas, there still does not appear to be a renewed focus on young voters. Therefore, I must express my enthusiasm for these changes with the caveat that I remain cautiously optimistic.
Last 5 posts by Aaron Marks
- Onward and Upward: Building a Sustainable Majority - January 22nd, 2010
- Dear Young Voters: This Is What You Get When You Don't Vote - December 1st, 2009
- The Youth Vote and the 2009 Elections - November 6th, 2009
- The Best of the Post-2009 Election Spin - November 5th, 2009
- Introducing NextGenGOP Executive Director James Kane - October 20th, 2009
What is appealing for younger voters in regards to what the GOP offers them? I don’t see anything. Care to elaborate?
I think the better question is, in terms of the core GOP values, what ISN’T appealing for younger voters? What’s not to like about promoting entrepreneurship, free markets, limited government, and individual liberty?
I think all those things are great Aaron, but where in the GOP leadership do you see those qualities being promoted? First off, no one in Congress, except for a handful of individuals, promotes free markets. Our economy does not approach anything close to laissez faire with the Federal Reserve still rocking the boat when it comes to monetary policy and rates of lending between fractional reserve institutions. Limited government? The Constitution does that for us, the primary reason it was created. I don’t hear the GOP speaking a single word from the U.S. Constitution.
Geez, it’s been two weeks and he’s moved the ball farther than the last administration did in as many years. At least we’re trying to figure out how to communicate with younger people. Till now, even if we had a message for 20 somethings, we wouldn’t have much of a means of communicating it. Of course, that assumes you don’t think a message of individual liberty, economic growth and personal empowerment are adequate. Give him something more than 2 weeks to pull it together. The RNC is a big ship, he’s turning it around as fast as he can.
Hi Tony, I don’t disagree. I think he’s done a lot of things right. But with all of the sweeping changes, I was hoping to see something more substantial toward winning over millennials. I’m giving him more time, which is why I note that I’m “cautiously optimistic.”
I’ve been monitoring a lot of blogs and websites discussing the RNC transition, etc. And one thing that I believe should be pointed out is that the “GOP” transition and the “RNC” transition are very different. Transitioning the GOP is occuring thru our members in congress who are staking (or re-staking) a strong position specifically on fiscal issues, which has been the one area that we’ve sorely lacked. Members like Eric Cantor come to mind. Actions like their’s will help restore the GOP brand back to being the party of fiscal conservatives. Of course, it must be noted that this message (and transitioning the GOP) is being muddy by all of the GOP governors and the 3 senators who are outspoken in their support for Obama’s stimulus plan. That said, the GOP transition from “Big-government, social conservatives, strong defense” to “limit government, etc.” might not be happening as smoothly as it could.
With regards to the “RNC” transition, I wonder if a lot of folks simply don’t know that it is a operational place and not a think tank, etc.; and that many of the staff that has worked there in the past few years are good and certainly more should have remained on board. Of course it was good PR to announce that everybody was being fired, but it wasn’t the staffers doing research or pitching press stories or directing the field operation that cost us seats the past two cycles. It was the GOP candidates and state leaders that didn’t do what they said they’d do when they got elected. Giving a few State Chairmen (who by the way lost congressional seats and saw their state turn from red to blue on their watch) a chance to stroke their own ego by putting them “in charge” of “transitioning” parts of the RNC is a joke.
I can tell you first-hand that the RNC’s Technology Summit and overall approach to technology has been received well from all over the country. In only what, 3 days since the establishment of our committees (I head the Platform Committee,) we have engaged young professionals and technology experts from California to New York and back to DC.
Never has our demographic felt so empowered and welcome in the RNC before. This is a period of not only transition by way of chairmanship but by way of relationship as well. 6 young Republicans are leading the six RNC sub-committees. Could we have even hoped for 1 under-40-Republican leading anything under Duncan and the past administration?
This is a new day and a new time. Let’s welcome this opportunity to share our ideas with the RNC. I will deliver them personally, on behalf of NextGenGOP, if you have something to offer our discussion. This is about us, you and me, working together to create a youth coalition that will combat Ozambies.
Needless to say, we should get together for lunch sometime.
My best,
Moshe