Open Letter to Older GOP

Dear Older Republicans,

As a child, my family’s radios were all set to Rush Limbaugh in the morning and Sean Hannity in the evening. For those of you who have moved beyond talk radio and onto the internet, that means I was raised Republican. I am proud of my Republican heritage. I’d say my loyalty is out of the question.

I believe there is hope for my party. However there is a condition to my hope; the GOP has a chance of averting a catastrophic end only if the older GOP allows the new generation take the helms. I’m not saying the Republican National Committee should become some college final project, but I am saying that ignoring youth sponsored candidates is not the way to have meaningful victories.

We are, you could say, a renaissance for the GOP, asking for a return to the liberty-oriented principles of the Goldwater/Reagan Era. We want lower taxes and less war. We want de-regulated healthcare markets and we want an end to prohibitionist drug policies. We want less welfare and a way to opt out and eventually phase out Social Security and Medicare.

Are these requests impossible? No. So why are our requests not addressed? Because the older Republicans still think we can afford to duke it out with any other country that so much as sneezes when America is on patrol; because they think that if we end drug prohibition the whole country will turn into potheads; and because they think that if we are given an opt-out button for social security and Medicare the government will have to quit borrowing from them and pay it all back.

The new generation of the GOP made itself clear last election and we’re ready to fight for our candidate in 2012. However that’s only possible, if the old Republicans will quit being hysterical about the issues we want to deal with.

We have been asked our whole lives so far to settle for candidates like Bush, McCain, Romney, and Gingrich when their agendas are nearly identical to the Democrats. Look where that’s got us: Multiple failed budget compromises; Medicare Part D; the Iraq War; the Afghan War; No Child Left Behind; and a $15 trillion bill for all of it that we (young people) have to pay. These are only some of the things your candidates have done. We feel they’ve done enough. They may have helped your generation but they have screwed ours. Older Republicans, we should have a say in our future. We honor that some of you have tried, yet the era of big government conservatism must come to an end as we are going to have to pay for it. We have spoken time after time; we want a principled candidate who can win, and that candidate is Ron Paul. Please vote Ron Paul for President in 2012 if you wish to keep the GOP alive.

Sincerely,

Devon Minnema
Young Americans for Liberty
Dixon High School