Youth unemployment is at 17.4 percent—one of the highest levels since World War II. The average graduating student’s debt has reached a record-breaking $26,300. The National debt per capita is $46,900 – the highest ever. These are just a few statistics that add up to The Young America’s Foundation’s Youth Misery Index.
So with these unemployment rates skyrocketing and post-graduation successes plummeting, young Americans are caught between two worlds. Rather than entering the workforce, they’re becoming a statistic. And in the meantime, they’re stuck living in their parents’ basements.
At a panel at the year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) speakers pointed out that young people have to take a “boots on the ground” approach in order to not just defend themselves but their country’s future. . It was reported that 55% of this year’s CPAC attendees were under the age of 25.
A Harvard Institute of Politics survey indicated that 74 percent of the nation’s young people say the top issue facing the country is jobs and the economy. Alex Schriver, the National Chairman of College Republicans, explained that young Americans aren’t single-issue voters. “Young voters vote for the same reasons that every other group does. It just affects them differently,” he said.
Abigail Alger of the Leadership Institute said, “We’ve graduated and where are we? Living in our parents’ basement… Unemployment rates among young people rival that of the Great Depression.”
Alger said the statistics provided by Young America’s Foundation are all things that will affect young people for the rest of their lives. Young people, Alger said, “will be living in a perpetual state of childhood,” unless they stand up to the federal government.
The panel encouraged young people to get involved in pro-individual growth initiatives like Generation Opportunity and the College Republican National Committee’s “Don’t Put it on Our Tab,” a debt-awareness initiative.
Schriver warned that President Obama will aim a lot of his campaign efforts to young voters in 2012. “In 2008, 66 percent of the youth supported Obama.”
Since 1962, Republicans have won the youth vote just four times in presidential elections. Even with the odds stacked against the Republican Party, Schriver is hopeful that signs of the times will influence voters in 2012. “We have to keep in mind that there are eight million new voters that have come of age since 2008 and will be eligible to vote in 2012. We have enough new voters to really make a difference.”
Paul Conway, President of Generation Opportunity, explained the youth frustration with what many refer to as President Obama’s failed policies. “People can’t wait. The country can’t wait,” he said in regards to returning to a thriving economy. Conway explained that although the President has announced these initiatives there is little evidence to prove they have been successful.
The panel said that a shift needs to occur. Instead of staying on their parents’ insurance plan until the age of 26, young people should be focused on getting a job. “The government is failing to understand that what young voters want is a job so they can get their own health insurance,” Conway said. “If you have a job, you can make choices. Obamacare limits their options.”
But Lisa Stickan, the Chairman of the Young Republican National Federation said, “Obamacare doesn’t answer young people’s questions as to where they’re going to get a job.”
Schriver called Obama’s reforms “a band-aid solution to a larger problem.” He explained that recent reforms will only save those who make approximately $40,000 a year. The funny thing is, in order to make $40,000 a year, someone would have to actually have a job.
The panel pointed out the need to prepare for the future and the upcoming election. “This absolutely is the most important election of our time,” said Schriver. “We have to instill conservatism on campus.” There are 250,000 College Republicans on 1,800 campuses across the country.
Alger pointed out that the Leadership Institute is a place where young people can learn more about winning these crucial elections. “You owe it to your philosophy to learn how to win.”
Jocelyn Grecko is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia. Jocelyn has spent the past four years in the nation’s capital as a Media Studies undergraduate student at The Catholic University of America. She will graduate in May 2012.
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