In Yesterday’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Concordia University Professor and former Republican Congressional candidate, Jim Burkee, had an interesting op-ed discussing role “Generation Y” could play in re-shaping American politics.

From the article:

In the first few months of his presidency, Obama has continued his full-court press for young voters, breaking protocol by giving Queen Elizabeth a loaded iPod, appearing on television and radio and expanding the White House’s Internet presence.

But the political loyalties of that coveted demographic are not yet decided. While they seem to lean to the left, they’re actually more libertarian than liberal, a fact that will reshape the way we think about liberalism and conservatism in decades to come.

America’s Generation Y (born between 1980 and 1995) is the first to have grown up with the Internet, which leaves it the most liberty-loving generation since the era of Andrew Jackson. Liberty, the root of what meant to the founders’ generation “liberal,” describes freedom from control and interference, particularly by government. And there is no domain so free from government as the Internet.

What does it mean to have been weaned in an environment - the Internet - virtually free of government interference? Millions of Gen-Yers have grown accustomed to making purchases online tax-free. They download movies and music (much of it pirated), read their news online for free (to the detriment of print media), find recipes online and network with friends and relatives online.

In short, they love their freedom.

While I agree with much of what he is saying there, I do have to point out some disagreement with the beginning of his op-ed:

If exit polls and surveys prove accurate, there will be one demographic deeply underrepresented in Wednesday’s conservative “taxpayer tea parties,” to be held at capitols across the country: Americans between the ages of 18 and 29.

While in the eyes of many Americans that might seem like a safe assumption, personally, I don’t think it could be further from the truth.

The fact of the matter is that if it wasn’t for this demographic (and those who come close to falling in it), the tea parties that have been (and will be) held around the country wouldn’t have been as successful.

It was the Internet (the tool that Burkee rightly points out as one that has given our generation a unique footing politically) that has led to these movements becoming what they are today.

Luckily, most of us “Gen-Y” folks haven’t been politically active enough to be completely indoctrinated by one party or another. This means that if anyone is going to be able to call bullshit on those in Washington and in our states, it’s going to be us.

We’re young and we’re not huge donors, so most politicians don’t give us the time of day (unless they want free labor or websites built). This inherent bias and neglect gives us a perspective that many older Americans simply aren’t able to see… at least without our help.

Simply put, we get to see politicians for who they really are, first hand, because so many of them still don’t take us seriously.

While every generation was once young and had similar experiences, with the Internet, we have the advantage of being able to share our frustrations with millions of people in seconds, and quickly organize to yield change.

Yes my friends, change is coming America, and it’s going to come from us, Generation Y. Yes we can.

Let the classical liberal revolution begin

h/t to Ms. Chandler Ramelli at ANotSoCapitolIdea.com for the info, and for helping put this together.

For those who will be in the DC area tomorrow (April 15) between 11am - 3pm, I strongly urge you to attend the DC Tea Party, which will be staged at Lafayette Square and outside of the United States Treasury (yes, we’re talking belly of the beast here).

Here is a partial list of speakers scheduled to be in attendance:

Princella Smith, American Solutions
Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform
Tobin Smith, Fox News
Brian Johnson, Americans for Tax Reform
Alan Keyes, Activist
Mike Church, Mike Church Radio Show
Rachel Hoff, College Republicans
Tom Schatz, Citizens against Government Waste
Josh Bolin, Reagan.org

For those of you unfamiliar with Washington, DC, below is a simple GoogleMap that I put together to illustrate the area.



View DC Tea Party in a larger map


While there is ample parking in the area, I warn you, it’s never cheap, unless you get lucky and score a street spot (usually around the monuments).

Instead of risking a $20 parking tab, or ranging parking ticket fee, my suggestion would be to find parking somewhere in Northern Virginia and just take the Metro in.

The event (both Lafayette Square and the Treasury) are located within a few blocks of 5 different metro stations: Farragut North, Farragut West, McPherson Square, Metro Center and Federal Triangle.

If you’re coming from Northern Virginia, both the Orange Line and Blue Line will get you to the event without transferring. If you have to take the Yellow line, you’ll have to transfer at L’Enfant Plaza.

Don’t forget your signs!

Of the 2010 Senate races, I knew that Ohio was going to be one that I’d follow closely. However, at no time did I ever imagine that I’d be receiving emails in April 2009 letting me know that the Republican candidate already has a war chest of $3million.

From Rob Portman:

Dear Friend,

I am truly humbled by your support for my campaign for the U.S. Senate. As a close supporter I want you to be one of the first to hear about our campaign’s most recent success.

Today we announced our fundraising total of $3,178,476 for the first quarter 2009. This is an impressive achievement, especially given the tough economy we face here in Ohio and around the country. I am so grateful to you and so many others who are standing with me in this critical campaign.

During the first two months of the campaign we raised more than $1.7 million and transferred approximately $1.4 million from my Congressional campaign account, giving us a campaign war chest that exceeds $3 million.

This means that the Portman for Senate campaign has exceeded the amount Lt. Governor Lee Fisher raised from donors in the first quarter by over 50 percent and we have more than three times the amount of cash on hand. At this time, we cannot be certain what Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has raised but we expect an even greater advantage over her campaign.

Our support came from every region of Ohio, and more than 78 percent of our donors were Ohioans. As impressive as our fundraising efforts have been, I have been even more humbled by the many Ohioans who have stepped forward to volunteer in the effort.

Since we announced this campaign on January 14, we’ve received the endorsements of an overwhelming majority of Republican activists, elected officials and key party leaders. From every corner of Ohio, thousands of you have come forward to join our campaign for a better future for our great state and country.

As I’ve travelled the state speaking at Lincoln Day Dinners and meeting with the working families and small business owners who are struggling in this economy, it is clear that Ohioans want a better way than the tax, spend and borrow policies of the Democrats in Congress.

We offer a positive alternative that focuses on job creation and economic growth; with your help we’re well on our way to having the resources to share that message in 2010.

Fundraising is an important barometer this early in a campaign. We could never have achieved this initial success without your hard work and the help of thousands of Ohioans. Thank you for all that you’ve done and will do for our campaign.

I look forward to seeing you on the campaign trail.

All best,

Rob Portman

Sometimes I forget just how expensive politics has become these days

At present, it looks like the ball is in Portman’s court, however it’s way to early to be confident in retaining that seat.

I am certain that Ohio will be a state where both the unions and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee will be (probably already are) planning a full, well-funded, assault against Portman.

While $3mil+ this far out is a good sign for any campaign, he definitely has a long way to go.

A few weeks ago I created a GoogleMap to help a few co-workers and myself keep up all the different tea parties happening around the country. At first, this was an extremely easy project to manage, however, as the momentum started to build, these tea parties spread like wildfire, as the map shows:


View Larger Map

Odds are there are dozens of events that we haven’t even heard about yet, and if that is the case, please leave the details in the comments section below, and I’ll make sure I get them posted ASAP.

Also, if you want to embed this map on your blog or website, here is the code:

<iframe width=”425″ height=”350″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” marginheight=”0″ marginwidth=”0″ src=”http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=112875499027114938790.0004647d9f61bab744fd4&t=h&ll=36.713898,-96.379716&spn=21.879292,53.294898&output=embed”></iframe><br /><small><a href=”http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=112875499027114938790.0004647d9f61bab744fd4&t=h&ll=36.713898,-96.379716&spn=21.879292,53.294898&source=embed” style=”color:#0000FF;text-align:left”>View Larger Map</a></small>

Special thanks to Brendan Steinhauser for helping keep this map up-to-date!

While I’m sure at present, the idea of defending American International Group (AIG) isn’t exactly the most popular on either the left or right. However this is one of those issues where I think passion has superseded common sense, and some perspective might fruitful.

A few points:

First, let’s remember that AIG never actually went into bankruptcy proceedings, instead allowing the United States government to become a majority shareholder in the company, taking ownership of 79.9% of their assets.

Look at this from the role of shareholder: would you want to have the company you’re invested in revoke contracts that were designed to keep your talent on board, during an especially difficult time? If you were in fact a shareholder, and saw that it had the potential to yield a return with the right people and incentive, I would hope you’d say yes.

The government claimed when they made this investment that they thought it was going to have a positive return on investment for the American people. How do they expect that to be the case when the people working at the company are having one of their biggest perks stripped from them?

Second, staying on the same topic, it’s important to remember that bankruptcy is one of the legal protections a business has to get themselves out of the potentially crippling contracts without having to go through a sea of red tape and individual legal proceedings.

Just as is the case with any company, AIG had the option to file bankruptcy, go into protection and remove these contracts. However, the United States felt that AIG was too big to fail, and decided that instead of letting them go bankrupt, they would give them the money they needed to continue doing what they thought was needed to become solid again.

Third, do people actually believe that AIG would be able to employ quality people without having the ability to give them something to sweeten things a bit? If you’re someone who actually understands the credit market and has the knowledge that could save AIG, odds are if you’re not receiving the right sort of benefits package, you’ll just going to go elsewhere (especially in this economy).

Those who orchestrated this deal both in New York and Washington have all worked for institutions like AIG at some point. I am quite confident that if they weren’t receiving bonuses when they were with those companies, they too would have gone elsewhere.

While the media has had a field day with this, I find it extremely troubling that the government is coming down so aggressively on AIG for a practice that involves bonuses that are renewed annually, yet is unwilling to speak out negatively against union contracts held by the auto industry that often yield more benefits, FOR LIFE, and yield no positive return for the company.

The government is creating a slippery slope here by now threatening to come in and take this bonus money back, particularly when they’re talking about tracking down the individuals who received the money.

The government has no place telling companies that they cant honor contracts that were established prior to their investment. If they want to do this, they’re going to have to write a new slate of contract law, or use their majority power to drive the company into bankruptcy. However, when you’re the United States government, odds are regard for the law is the last thing you’re paying attention to. Public opinion and approval rating, however, is another story.

This is going to get worse, I promise.

If you thought Sarbanes/Oxley was a business killer, wait until you see what extreme regulation they’re going to come up with to try and prevent the unknown in the future.