Speak Up Memo

The Voice of Young ConservativesTHE WEEK OF MARCH 22, 2010

The Outrage

Used and forgotten. In 2008, young people gave Democrats their vote and in 2009Democrats showed young people the door. Well it’s time to tell the Democrats tostop and listen up. From health care to student loan reform, Democratic policieshave consistently ignored the needs of our generation. If we want change, 2010must be different.

What You Can Do About It

Speak up! As a conservative we must begin to win hearts and minds before we canwin elections. The process starts by educating people about what we truly believe. It starts with you in the classroom. We’ll arm you with the facts you need to win the argument. It’s your job to carry themessage on to your campus. It’s your job to speak up! By engaging ourselves in thedebate, we’ll spread the message of conservatism – the message of smallgovernment, iscal responsibility, and individual rights – to one campus, oneclassroom, and one student at a time.Over the next ive weeks the CRNC will be looking into the growing entitlements that left unreformed will doom this country’s iscal future. We must realize that government is not the solution to the problem…it IS the problem.

This Week’s Theme: Dems’ Reform is a Bitter Pill

The Promise

: “We have to pass the bill so that you can ind out what is in it...” ‐Nancy Pelosi

The Reality

: For once Madame Speaker was exactly right. We did have to pass thebill to ind out what was in it. But as new polls show, young adults are not likingwhat they are seeing.

Fact 1:Polling Shows Young Adults Do Not Like Health Care Reform

A Rasmussen poll taken a week after the reforms were signed into law inds that

among Millennials:•60% believe that the health care plan will increase the deicit •45% believe theplan will have a negative impact on them personally while only 25% believeit will have a positive effect •53% strongly favor in repealing the bill •49% say they will vote for a candidate who favors repeal while 46% say they willsupport thecandidate who opposes repealPresident Obama and congressional Democrats underestimated young adultsconcern with the national debt and the economy. Many of us don’t have jobs andmany more of us are looking with trepidation towards graduating into a badeconomy.When young adults are pinching pennies we expect the federal government to beforced to do the same. After all, it is rare to see young adults being the inanciallyresponsible ones. More than ever our generation understands the need to get thiscountry back in the black. We understand that if the nation’s debt crisis is not solvednow then it is our generation who will be the ones stuck with the tab. Weunderstand that the tab must be paid for through either higher taxes or reducedbeneits. So when the government pushes a budget‐busting health care plan, ratherthan a job creation agenda, it’s easy to see why we’re concerned.

Fact 2: We Want the Government to Create, Not Destroy Jobs

Democrats sold health care reform as an engine for job creation. Barack Obama usedhis weekly radio address tosaythat reform will build a,“New foundation for our economy to create the good, lasting jobs andshared prosperity of tomorrow.”Nancy Pelosi went as far to put numbers behind the promisesaying

,“Health insurance reform is about jobs. This legislation alone will create 4million jobs, about 400,000 jobs very soon.”Unfortunately companies feel a little differently about the effects of the health carebill. Among some recent reports of the cost of reform:•$1 billion‐ AT&T•$100 million‐ Prudential Financial Inc.•$150 million‐ Boeing Co.•$150 million‐ Deere & Company•$100 million‐ CaterpillarThis is money being directly removed from an already struggling private sector that could have been used to create jobs. American businesses are already face an uphillbattle to remain competitive in the world economy due to our high cost of labor.