This week, the Wall Street Journal released an article entitled “For Most Graduates, Grueling Job Hunt Awaits”. The article quotes a study from the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University which showed only 49% of graduates from the classes of 2009 to 2011 found full time work within a year of completing their courses. The article also showed that for students who do find work, they earn only a dollar more in their jobs than they did in 1989 (adjusted for inflation).

The stories are the same everywhere. RadioIowa  covered the story of a young man Dennis Bowen and his job hunt. They pointed out the unemployment for Gen Y is close to 16%, double the national average. Not only that, but student loan debt is the highest it has ever been. Fox News pointed out that even students who find jobs probably won’t need their degree due to massive underemployment.

This time last year, news outlets were singing the same song. CNN Money produced a frightening piece called “The Great Recession’s Lost Generation” about how even students with Ivy League degrees couldn’t find work out of school.

This horrendous unemployment for the youth is no longer a phenomenon, it is a pattern. The economic recession hit those without the experience and connections the hardest. And it has continued as the economy has not recovered. Obviously, the government’s approach to fixing these issues has not worked, as the jobless trend continues. While Obama seeks to connect with youth, and fix their student loan issues, he truly done nothing to alleviate their burden. Only new leadership can change these depressing statistics.

Weekend in Paradise: 2012 FFYR Annual Meeting & Reception
June 8-10, 2012

The Palm Beach County Young Republicans are extremely excited to be hosting the:
Florida Federation of Young Republicans Annual Meeting and Reception on June 8-10, 2012 in Palm Beach!

Register now!
Registration for the FFYR 2012 Annual is $78.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

The four-star Colony Hotel is giving the YRs a very special rate of $150 a night (discounted from the regular rate of $350 a night) I know you’re probably thinking….what does the rate include? The answer is everything….and we mean everything!

• Free valet and no parking fees(valued at $15 per day)
• Free four star English Breakfast including eggs cooked your way each morning for everyone in your room (valued at $20 per person)
• No additional charges for sharing a room (ex. Four to room is about $40 a night)
• Free internet and WiFi
• Free beach chairs and towels
• Free shuttle service

You can now add your name to the long list of Presidents, Governors, and prominent Republicans like George H. W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Rudy Guiliani, and Jeb Bush who have stayed at the world famous Colony Hotel and, like them, get to taste the true luxury of Palm Beach!

The Colony is located next to Worth Avenue with plenty of restaurants and shops in walking distance. We have 20 rooms with double beds that will sleep up to four and 10 rooms with kings or queens available at the same rate. Roll aways are also available.

Book your room today* by calling 1-800-521-5525 and request a room in the Young Republican group block.

Questions?
Contact Renee Boger, PBCYR President, at pbcyoungrepublicans@gmail.com.

1. Win a $100 gas card by booking your room at The Colony by May 5! DEADLINE PASSED!
   Every person in the room will be added to a drawing and the name will be pulled on Saturday, June 9. Just e-mail, pbcyoungrepublicans@gmail.com, when you book your room and include all the people staying in your room. I will check with the hotel, so NO funny business.
2. Write a creative paragraph as to WHY you deserve a $100 gas card and post it on our Facebook event page’s wall! Are you getting here on a fan boat through the Everglades? Are you working to save money? Do you live in Palm Beach, but are going to travel to the keys and come back just to try to win this gas card? We want to know. $100 may not be worth what it once was, but it will still put a dent in a gas pump, so get creative and write a post (no more than 200 words) as to why YOU should get a free $100 gas card. We will take the 3 most creative, read them on Saturday, June 9, at our reception, and then VOTE! Post your paragraph here.
3. Win $50 cash by registering for the FFYR Annual Meeting by the Early Bird deadline. DEADLINE PASSED!
   Every person who pays before the deadline will be added to a drawing and the name will be pulled on Saturday, June 9, at our reception. We want the registration cost to be as low as possible, so we will let you know the deadline and cost very soon.

Don’t miss these great opportunities to WIN free stuff!

The Florida Federation of Young Republicans is a group of young professionals under the age of 40 who are active in their local county politics. These clubs in the state of Florida meet 4 times of year to share information, discuss politics and socialize. FFYR uses any money donated to them to fund day to day operations and grassroots efforts that help elect conservative government officials.

FFYR had multiple other speakers during their winter quarterly including Jason Osborne, Director of External Affairs for the RNC Host Committee, and Dr. Susan MacManus, Professor of Public Administration and Political Science at the University of South Florida.

Young conservatives are often the hardest working and most overlooked people in campaigns. They walk, phone bank, stuff envelopes and volunteer behind the scenes. They get up at 5am and go to bed after midnight at Republican functions just to get discounted tickets. The reason they aren’t protesting in the street is that they are too busy making sure their campaign keeps running.

Sure, plenty of college kids subscribe to Paul’s constitutionalism and vote that way. Paul won the youth vote overwhelmingly in Iowa and came up strong in New Hampshire. But once the field narrowed, Paul started to lose his edge. Youth voters under 30 were more likely to “throw away” their vote on unlikely candidates early on. They got behind Huntsman and even the just surging Santorum (you know, the polar opposite of Paul). But in SouthCarolina, Gingrich pulled a huge number of youth votes, only barely behind Paul, within the margin of error based on Exit Polls. In Florida, Romney stole the youth vote. And if you paid attention (which apparently the newspapers in Jacksonville didn’t) it was easy to see that Romney’s events were packed with voters in their teens and twenties.

The point here is that whoever storms the state will most likely take the youth vote with him. The registered Republican voters who actually care enough to get out and vote in a Primary will vote for who they truly believe can win. The idea that constitutional college students make up the whole of the conservative youth vote is poor journalism. Any quick poll would find that much of the rabble raised by Paul-supporters isn’t from “real” Republicans. Paul pulls support from Independents, Democrats and –guess what?—kids who aren’t even registered. Which doesn’t help him much on the way to becoming the nominee. It’s all thunder and no storm.

If you want to see conservative voters under 30 who will actually vote, show up at any candidate headquarters and see who is keeping the wheels turning for the campaign. Show up to a Young Republican, Young Conservative, or College Republican meeting and ask who they support (expect their answers to be as varied as their work schedules). Using one college campus rally isn’t polling a demographic, it’s creating a bias. Trust me, the young Republicans are here, and they are voting for their future. And guess which candidate (coming in at 7% in Florida) isn’t in it?

For all the photos, click here.