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Congressman Dennis Ross and State Representative Jamie Grant speak to inspire Young Republicans
Posted by Chrystal Tacker on Sun, Feb 10, 2013 at 2:18 PM
At the 2013 Winter Quarterly meeting of the Florida Federation of Young Republicans on Saturday, Congressman Dennis Ross and State Representative Jamie Grant urged Young Republicans to go out into their communities and win back the voters by acting on their Republican values and connecting with the people through digital media and technology. It was their impression that Obama’s victories were impart do to his connection to the youth through digital media. The Young Republicans are hopeful to regain the youth’s vote.
Ross spoke about turning great principles into actions to show the community that they are civil as well as political. He warned that “if we do not act on these values, then it is nothing but words.”
Ross then demanded that voters “should hold us accountable” for their actions or lack of actions and “bring us to the fire” when they do not act on the message, especially when their values have become “nothing but words.”
The Polk County area Congressman informed the Young Republicans about the importance of humbling experiences, like losing a race. He said that it is important to “be anchored to something else, particularly outside of public service” or risk losing the strong Republican values that won the election.
Ross briefly mentioned some of the political issues he is facing, including immigration. He believes that immigration is an issue that can be eliminated by reaching out to individuals who will do domestic labor, and “eliminating the black market labor.” There is a legal path to citizenship for these people where the U.S. can keep track of them and collect taxes.
Tampa State Representative Jamie Grant’s discussion session spoke about several key issues pertaining to the technological failures of the Republicans in the 2008 and even 2012 election. His mission includes the use of social media, like Facebook, to connect to the voters as well as to collect data. He believes that with enough empirical data about the people, “we can predict and identify people who will vote as well as the people who will vote Republican.” Obama’s 2008 campaign was “one of the first do use tech and it swept the youth.”
Grant strong believes in the value of tech and digital media. “My campaign dedicates 10-15 percent of the budget on the digital, including the website.” He never plans to be in a TV advertisement, because he believes that “you get more bang for your buck” on digital media.
He wants to open up the data, because he believes that the use of “tech can save and even earn us money and through the empirical data we can also learn what is necessary and what is working” to locate the particular voters and issues that need to be addressed for the people.
Grant also said he wants to make it easier for talented people and technological innovations to come into Florida's market. He believes that "money, talent, and culture (can come together) to help fuel an economy." He compares Florida to California by suggesting that even though both states have beaches, California has more money, talent and culture to improve their economy.
And he spoke about education and how college is not for everyone. “If education remains on this track, a college degree will be the same as the high school diploma was several years ago.” He claims that there is a demand for labor workers, who can profit immediately off their skill sets. He continues on to say that “college is a great place to grow up and learn how to articulate your ideas, but it is an investment that does not always pay off with a skill set for a particular job.”
Both Congressman Ross and State Representative Grant spoke on the importance of compromising in politics. Ross firmly believes that “we must reach across the aisle to stop fighting and compromise.” Grant claims that “people take the issues too personal in the chamber,” and it is important to learn how to compromise.
Comments (2)
This is a great article about how you can successfully leverage social media and also how important it is to have a balanced political perspective to achieve good results.
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dislikeThanks for your article on the Florida Young Republicans. I found the insights this article offered interesting and yet disturbing. I would profoundly disagree with the individual who made this comment, "I don't think that what we believe is wrong. I don't think that our message is wrong. It's just the way we package it." Their basic problem is not packaging; tweaking your logo will not change the underlying issues.
Where one to look at and read the basic statement of intent of the Republican Party, the party platform of 2012, that document is glued on the rear view mirror as our nation barrels down the road full speed ahead. An individual may live in denial only so long. An individual may live in the past only so long. An individual may deny that the climate is changing and we must adapt to the causes and effects of the change. Or you can be flooded out. You may wish to re-litigate Roe v Wade and move abortions once more into the back alleys. However a recent poll by WSJ/NBC found 70% of the people want to keep abortion legal. The Republicans may deny that the community has a degree of responsibility for all members of the society by saying, “ one’s health is an individual responsibility.” That flies in the face of everyone who is a recipient of Medicare, Medicaid and numerous VA benefits.
Examining government spending is important. Where do we, as a society, devote our fiscal resources? The goal of many who demand fiscal reform and greater responsibility to regain the position we had in 2001 - a balanced budget. One of the major shifts between the balanced budget of 2001 and today’s budget is an 81% increase in defense spending. From 2001 to date we see revenue up by about 20% and total spending increased by almost double. There can be no denying the need to objectively review both the revenue side of the equation as well as spending side.
I believe we are seeing a significant shift in attitudes since the tragedy in Newtown. Some ninety plus percent of the population want to see background checks imposed on the purchase of weapons. While 65% would support allowing only one purchase per month. And some 82% support limiting the sale of assault weapons. I do not believe people want or need armed security at every social nexus. To my knowledge there has been no ownership by anyone in the Republican Party on this issue.
Something we hear talked about often is the need to reform Social Security and Medicare. What is not often mentioned is that 80% of Americans value Social Security for themselves and their families. 84% of those asked, believe that Social Security fails to provide enough income for retirees. People want to see the basic benefit paid by Social Security to be adequate enough so the individual drawing their benefits not be poor. 69% of respondents favor increasing the social security tax from 6.2% to 7.2%. 68% favor removing the taxable earnings cap currently in place.
The GOP is undergoing a self examination which we see in many publications. Eric Cantor’s recent comments at AEI indicate a shift in some thinking. How far and how significant these changes are will be interesting to observe. How will these changes impact the core supporters?
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