Young Republicans - Do Dems have anything like this?

[Norquist Nemesis]

I know it sounds silly, but do we?

Recently, I was picking up my daughter from a school friend's birthday party. I really didn't doubt that these parents are Republicans, but it was confirmed during this visit. We've had friendly and cordial conversations and were preparing to be chaperones on a one week school trip to Washington DC.

...anyway, during this one evening with discussing the trip and mentioning how excited we all were to be going, the parents metioned that their son just attended his first Young Republicans meeting (he's about 14), and made an additional innocuous comment about being a Republican.
My response was, "Well, I can appreciate that you're Republicans. I am a Democrat myself!" I was looking down tying my shoes at the time, but the "UGH" was audible. I said, "I heard that!" They nervously laughed.

After reading "Taking a Closer Look at the Patriot Act" on CounterPunch http://www.counterpunch.com/cloughley05152004.html it compares Hitler and Bush. Though this article doesn't mention the Nazi Youth groups, I'm seeing analogies with the Young Republicans and the Nazi Youth groups given the political climate. But this has me thinking and really wondering...do we have anything like that? Am I just getting crazier and more paranoid?

[dflprincess]

1. Minnesota has the

MYDFL - Minnesota Young DFL.

[flamingyouth]

2. I used to belong to the Young Democrats

...back when I was (um) young. :D

[Taverner]

6. Your'e still young

Cuz if you're not young, then I'm not...

And I KNOW I'm young!

[Liberal Classic]

3. I've been to Young Democrats meetings before

Good folks. Young Democrats and Young Republicans are usually unofficial auxiliaries of the local parties. Comparing campus pubbies to brownshirts seems to me to be just a bit of a stretch. I now don my asbestos.

[bluestateguy]

8. Ever heard of the Young Conservatives of Texas?

www.yct.org. They love gimmicks like affirmative action bake sales, professor "watch lists", and smearing anyone who disagrees as a danger to the nation. They use techniques of fascism. They are "Young Conservatives" because they think the College Republicans in Texas are too liberal. Mind you, the Texas Republican Party is the MOST conservative of all 50 states.

[Liberal Classic]

12. Bake sales

The Technique of Fascism (c)

[Norquist Nemesis]

17. LOL - No flames here.

There's still plenty of good people on both sides. It's the evil doers that have slithered in and started to take control at the grass roots that I'm more concerned with.

[bluestateguy]

4. Young fascists

Come on now, we should appreciate them. Surely, they will all enlist in the military when the Bush Administration announces that they need more troops.

[Norquist Nemesis]

5. *DOH* I should have googled... but why

don't we have the same level of visibility with our Young Democrats as the Young Republicans do? *feeling very stupid*

[Ohio Dem]

7. I recently bought five $10 dinners from my county's young Democrats.

Didn't need five, but a good cause is a good cause. My family enjoyed the meals, even if a couple of the meals had to wait until the next day. (They were very good, BTW. Baked steak, mashed potatoes, salad, a roll, and desert.)

In retrospect, I should have just given them the $50, but they had the food all ready and it would have gone to waste, according to them.

[AntiCoup2K4]

9. If there's not a Young Democrats organization in your area....

...START ONE! And find anyone you can from the ages of 14 - 36 to get involved :)

[Norquist Nemesis]

19. I need to do some more research on this one

for my area. I've said before...I'm in the heart of the Republican propogation machine and just down the street from Denny Hastert's. Here in DuPage County, we're known for our high multiple birth rate...and the majority of them ain't Dem parents. :(

[itsnoteasybeingreen]

10. Don't get paranoid...

...I was actually the founding member of the Young Democrats of America at my high school. It's just a way for youth to get more politically active.

In my high school, I led my group on a crusade to get the school to stop buying school uniforms (sports, janitorial, etc.) from sweat shops. It kept getting tabled by the board of ed until the year after I graduated when they realized it wouldn't go away and they passed a resolution about it promising to never buy uniforms from "known sweatshop manufactures". It was my first taste of victory and one that would stick with me thorughout my life.

Many high school political groups do very good work, and no matter what "side of the aisle" they're on, I think we should applaud youth taking an active interest in politics. I wouldn't be here today if I hadn't learned early on that one person can indeed make a difference.

[Norquist Nemesis]

22. Kudos to you!

and Welcome! :hi

I absolutely agree with you that it can be a good thing. You sound like I was in HS (way back in the day over 25 years ago). I was active in getting petitions signed supporting a tax referendum. It took two times and also involved some brat tactics against my Republican dad, but we did manage to get it passed the second time through!

I was also the one that went and got signatures and approached the city council in our little town to get children playing signs in the entrance to our neighborhood. It doesn't sound like much, but in a small town like that it was a great feeling and a big victory...especially since it prompted the councilman that oversees the sign authorizations to come and take a look on his own then approve it without all of the red tape! :bounce:

[Indiana_Dem]

11. It's not as big as the Republicans but

I think 21st Century Dems have opportunities for clubs to be set up in high schools. They aren't in every school. Let me look on their website to see if I can find the info.....

http://21stcenturydems.org/students/campaign_101/

I think that's it!

[Norquist Nemesis]

15. Thanks! But only six states?

Michigan
Maryland
Florida
Minnesota
Virginia
Pennsylvania

(At least for the high school)

Geez Louise, any Chicago area Dems want to get things rolling?

[mike_c]

13. my youngest brother once worked for the Northern Va. office...

...of the Young Repigs. That was during Reagan's administration, when the pigs were flying high. He wanted to show me where he worked and it creeped me out meeting his bosses-- they all looked like the boot-black was very freshly scrubbed from their lips and faces. Very Aryan. One guy in particular had framed dozens of rock band promo prints and "autographed" them to himself, e.g. "wow, thanks Greg-- we couldn't have laid down the guitar licks on Free Bird without you!" Anyway, I digress into reminiscence. They're Hitler youth, in my experience.

[itsnoteasybeingreen]

18. Hitler Youth?

I think not, there was a Young Repugs group in my high school too (actually my inspiration to start the Young Dems) and it seemed to me they would try and recreate their parents dinner table conversation.

We had a debate with them once, right before the 2000 election, and all they could talk about was Clinton's penis. I guess some things repugs don't grow out of.

[Norquist Nemesis]

20. This is just the kind of thing I worry about.

Especially when I read about how radical the young republicans on college campuses have become.

[leftofthedial]

14. the national honor society?

[Ohio Dem]

21. Yep. There's that, of course.

LOL

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

16. You mean the Conservative Youth?