Young republicans and the internet

As Bob Dylan wrote the times they are a-changin'. The campaign model that work for republicans in the past will not be as effective in the future. The internet has had a larger impact on this than most of us would have predicted. If the Barack Obama campaign in 2008 is not evidence enough of this, with his rumored 13 million email adresses, consider that the largest online fundraising day was set by a little known congressman from Texas who managed a marginal showing in the majority of Republican primaries.

When I undertook the challenge of launching a new club for young republicans in the Bronx I opened up my MacBook and did a little research on young republican clubs. I looked at not only on the existing local New York City area clubs but other clubs and federations around country. I wasn't just researching ideas for our website but also ideas on how to make a well rounded and active club. Unfortunately what I saw was not only disappointing but appallingly bad efforts by local clubs and state federations alike. Not that the national federation was any better. How bad is it out there? 17 state federations have no website. Alaska's YR Federation website still has Frank Murkowski listed as governor of the state even though Sarah Palin has been the governor for over two years. The Texas YR Federation website has links that have been dead for over a year. California's federation isn't even listed has having a website by the Young Republican National Federation. If that isn't bad enough consider that Ohio, a swing state in the three previous presidential elections, is a federation without a website. What does it say about republicans if our federations and auxiliaries can't manage to put up websites or keep even the most basic information up to date? Is it that we don't understand the value of the internet or is just laziness? Over the past four years the functions of websites have moved beyond just providing information towards hubs of social and business networking where people engage one another individually. It is time for us to take it to the next step. Political networking. It is unlikely that more than a handful of local young republican auxiliaries would have the means to create the sort of websites we saw from the Paul or Obama campaigns. However this is exactly what we should expect from the state federations. None of the state federations offer websites that have a networking component. Most don't even use a content management system. Few offer regular updates such a blog or calender. I'm not sure what the future holds for the Republican Party but I do know if we don't bridge this gap that has emerged in the last election we will continue to struggle in state and national elections. We have to make a better effort to present our message online because younger people are trending towards the internet to gather their information on politics. This divide won't be closed solely by a better online presence but it will continue to broaden if they can't find us, and we can't keep them engaged, when they do come looking for our message, candidates, and auxiliaries. The times they are a changin' and so must we.