Ronald Reagan presciently warned that “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”
That is why we need to wake up. Fast. If you look around, a sizable majority of America’s millennial generation—adults under age 30—aren’t so enamored with freedom these days. Truth be told, for many, the principles of limited government, personal responsibility and individual liberty are perceived as antiquated bygones of their grandparents’ era. Pop culture and social issues loom much larger than the bread-and-butter concerns of their forebears.
The facts are indisputable. Sixty-one percent of young voters helped re-elect Barack Obama despite stagnant job opportunities, high youth unemployment and a national malaise that only Jimmy Carter could love. It didn’t matter. Sandra Fluke’s free birth control and the President’s endorsement of gay marriage resonated more in their voting decision than the fact that their college degree earned them little beyond a bed in their childhood home and a mountain of student loan debt.
Oh, but there’s more: In a 2011 Pew Research Center report, millennials identified their use of technology, pop culture, liberal attitudes, superior intelligence, and clothes as their age cohort’s distinguishing characteristics.
Yikes.
For the older generation who raised these kids, it’s really our fault. It was us, after all, who plastered the “Baby on Board” decals on our cars the moment our li’l darlings left the hospital. We’re the ones who traipsed our kids to soccer camp, band camp, drama camp, and day camp when time could’ve been spent on something less entertaining but far more important such as instilling the values of kindness, charity, patriotism, and hard work.
Thankfully, many young adults have escaped unscathed by the excessive fawning and creature comforts bestowed upon them. It is these independent-minded souls who are the linchpin in securing the freedoms Reagan spoke of all those years ago.
Enter Sarah Ponn and Mike Hartwick. These millennial entrepreneurs established a superPAC, Pass the Torch, when they became discouraged by the massive regulations when starting their business, SURFnet. Using interactive social media platforms, they hope to reach their peers, who Ponn acknowledges, are mostly ill-informed and unaware of small government conservatism.
“Most people under 30 don’t like to hear the word politics,” she said in a Fox & Friends interview, “…We really want to get people engaged in what the facts are behind all the rhetoric.”
The PAC’s mission is straightforward: “It’s our turn to take action and change the cultural apathy, government dependence and entitlement mindset that is holding us back. Our mission is to engage America’s youth in the fight for economic opportunity, individual liberty, and common sense government.”
Sarah Ponn gets it. Which is why all of us of all ages need to support what she and Hartwick are doing—and in a big way. To learn more, please visit their website at: http://www.PasstheTorchPAC.com.
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