Broadside Opinion

Frederick Keown, Broadside Correspondent

In 1775 at St. John’s church in Richmond, Va., Patrick Henry gave his famous speech in which he proclaimed, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” Now more than three centuries later, Republican Party members gathered in the Marriott hotel down the street for the November gubernatorial election. For a few tense hours, people sat in the banquet halls and stared at the televisions as districts continued to count their votes. Finally, as the clock neared nine, the residents of Virginia declared their choices. We now welcome Bob McDonnell (Governor-elect), Bill Bolling (Lt. Governor-elect) and Ken Cuccinelli (Attorney General-elect) as the Republican trio that swept this race.

With this miraculous victory in a state that voted democratic for the presidential race in 2008, the Republicans announced that this election was a revolution, as was the speech by Patrick Henry.

What was the action that started this revolution in Virginia? It was the active youth that refused to have their voices silenced. A great example of the determination that lead to this victory is the actions of the College Republicans of George Mason University. When watching the victory speeches of Bob McDonnell, Kristie Colorado, a freshman government major, stated, “those six days a week of campaigning have finally paid off. I gave up my summer for this.”

When faced with the idea that the youth vote doesn’t count, young voters retaliated with such force that they gave us a Republican victory in the gubernatorial race and victories in many of the delegate races. Amanda Johnson, College Republican’s chairman, sophomore and Theater major, responded by saying the claim that the youth vote does not count is “completely untrue, it was the attention that Barrack Obama’s campaign gave to the youth generation that gave him his victory.”

This election, as Republican candidates took the spotlight, the Republican youth responded with unrelenting force. Phone banks were filled with young teenagers, college students and young adults who made some 200 phone calls to families aiding in the campaign. Every Saturday and Sunday morning, while most college students were sleeping and recuperating from the previous night’s events, the College Republicans awoke to their alarm clocks at 7 a.m. to walk from door to door in support of the Republican candidates.

The night of the gubernatorial election, Fairfax turned as red as the blood that pulsed through the veins of Republicans statewide. As the night continued, the color red bled through Virginia from Richmond to Virginia Beach. When the votes were all counted, McDonnell carried eight out of the 11 congressional districts, a victory that put him ahead in the popular vote.

Bob Marshall, a Virginia delegate who also gained a victory on Nov. 2, said in a College Republican meeting that young Americans are the “anti-toxin to negative propaganda.” When we take the time to go door to door, make hundreds of phone calls and hang flyers as the College Republicans did, we show that these monsters created by mud slinging politics don’t exist and that they are Americans like everyone else.

We are the youth of this nation, the nation’s next generation, and it’s time that we make this world as we would like to see it. Democratic or Republican, we have the power to change whatever we don’t like – we just need to put forth the effort to research the facts and make informed decisions. Now is the time to put forth this effort as the College Republicans did and take the cue to move forth and make this world our world.