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July 15, 2009
got the conference bug: 80 million strong for american jobs and lobby day
I got the conference bug all right. After the Campus Progress National Conference last week, I couldn't help but come back for more. (Okay, I enrolled in both ahead of time, but let's not ruin the story.) These past two days, I attended the event 80 Million Strong For Young American Jobs: Summit 2009, located in the Visitor's Center of the Capitol building. The mission statement of the 80 Million Strong coalition (including the Roosvelt Insitution, Mobilize.org, and Student Association for Voter Empowerment) is as follows:
"We are the Millenial generation - 80 million strong and growing. Today we stand together to find and create new opporities for yong Americans within our current economic climate. By empowering the many voices and stories of our youth, we rise to direct a new economic future from the depths of the crisis we now face. It is our financial future at stake and we will fight to ensure its security for each of the 80 million of our Millenial generation."
The aim of the summit, where about 80 twenty-somethings convened, was to discuss the problems facing the Milennial generation - most critical of which is unemployment, something which this young generation suffers at a rate 9% higher than the national average - and to propose innovative solutions. The format of the summit was interesting: it used computer technology in an attempt to create the most democratic climate possible. We broke off into groups, based on our interests (I chose education, which I think underlies everything), and came up with several legislative proposals for combating youth unemployment. Then those proposals were put up on the main screen and the entire group, using voting pads, selected their favorites. A specialized conference facilitator...facilitated the whole process. We voted on practically everything. At the end of the first day, we voted on the top proposals overall. Those final proposals, crafted exclusively by young and ambitious liberals, were then filtered down even further, according to our representatives' areas of interest, and used to lobby these representatives the next day. While democracy is not always efficient, this was a genuine attempt. The facilitator even used his computer at times to quickly show the correlation between our votes and our demographics (e.g., votes by race, by gender - but this wasn't overdone). The room had some diversity - 14% Black, 10% mixed and 12% LGBT. The technology was also utilized to show the spread of a particular vote, that is, to show whether there was consensus on a given vote. And the people there were, in my opinion, awesome: about 50% of them categorized themselves as center-left and far-left. A few rotten apples got in, but at least they stimulated discussion.
The intensity of the conference was broken up by notable speakers. Among them were:
Jared Bernstein - Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser to Joe Biden - an interesting analysis of where the economy is now...basically, Keynesian stimulus needed; even if the unemployment rate doesn't go up immediately, that's not the point; the point is relief, minimizing the already dropping unemployment and ultimately stabilizing it, which is where we are going (when is the question)
Debbie Stabenow - had to cancel last-minute
James Cylburn (SC-6) - House Majority Whip - a very charming guy, had some interesting and inspiring stories - third most senior member of the House - member of the Conressional Black Caucus (CBC) - I asked him a question about special interest money hindering progress in the health care bill..."I wouldn't say it's hindering anything, but it's complicated..." was his diplomatic response
Steny Hoyer (MD-5) - House Majority Leader
Zoe Lofgren (CA-16)
Ken Salazar - Colorado Senator and Secretary of the Interior - I liked him, came off as soft-spoken and wise
Van Jones - Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation - here he comes again! - I take back my comment about his being a "talking head" but maintain that he is "good. very good." - wrote the NYT bestseller The Green Collar Economy - founder of Green For All - J.D. from Yale - communist turned capitalist, etc., etc. - I actually had the opportunity to meet him this morning as I walked through the metal detector - in his astounding speech, he outlined the differences between campaigning and governing (and in governing, "we have to move from hope to change); said that "Obama is laying the foundation for a new U.S. economy," noting that we have shifted from production to consumption, relying on environmental destruction, not ecological restoration; and that Obama's fix is clean energy - after all, "the Chinese are spending $12 million an hour on clean energy."
Tom Daschle - Senator from South Dakota, Senate Majority Leader
Kendrick Meek (FL-17) - member of the CBC - young guy, serving his third term in the House - his kid was there in the back, made sure to point him out and get in a word for his wife - very nice and funny guy, opened with "hi I'm Kendrick and I'm a virgo" - played football for Florida A&M - like many others, emphasized what politics is really about: "getting involved at the local level"
Needless to say, the speakers were pretty impressive and the event was a blast. I met a lot of really interesting people and made a lot of great connections with youth around the nation that are involved with or who have started up various nonprofits.
Today, along with four other Californians, I lobbied the legislative aide of Senator Dianne Feinstein. The group of four and I chose two aspects of the summit to focus on, ones we figured would resonate most with Dianne and/or her aide. We recommended that she move to increase green jobs (Van would have been proud!) and to open more jobs in the national defense sector, particularly young diplomacy (which would also diversify our military expenditures, a much-needed reform) and ROTC cyber training (in order to prepare youth - who are naturally more tech savvy - to meet cyber threats, like the two big ones that happened in the past couple of weeks...not really my thing but it was fun anyway). The aide seemed excited about what we are doing and wants to follow up with us. (Post-mortem: didn't happen.)
This event, like many D.C. events, was an amazing opportunity. The organizations poured lots of money and time into the event to make it possible. They flew in kids from around the nation and put them up at a Sheraton for two nights. And you don't have to be part of some exclusive group to gain access to such events, as I've learned. You merely have to follow the organization (get on their email list, or word of mouth) and be an intern or young professional in the area (yes, many of whom happen to be tomorrow's political elites, but not exclusively is my point). And it's free. Of course, the conference bug won't last forever, but I certainly enjoyed the two I've attended.
Posted by dmbenn at July 15, 2009 06:31 PM