If You Can't Criticize Something You Love, Then You Don't Really Love it

Do you want to know what the problem with the Republican Party is today? No one gives a hoot about the young people that will form the future of the party. As the President of the College Republicans at Notre Dame, I have been an adamant conservative for as long as I have had political views, but not until now have I seen what is causing us to lose ground. On countless occasions I have reached out to politicians on both a national and local level and have been blessed to have an excellent relationship with our local Congresswoman in Indiana. Other than that, no republican politician even shows an effort to engage our club (of over a 1000 member reach). I have been asked to pay upwards of $50,000 for some to come to campus. Is that the way that we are expected to be involved in our party at a young age? Countless prominent Republican political figures come to Notre Dame's campus each year and I have reached out to almost all of them, asking them to pay a visit to a club meeting, or come meet our club's officers, but I have never even gotten a response. Governor Chris Christie was present for the BYU football game just two weeks ago and I reached out the week leading up to it and even followed up with a phone call to his office, but no response. He did however visit with the increasingly liberal University administration. Same with alumnus Condoleezza Rice and we had a similar experience with alumnus Congressman Peter King.  Chris Christie proved a deadbeat previously when the president of the College Democrats and I were planning a massive presentation by two Wall St. giants on the topic of generation equity.  One of the presenters had asked his personal friends, Senator Chuck Schumer and Governor Chris Christie to reach out to us and thank us for tackling the issue and to encourage us to drum up support for the event on campus.  Sen. Schumer personally had a lengthy conversation with the president of the College Democrats and I never even got an email from a Christie staffer.  More recently, Fox News, often considered a conservative media stronghold, has abused their contact with our club on three different occasions. For the Sean Hannity episode involving college students, Sean's staff hand picked a liberal from our great Catholic and still conservative University (at least as far as the student body is concerned). I was then personally contacted by one of his staffers and asked if I would be interested in being part of a segment to be filmed at Notre Dame and I was promised a list of topics within that same week. Our club put together teams to tackle the hot topics of the day, and we worked hard to prep for the segment that we hoped would highlight what our club is all about, and what young conservatives could bring to the table overall. One week before the proposed taping, we were told it would not longer happen. Just this week, I was once again contacted by a staffer for the The Huckabee Show. I was asked if I would be available for the taping of a segment involving the University's lawsuit against the HHS mandate of the Affordable Care Act. As a follow up, I was then asked to put that same staffer in touch with the student body president and someone from the student newspaper (at least I put them in contact with someone conservative). One day before I would have to fly out for the segment, I was told that the very person that I put the staffer in contact with from the student newspaper would be featured on the show instead. This unprofessional behavior and ignorance of the conservative youth of this country is exactly what is aggravating the young voters. If the Republican Party ever wants to survive, they must realize that ignoring the future of their party will not work. Why would we, as a young, Republican organization work to promote the views of a party that ignores us?