In 2012, a 76 year old Libertarian Republican congressman from Texas was able to win almost half of the under 30 vote with a message of fiscal conservatism, small government, and a non-interventionist foreign policy. By contrast, in 2016 most young voters have put their support behind Bernie Sanders, a 74 year old self-described socialist. The two could not be more different, at least from an economic standpoint.
However, it would be difficult to say there aren’t similarities in how their supporters are being treated. Comparisons are already being made between how Ron Paul supporters were treated at the 2012 Republican National Convention, and how Bernie Sanders supporters were allegedly treated at the Nevada Democratic state convention.
If Hillary Clinton becomes the Democratic Party nominee, how will the Libertarian Party win over the youth vote that may feel slighted by both major political parties? I recently spoke with Trent Somes III, one of the founding members of the Libertarian Youth Caucus about what the LYC is and how it plans to bring young people into the LP.
Jeremy Siple: What is the LYC? How did the LYC form?
Trent Somes: So Myself, Jeff Mitchell, Robert Clarke and Charles Peralo met at the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania convention a few months ago. We all just instantly connected, and while talking to Gary Johnson about his campaign, decided that we should team up to make the Libertarian Party better at youth outreach. We had all experienced similar things while in the Party; a lot of frustration, bad websites, a lack of communication, and a complete disregard for youth outreach. We set out to change that.
JS: What is your mission? What do you hope to accomplish?
TS: The LYC’s mission is “Promoting the restructuring of the party and its policy to promote outreach and membership of younger voters within the Libertarian Party.” We hope to be the de facto high school organization for the Libertarian Party, and we are a registered PAC with the Federal Elections Commission. Already the LYC has created a commercial for the LPPA, and two instructional videos for using technology on campaigns, and helped at least 2 candidates make remind accounts. We also worked really hard to make our infrastructure. We designed a website (LYCaucus.org) that allowed people to join (LYC allows people 26 and under to join as members, while 27 and up must join as supporters). We are also making local affiliates, but are still deciding how it will fit into our structure. Regardless, we will be launching high school and
community clubs in at least 4 states coming up pretty soon. Interested peoples should contact me at [email protected]
JS: What differentiates you from the Millennial caucus?
TS: What we believe is covered in our charter. We are completely different than the Libertarian Millennial Caucus. The only similar thing is that we encourage the elimination of potentially wasteful spending, and encourage professionalism within the Party. We initially reached out to them about coordinating on a couple of things, but they basically said they were not interested unless our caucuses merged. The Board of Directors unanimously agreed this was a bad idea. The first and foremost goal of the Millennial Caucus is to “Obtain a majority of LMC member
seats on the LNC”. They have 3 other little goals, but they really just want to get onto the LNC. I don’t know if any of them are even millennials. On the flip side, our goal is to make the party better at youth outreach. We aren’t too interested in who is in charge, as long as they listen to our concerns, and reach out to youth. We are entirely youth run, and we don’t have any sort of “agenda” like the millennial caucus. We have goals. An agenda is forced. Goals are worked on.
JS: Do you feel the LP has done a sufficient job of reaching out to young people?
TS: No. We have a lot to work on, but we are getting closer to the idea of specific youth outreach. I think the LP has tried in some cases, but the Party is still largely dominated by older people who don’t see it as a political force to be reckoned with. The youth caucus is determined to change that.