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Yesterday I decided to look up my local young republicans group, to see if I could actually do something political instead of just talk about it online. This is in the U.S. of course.
I was quite surprised to find that, while there are ostensibly two groups operating in my area (a major metro in a purple state), there's basically nothing happening in either. One of the groups seems completely defunct, with a broken website. The other looked more 'official' and the site worked, but there was exactly... one event listed for all the rest of the next year: an awards dinner months out, that costs $75 for anyone who is not already a member to go to.
Nothing besides a basic google form with regards to contact, and no other events or opportunities listed whatsoever.
I talked to an AI about this, and apparently this is the norm? ChatGPT recommended I volunteer to canvas or whatever at the official GOP arm in my state, but I wanted to at least go to some sort of social event to start out. Again, nothing! All official meetings, no unofficial mixers or community building volunteering or anything.
Seriously, what is going on here? These are the most major political organizations in the country, and they're being run far worse than most local Effective Altruism groups. This just makes zero sense to me.
FWIW, I looked up the young democrats group in my area, and that seemed just as bad.
Am I missing something here? Is there a reason why these incredibly powerful, important political parties seem to have zero effort involved in actually getting young people to work for them? Seems like an incredibly massive self-own.
Even a highly motivated and intelligent young person will basically be at a loss as to what to do with their political energy. No wonder our generation is so politically blackpilled. No wonder everyone freaked out about Charlie Kirk's assassination!
Am I missing something, or are things really this bleak for political activism amongst the youth in the U.S.?
If I had to guess, it's that people who want to get into such groups generally want to do so as a start in politics, and they tend to start in college - getting elected to the Student Union, getting involved in college branch of political party, etc. Building connections, networking, maybe positioning themselves for an internship with Congresscritter of some kind.
For the ordinary person not particularly interested in being on the machinery side, I don't know how they do go about getting involved. I think you would probably have to link up with your local party branch rather than "is there anything going on that I could join online?"
This is far too cumbersome, no wonder there are so few talented young people in the Republican party. Absurd dropping of the ball imo.
If they lack the talent to find their way in, they wouldn't be the sort of talent being looked for.
A political party isn't a technocratic assembly looking for credential applicants, it is a group of networkers who can network with and for eachother by their own initiative. People who just want to volunteer for an advocacy group can go to the advocacy groups directly. Networking societies don't fall into a well-structured hierarchy, but rather create an ecosystem of push and pulls as people put something out and offer/encourage/ask/trade others to put in. People who don't understand that / don't at least intuitively grasp it are not the sort of people fit for ill-structured coalition politics.
To bring an anime demonstration of the concept, have you ever read / watched Hunter x Hunter? Do you remember what the first test of the Hunter Exam really was? It isn't the sort of awe-inspiring feats, battles of wits, or hunter-and-hunted of the later series. It is to literally find the exam location.
Some entry tests aren't about streamlining or maximizing candidates, and then filtering over time. It is to filter out unsuitable candidates at the start.
While gatekeeping is typically good, one has to wonder who benefits when they hide there's even a gate to be kept in the first place.
Maybe I'm a little old fashioned, but I can't help but think that political parties shouldn't be taking notes from the Kybalion on how to manage entry.
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