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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.?
The Groypers have been wildly successful at promoting their views just by creating online propaganda, which I imagine is crafted in small networks on Discord etc. if Rod Dreher is correct, 40% of young RNC staffers are now Groypers. It’s interesting to compare their success with the failure of the RNC-TPUSA complex in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s death. Every Erika Kirk appearance seems to decrease support for conservatism and the attempt to replace him with Brilyn Hollyhands was a failure.
Yeah I totally agree. I think a huge reason the Groypers are successful is they just have some energy and are having fun with it. I disagree with a lot of the views, but wow the RNC has a lot to learn.
It's kind of hilarious how many people in this thread are telling me I'm just being lazy, or that this is some sort of giga-brained strategic decision to weed out people who aren't agentic enough. Really shows a complete lack of understanding of how political/social organizations are built and maintained.
They aren't wrong though. Doing a google search or asking ChatGPT is only a calorie or two removed from doing nothing at all. It is quite literally the bare minimum of effort a person could possibly expend.
I am genuinely trying to help you, and I am pretty sure @Dean, @Turniper, and @Thoroughlygruntled are as well. You need to understand that this is not some "Giga brained ploy" it's a core component of the culture you are trying to make contact with. The people you want to meet are not going to respect someone because they say they are intelligent or motivated, what they do respect is people who demonstrate agency. Something that Richard Nixon, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Kyle Rittenhouse all have in common. Similarly the people you are trying to meet do not "lack an understanding of how political organizations are built" so much as they are implementing a different organizational model. The Republican Party is not a top-down technocratic organization and expecting it to behave like one is only going to lead you astray.
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