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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Tuesday, September 2, 2008 - 9A

Young Republicans aim to take
the 'old' out of Grand Old Party

GOP
From Page 1A
on many college campuses across
the country.
At the same time, though, Day-
ton doesn't want the GOP's tech-
savvy youth core to lose the old
guard's ability to harness its ener-
gy to win political elections small
and large.
Dayton sees The Next Right as
a balancing force between these
two priorities.
He said that what the Republi-
can Party needs is an information
exchange between the election-
savvy upper rungs of the GOP
leadership and cutting-edge grass-
roots organizers - and he hopes
The Next Right can be the forum
or site of that exchange.
"The technology needs to go
up into the Party apparatus, and
at the same time we need to learn
down how to put priorities on win-
ning elections," he said. "There's
a juncture there between those
two - we're trying to be that junc-
ture."
RECLAIMING THEIR
ROOTS
For true Republicans, the last
eight years of the Bush Admin-
istration have discredited the'
Republican name and, even worse,
misrepresented the Party's ideolo-
gies and positions.
The new GOP - or, as young
conservative journalist Ross
Douthat puts it, the "Grand New
Party" - seeks to restore those
fundamentalconservatives'beliefs
to the center of a Republican Party
that has as of late strayed far from
its home.
"The problem," said Charlie
Smith, president of the College
Republicans national organiza-
tion, "is that the 'current Repub-
lican Party,' the party of the past
few years, has been inaccurately
labeled and branded by the mis-
takes of a few of our party mem-
bers."
Under his direction, Smith said,
the College Republicans have

sought to renew young people's
commitment to the pillars of
Republicanism - limited govern-
ment, strong national security
policies and unfettered free mar-
kets.
"I think that the role that the
College Republicans can play is as,
we, the people in our generation,
become the leaders of the [Repub-
lican] Party in the next few years,
we really need to remind people
what the Republican Party is all
about."
Likewise, The Next Right's Pat-
rick Ruffini recently emphasized
that Republican values like fed-
eralism, limited government and
free markets "are the unifying ide-
als that can revitalize the Republi-
can Party."
And although an embrace of
the principles of Barry Goldwa-
ter and Ronald Reagan may seem,
well, a bit old school, Smith said
he believes old-school Republi-
canism can still solve modern day
problems.
"We can take those conserva-
tive principles, those Republi-
can principles, and apply them to
issues like the energy crisis, apply
them to the war on terrorism," he
insisted.
A MORE DYNAMIC GOP
While almost every Republican
supports free markets and limit-
ing the reach of the federal gov-
ernment, the young faces of the
new GOP also seek to widen the
definition of who Republicans
are.
The best example of these new
influences within GOP are the
Hip-Hop Republicans.
A self-described avant-garde
movement with the Republican
Party, the Hip-Hop Republicans
don't necessarily consider them-
selves part of Black Republican-
ism.
"If Black Republicanism is
about assimilating into old-school
GOP culture," said co-founder
Lenny McAllister, "then Hip-Hop
Republicanism is about chang-
ing GOP culture to look, feel and

sound more like us."
A glimpse at the group's ideolo-
gies reveals a set of beliefs both
aligned and at odds with what's
considered the traditional GOP
party line.
For instance, the group whole-
heartedly believes in free markets.
According to McAllister, "compe-
tition, the prime motivator in a
free market, will force change and
progress. Either bad schools will
improve or they will be forced-to
close."
However, McAllister also
calls for vastly increased atten-
tion paid to urban centers, say-
ing that "We must invest time
and money into our communi-
ties to become stronger" - even
though such investments in
urban areas are infrequent in
the GOP's history.
But what's most important
about the Hip-Hop Republicans,
McAllister said, is that young peo-
ple are the ones espousing these
new Republican ideas; they are
the ones at the cutting edge of the
Republican Party.
"It's going to take a younger
generation to say, 'Look, we're
more like you than we are differ-
ent. We have conservative values
but we still believe affirmative
action. We want less Band-Aids
and more healing,'" he said.
A group like the Hip-Hop
Republicans will no doubt dis-
agree with the broader party on
some issues.
But young Republican leaders
like Smith say this greater diver-
sity of ideas will help to grow the
Party's ranks among the young
politicians, organizers and activ-
ists - the very people who repre-
sent the GOP's future.
"As we move into this next gen-
eration of voters, what we really
need to be expressing to them is
that Republican coalition is broad,
all-encompassing," he said. "We
want people to come into the Party
and know that it's not an exclusive
club by any means, buta party that
represents people with a broad
range of views."

The Hill Dining Center has drawn rave reviews from students living in the area. The renovations on it and the rest of Mosher-
Jordan Hall took two years and cost $65 million. The additions to the dorm include brand new living rooms, classrooms, wire-
less Internet and central air-conditioning.

MOJO from Page 1A
ing more food choices at each din-
ing center.
Three years ago, campus's Hill
neighborhood had five cafeterias:
at Markley, Couzens, Alice Lloyd,
Mosher-Jordan, and Stockwell
halls.
When renovations end on
Stockwell next year, the Hill Din-
ing Center, overlooking Palmer
Field, will serve a total of four
residence halls.
The next "marketplace" dining
center is slated to open in fall 2010
at the new North Quad Residence

Hall, under construction on the
corner of State and Huron streets.
Mosher-Jordan Hall, built
in 1930, also received a modern
facelift, but University Hous-
ing spokesman Peter Logan said
many of the residence hall's new
features - new electrical wiring,
plumbing and heating - aren't
visible improvements.
"I think two things students
will notice is that Mosher-Jor-
dan has central air-conditioning
throughout, and it has wireless
Internet throughout," he said.
Logan said removing the old
dining area and kitchen out of

Mosher-Jordan opened up space
for more community areas.
The residence hall also fea-
tures two new living rooms with
full kitchens. The most notable
difference in Mosher-Jordan's
individual rooms is the modular
furniture - an upgrade that most
other dorms have had for years.
LSA sophomore Matt Hillyer
said the renovated Mosher-Jordan
has a "classier" feel than Couzens,
where he lives.
"Everything being updated, it
looked really nice," he said. "It
seemed nicer, not like a regular
dorm."

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