Rebels With a Far-Right Cause
A great overview of the recent YAL conference.
Whatever they may think about Edward Snowden or drones or legalizing marijuana, clearly these young activists are very dangerous people. These aren’t high schoolers commenting on YouTube videos of Milton Friedman or debating Atlas Shrugged in Ron Paul internet forums. These students are being actively courted by some of the most dangerous and powerful right-wing organizations in the country. Among this group of 300 young people are the future speechwriters, policy advisors and politicians of the most corporate-friendly Republican Party in history. So too are the future academics, policy experts, pundits and communications staffers who will be justifying its policies.
Many of the conference attendees I spoke with think that minimum-wage laws are counterproductive, and should be repealed in the long run. Other young liberty lovers want to abolish Social Security. Members from a chapter at a community college in Chicago, frustrated with student debt, tell me that college education is too expensive because the government is providing too much financial aid.
While maintaining links to the Republican mainstream through groups like the Leadership Institute or Heritage Foundation, YAL also includes members who subscribe to the fringe conspiracy theories of the far-right. For instance, YAL’s national field coordinator Joshua Parrish, once called the Federal Reserve “a plank of the Communist Manifesto,” and used to organize with the Orlando chapter of We Are Change, a 9/11 truther organization. Parrish did not respond to questions about his involvement in We Are Change or if he believes the U.S. government was involved in the planning of 9/11.
And in spite of its socially liberal image, the YAL umbrella has also apparently made space for racism. Rand Paul’s former aide Jack Hunter, for one, is a director of outreach at YAL—a part-time position. Hunter recently resigned from his job with Rand Paul after being outed as the radio personality “Southern Avenger.” Under that name, Hunter bitterly criticized Abraham Lincoln, advocated for Southern secession, and said that he celebrates John Wilkes Booth’s birthday every year with a “personal toast.”
On its website, Young Americans for Liberty encourages students to hold “Affirmative Action Bake Sales,” which charge different prices for food based on the ethnic background of the consumer. The site even includes suggestions of what prices to charge—$1.50 for Asian Males, $1.00 for White Males, and $.25 for African-American and Hispanic Females. What’s more: “Native Americans and everyone else eats for free!”
