Many of you have likely heard of conservative author Dinesh D’Souza’s breakout book, Letters to a Young Conservative. Written in 2002, Letters was meant to help encourage budding leaders in their journey with a compilation of anecdotal notes on how to continue to win the battle of ideas and keep one’s endurance throughout in the grueling process. However, the times, they are a’changing and right-leaning college graduates these days face a much different climate. The right to the “pursuit of happiness” has morphed into a license to make irresponsible choices that have both personal and societal consequences. And unfortunately, we’re becoming a nation that can no longer afford to pay for indulgent pursuits because we’re mortgaging our future. Student debt is the fastest-growing debt category in the country, tripling over the past decade to an astronomical $1.11 trillion. As we prepare to welcome the classes of 2014 fresh from their commencement ceremonies into a stagnant job market, and a new generation of college-goers prepare, here are my warnings to a young conservative that perhaps can serve as a prequel to D’Souza’s Letters. I’ll call this the “We’re Broke” edition:
- Understand the difference between a profession and a hobby. Think about what’s marketable—not just what sounds fun—and find a way to contribute using your unique talents. Reuters notes a recent report showing unemployment rates across careers and found that graduates from technical fields or those who serve growing parts of the U.S. economy fare better. “Healthcare and education graduates had lower unemployment rates of about 3 percent and 4 percent respectively… liberal arts and social sciences majors experienced the highest levels of unemployment of 7 percent to 8 percent.”
- Be willing to leave a bad economy with limited opportunities for greener pasture. Currently, we are experiencing mass migrations of Californians and New Yorkers to states like Tennessee, Texas, and Florida. In the 2014 Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index, California and New York ranked in the bottom five among the fifty states for economic competitiveness.
YIELD: Federal healthcare dependency, social welfare programs, increasing national debt, unsustainable personal debt, and decreasing participation in the workforce are dangers that lay ahead. Watch for the warning signs and stay out of the ditch. -Lindsay Boyd Enjoy the Beacon blog? Help us keep it going with a tax-deductible gift.