Monday, October 27, 2008

PPCers quoted in Rocky story on young political activists

Not one, not two, but three of our pals from the People's Press Collective get a chance to push their fascistic conservative agenda in the Rocky. First up is Wes Dickinson:
Wesley Dickinson, a 30-year-old Denver engineer [he runs the Tiny Town trolley--ed.], thinks the economy is forcing people near his age to confront politics more so than at any time since the 1970s economic downturn created a generation of Reagan Republicans. Since then, people have been able to live relatively comfortably and didn't care so much about what the government did; that no longer is true, he said.

"They haven't had to worry about the economy like our parents did," said Dickinson, a limited-government supporter who has had a keen interest in such things for many years. "The economy's been booming in general steady growth. And now we're getting into the first election times where people are scared."
Then it's Justin Longo's turn:
And it is precisely because younger people can do almost anything in front of a computer monitor - organize a campaign event, donate money, air their opinions on a blog - that they are newly active, Justin Longo said. In the days of door-knocking and phone-calling drives 20 years ago, it was hard to hold down a full-time job and be an activist. Now, people of any income level and any work schedule can do so at any time.

"I'd like to think that without the Internet we would be so active. But I doubt it, because the costs of activism are so low this way," said Longo, 26, who is a "Web monkey" with the conservative Independence Institute in Golden. "With only a few key strokes, you put yourself in the role of an activist."
Longo's only 26? Why, he's young enough to be the son of Independence Institute head Jon Caldara--which, for the record, Caldara has always vehemently, not to say violently, denied.

And finally, Amanda Teresi:
Internet users can find meetings or activities very specific to their peer and interest groups. . . . It's how 26-year-old Amanda Teresi founded Liberty on the Rocks, a group of free-market backers that gathers at bars twice a month in the Denver area to discuss politics or watch the presidential debate, as members did last week.
Not gonna mock Amanda; she'll break my face. But you'll never see a finer group of drunken young activists anywhere.

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