Generation Y Republicans: 'Here to stay, born to lead'

By Kay B. Day

Josh Cockrell (left) and Peret Pass are driving forces in the Jacksonville Young Republicans club.My daughters’ friends have always found an open door and I have learned a lot by listening to those we call Generation Y. These 20-somethings are smarter than most people my age give them credit for. They are usually better informed about politics and government than my own generation. And on Thursday, when I met Peret Pass and Josh Cockrell for lunch, I got an earful. I met both of them for the first time at a recent meeting of the Jacksonville Young Republicans Club.

We met at The Red Elephant on San Jose Blvd., by the way, and I’d highly recommend it. The food is fantastic and although we kept our table for more than 2 hours, no one rushed us. Service was superb and the restaurant appears to be a success—chalk up a victory for Main Street, the entity dearest to my heart. And apparently an entity dear to the hearts of my two companions as well.

Pass and Cockrell are both officers in the JYR. The group has garnered numerous awards and enjoyed much-deserved attention from media lately. In a recent article I called the JYR club a model for the nation. Ideally, some conservative TV host will be smart enough to give these voices a forum. Clubs across the country can benefit from the standards Pass, Cockrell and other JYR members have established.

There are many reasons for that, starting with an approach towards mission.

“Jacksonville’s club is very unique,” said Pass who is JYR vice-president. “We’ve served as a resource for other counties and partnered with approximately 7 different regions. We can help smaller counties.” She explained that rural counties need financial resources to grow their clubs.

Cockrell said he’s working on a finance plan—he’s treasurer and region 3 co-chair. “We’re shaping plans for N. Florida to do a revenue split with participating organizations,” he said.

In years past, young Republican clubs tended to be more social in nature. Not this group. Aside from helping other counties build clubs, JYR participates in regular community outreach programs like Habijax, local blood drives and nonprofit fundraisers. Anyone who walks into a meeting will be warmly welcomed. The JYR Facebook group has nearly 1,000 members.

Pass said she met Republican Party chair Michael Steele recently. “The best part of my day was when he said, ‘I’m not going to tell you how to do things—you tell me and I’ll help with resources you need.’”

Pass and Cockrell want to see leadership acknowledge and utilize both young Republicans and Main Street—the state level must grow from the bottom up. And they appear to be succeeding. At a recent meeting The US Report covered, there was a sizable crowd. The meeting was held at the tapas bar The Brass Monkey, so there was a brief period for socializing. Otherwise, discourses on politics and government ruled. Candidate for Florida Attorney General, Jeff Kottkamp, our current Lt. Governor, was the guest speaker.

Kottkamp said he would file a lawsuit against Obamacare and that single statement roused the crowd. One reason is the unconstitutional mandate; another is the cost—even the Congressional Budget Office ducked assessing discretionary costs for the sprawling bill that is thousands of pages long. It’s so long almost no member of Congress actually read it.

Pass and Cockrell are proud of the diversity in their club. They eagerly told the story of a young spoken word poet, an African-American making inroads with his work. “And we have people on our board who’ve never been in politics,” Pass said.

JYR members are naturally concerned about the direction of the country. After all, they’ll help shoulder a historic debt burden. TUSR asked Pass and Cockrell to share their most important concern for the future.

 “The state of our nation in general,” Pass said, ”what American is and what it means—there’s so much opportunity. But that is being taken away from us. For this administration, the American Dream is not alive.”

Cockrell said, “How the older liberal generation is disabling the younger generation—the American Dream is being stripped away from us unless our generation stands up and we turn it around.”

Both see North Florida as a Republican powerhouse. “You can’t be elected president if you don’t come to Jacksonville,” said Pass.

What these two energetic Gen Yers want is a little respect. They want state and national leaders to recognize the importance of youth and to respect their voices. They know one day they’ll be leading the country and the job ahead promises challenges only the strong will be able to surmount. These clubs are a definite resource, not just for the Party but for the country.

Pass and Cockrell are both excited about the upcoming elections and both plan to work hard for Republican candidates as well as the club.

“We’re here to stay,” Pass said with a smile.

And Cockrell added, “We weren’t born to follow, we were born to lead.”

True, that.

Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp spoke at a recent meeting of the Jacksonville Young Republicans Club.