You may be asking yourself "What's the story behind this design?" and "Why does it look so familiar?" -- In short, the answer is President John F. Kennedy. 

As President Kennedy famously stated, “There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.” The Young Democrats of Arkansas believe that these are words to live by.

So, this year's shirt is dedicated to him -- one of the most beloved leaders in our country -- and is modeled after his 1960 campaign jingle. We're also dedicating this shirt to our fellow YD's and supporters -- because they choose to live their lives by these words as well. 

Shirts may be ordered by contacting 501-765-2677 or by e-mailing President DeLoach at jessica@yd-arkansas.org.

Please include the size and quantity of your order. Payment and delivery will be coordinated. Shirts are $15.

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If you're here, then that means you have seen our new look!

Please take a look around and give us feedback. We want our website to be as helpful as possible for each of our onlookers through the 2012 election cycle. So, if you see something that is missing, arwy or just plain unattractive, let us know! E-mail ydarinfo@gmail.com

Thanks!

- President DeLoach

Addicting Info posted an article several months ago regarding Ron Paul and his ties to white supremacy, and we were barraged with pleas and “stories” to win us over. In honor of Ron Paul’s obsessive fans we’re publishing the following article, showing his history of discrimination.

As anyone with a blog, YouTube account, MySpace page, or web site knows Ron Paul supporters are everywhere! The internet is filled with them. The frightening thing that I have witnessed is that many liberal voters are giving some credence to Ron Paul’s campaign and message. He somehow comes across as different or better than the run of the mill conservatives filling the Republican ticket.

I do not support Ron Paul in ANY and I find his Congressional record and policies to be, at times, even scarier than his counterparts. The only thing that I have found to agree with him on is the fact that he does not support the war in Iraq. After extensive research I have compiled a list of 10 reasons NOT to vote for Ron Paul!

1. Ron Paul does not value equal rights for minorities. Ron Paul has sponsored legislation that would repeal affirmative action, keep the IRS from investigating private schools who may have used race as a factor in denying entrance, thus losing their tax exempt status, would limit the scope of Brown versus Board of Education, and would deny citizenship for those born in the US if their parents are not citizens. Here are links to these bills: H.R.3863, H.R.5909, H.J.RES.46, and H.J.RES.42.

2. Ron Paul would deny women control of their bodies and reproductive rights.Ron Paul makes it very clear that one of his aims is to repeal Roe v. Wade. He has also co sponsored 4 separate bills to “To provide that human life shall be deemed to exist from conception.” This, of course, goes against current medical and scientific information as well as our existing laws and precedents. Please see these links: H.R.2597 and H.R.392

3. Ron Paul would be disastrous for the working class. He supports abolishing the Federal minimum wage, has twice introduced legislation to repeal OSHA, or the Occupational Safety and Health Act and would deal devastating blows to Social Security including repealing the act that makes it mandatory for employees of nonprofits, to make “coverage completely optional for both present and future workers”, and would “freeze benefit levels”. He has also twice sponsored legislation seeking to repeal the Davis-Bacon Act and the Copeland Act which among other things provide that contractors for the federal government must provide the prevailing wage and prohibits corporate “kick backs.” Here are the related legislative links: H.R.2030, H.R.4604, H.R.736, and H.R.2720

4. Ron Paul’s tax plan is unfair to lower earners and would greatly benefit those with the highest incomes.He has repeatedly submitted amendments to the tax code that would get rid of the estate and gift taxes, tax all earners at 10%, disallow income tax credits to individuals who are not corporations, repeal the elderly tax credit, child care credit, earned income credit, and other common credits for working class citizens. Please see this link for more information: H.R.05484 Summary

5. Ron Paul’s policies would cause irreparable damage to our already strained environment. Among other travesties he supports off shore drilling, building more oil refineries, mining on federal lands, no taxes on the production of fuel, and would stop conservation efforts that could be a “Federal obstacle” to building and maintaining refineries. He has also sought to amend the Clean Air Act, repeal the Soil and Water Conservation Act of 1977, and to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to “restrict the jurisdiction of the United States over the discharge of dredged or fill material to discharges into waters”. To see for yourself the possible extent of the damage to the environment that would happen under a Paul administration please follow these links: H.R.2504, H.R.7079, H.R.7245, H.R.2415, H.R.393, H.R.4639, H.R.5293, and H.R.6936

6. A Ron Paul administration would continue to proliferate the negative image of the US among other nations. Ron Paul supports withdrawing the US from the UN, when that has not happened he has fought to at least have the US withdrawn from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. He has introduced legislation to keep the US from giving any funds to the UN. He also submitted that the US funds should not be used in any UN peacekeeping mission or any UN program at all. He has sponsored a bill calling for us to “terminate all participation by the United States in the United Nations, and to remove all privileges, exemptions, and immunities of the United Nations.”Ron Paul twice supported stopping the destruction of intercontinental ballistic missile silos in the United States. He also would continue with Bush’s plan of ignoring international laws by maintaining an insistence that the International Criminal Court does not apply to the US, despite President Clinton’s signature on the original treaty. The International Criminal Court is used for, among other things, prosecution of war crimes. Please see the following links: H.R.3891, H.AMDT.191, H.AMDT.190, H.R.3769, H.R.1665, H.CON.RES.23, and H.R.1154

7. Ron Paul discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation and would not provide equal rights and protections to glbt citizens. This is an issue that Paul sort of dances around. He has been praised for stating that the federal government should not regulate who a person marries. This has been construed by some to mean that he is somewhat open to the idea of same sex marriage, he is not. Paul was an original co sponsor of the Marriage Protection Act in the House in 2004. Among other things this discriminatory piece of legislation placed a prohibition on the recognition of a same sex marriage across state borders. He said in 2004 that if he was in the Texas legislature he would not allow judges to come up with “new definitions” of marriage. Paul is a very religious conservative and though he is careful with his words his record shows that he is not a supporter of same sex marriage. In 1980 he introduced a particularly bigoted bill entitled “A bill to strengthen the American family and promote the virtues of family life.” or H.R.7955 A direct quote from the legislation “Prohibits the expenditure of Federal funds to any organization which presents male or female homosexuality as an acceptable alternative life style or which suggest that it can be an acceptable life style.” shows that he is unequivocally opposed to lifestyles other than heterosexual.

8. Ron Paul has an unnatural obsession with guns. One of Paul’s loudest gripes is that the second amendment of the constitution is being eroded. In fact, he believes that September 11 would not have happened if that wasn’t true. He advocates for there to be no restrictions on personal ownership of semi-automatic weaponry or large capacity ammunition feeding devices, would repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act (because we all know our schools are just missing more guns), wants guns to be allowed in our National Parks, and repeal the Gun Control Act of 1968. Now, I’m pretty damn certain that when the Constitution was written our founding fathers never intended for people to be walking around the streets with AK47′s and “large capacity ammunition feeding devices.” (That just sounds scary.) Throughout the years our Constitution has been amended and is indeed a living document needing changes to stay relevant in our society. Paul has no problem changing the Constitution when it fits his needs, such as no longer allowing those born in the US to be citizens if their parents are not. On the gun issue though he is no holds barred. I know he’s from Texas but really, common sense tells us that the amendments he is seeking to repeal have their place. In fact, the gun control act was put into place after the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert Kennedy. Please view the following links: H.R.2424, H.R.1897, H.R.1096, H.R.407, H.R.1147, and H.R.3892.

9. Ron Paul would butcher our already sad educational system. The fact is that Ron Paul wants to privatize everything and that includes education. Where we run into problems is that it has been shown (think our current health care system) that this doesn’t work so well in practice. Ron Paul has introduced legislation that would keep the Federal Government “from planning, developing, implementing, or administering any national teacher test or method of certification and from withholding funds from States or local educational agencies that fail to adopt a specific method of teacher certification.” In a separate piece of legislation he seeks to “prohibit the payment of Federal Education assistance in States which require the licensing or certification of private schools or private school teachers.” So basically the federal government can’t regulate teaching credentials and if states opt to require them for private schools they get no aid. That sounds like a marvelous idea teachers with no certification teaching in private schools that are allowed to discriminate on the basis of race. He is certainly moving forward with these proposals!Remember his “bill to strengthen the American family and promote the virtues of family life.” or H.R.7955? Guess what? He basically advocates for segregation in schools once again. It “Forbids any court of the United States from requiring the attendance at a particular school of any student because of race, color, creed, or sex.” Without thinking about this statement it doesn’t sound bad at all. But remember, when desegregating schools that this is done by having children go to different schools, often after a court decision as in Brown Vs. Board of Education. If this were a bill that passed, schools would no longer be compelled to comply and the schools would go back to segregation based on their locations. Ron Paul is really starting to look like a pretty bigoted guy don’t you think?

10. Ron Paul is opposed to the separation of church and state. This reason is probably behind every other thing that I disagree with in regards to Paul’s positions. Ron Paul is among those who believes that there is a war on religion, he stated “Through perverse court decisions and years of cultural indoctrination, the elitist, secular Left has managed to convince many in our nation that religion must be driven from public view.” (( Koyaanisqatsi Blog: Wrong Paul Why I Do Not Want Ron Paul to be My President )) Though he talks a good talk, at times, Ron Paul can’t get away from his far right, conservative views. He would support “alternative views” to evolution taught in public schools (i.e. Intelligent Design.) We’ve already taken a look at his “bill to strengthen the American family and promote the virtues of family life.” or H.R.7955Besides hating the gays he takes a very religious stance on many other things. He is attempting to force his beliefs on the rest of America, exactly what he would do as president.

So there you have it, my 10 reasons not to vote for Ron Paul. Please take the time to thoroughly review the records of the people running for office so you know where they really stand. Ron Paul has good rhetoric and he opposes the war but he’s not a good man in the human rights sense of the phrase. He is pretty much like every other Republican but more insidious. Here is a video that you should watch after reading this article. Really listen to what he says and how he says it. Watch out for the sneaky ones and RESEARCH! ((Orcinus: Ron Paul’s Record in Congress ))

Robert Taylor

The Progress of the Garland County Young Democrats under Robert's Direction: 

"Since its inception in August of 2011, the Young Democrats of Arkansas Garland County Chapter has taken the approach of spreading the ideals of the Democratic Party through community outreach.

Yelling at your constituents when you disagree with them is always a horrible idea. Also, yelling at them so that they will refrain from asking you a question that you can't honestly answer without sounding like you're deviating from the unfortunate platform that you have to embrace just to stay in office is pathetic. Arkansans are tired of being overlooked. They want real leadership. So far, Congressman Womack is failing the people of this state. What's worse is that he doesn't seem to know it.

We can do better than this. We SHOULD do better than this.

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Details for the meeting are listed below:

Date: February 4th, 2012
Time: 11:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. ---> Please note: This is the time we have to utilize the space at party HQ. For those of you who have other things to do this afternoon, no worries.
Location: Democratic Party of Arkansas Headquarters

Refreshments will be provided.

RSVP's will be sent out for this meeting because we have to plan for the number of training manuals that need to be constructed.

Officers and caucus leaders with special requests should contact President DeLoach or Chief-of-Staff Margarent Eckart.

If you were not on the initial mailing list and would like to attend this meeting, please e-mail Jessica@yd-arkansas.org.

Follow the updates for our meeting here.

By Rod Snyder - Special to CNN
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/02/snyder-why-the-youth-will-again-back-obama/ 

When young voters helped put Barack Obama in office, the Millennial Generation made it clear its voice affects elections. Some have opined that this generation won’t continue to support President Obama and the causes we care about (see Have the youth given up on Obama? on this blog). These doubters are wrong, and I know young voters will make a statement again in 2012.

Young people energized fellow supporters and went to the polls in 2008 because Barack Obama respected the youth vote as a legitimate political force.

Our candidate promised to make college and health care more affordable for all. He promised to lift America’s place in the world by ending the War in Iraq, repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and eliminating the practice of torture. And by following through, President Obama made America a richer place for young people like me.

This election is a choice, and we know that no matter which candidate they nominate, the President’s opponents have made it clear they will exacerbate these very economic disparities. Republicans dragged their feet on the payroll tax cut for working Americans. They refused to repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. They have opposed progress at nearly every step of this economic recovery.

President Obama has led this country for less than three years, and in that time he’s championed the issues important to young Americans. He understands that more than a voting bloc, the people of my generation are the building blocks of the future of this country, and that’s why young Americans will proudly vote for President Obama in 2012.

He passed student loan reform to end billions of dollars in subsidies to banks and use the money to double the size of Pell grants, so today millions of students pay less for college than they did when the President took office, despite budget cuts at the state level.

Health reform has already produced results for young Americans who can now remain on their parents’ health insurance plans up to age 26. In fact, 2.5 million young people have taken advantage of this opportunity to get coverage – more than double what was projected when the President signed the law. As my peers begin careers during a tough economy, they can now do so with the peace of mind and stability that comes with health care coverage.

President Obama has also protected young Americans from abuse by credit companies and passed Wall Street Reform to hold institutions accountable and protect consumers from unfair financial practices—including hidden credit card interest rate hikes.

His commitment to fairness and equality goes further. One of the President’s first acts was to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to ensure women, youth and other workers and entitled to earn the same pay for the same work. And he successfully fought to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” allowing gay and lesbian soldiers to serve openly in our armed forces.

In 2008 we nominated and elected the candidate who pledged to bring the Iraq War to a responsible end, and when President Obama took office there were142,000 troops in Iraq. He kept his word, and today that number is zero. Meanwhile, President Obama has refocused the War on Terror and has eliminated more than half of al Qaeda’s leadership, including Osama bin Laden. These are significant achievements to a generation that was so profoundly shaped by the events of September 11.

When you compare the President’s accomplishments to the policies favored by Republicans, the reasons young people will come out to vote for the President next fall become clear.

Mitt Romney criticized the President for bringing our troops home from Iraq and offered no clear strategy for ending that war. He supported Congressional Republicans’ Cut, Cap and Balance plan, which would make draconian cuts to Pell Grants. And he’s made it a top priority of his campaign to repeal a health care reform law that expands access to 95% of Americans and holds insurance companies accountable.

So it should come as no surprise that in a recent Pew research poll, voters under 30 support Obama over Romney by a margin of 61% – 37% - nearly the same margin by which the President defeated John McCain in 2008.

While young people face a historically difficult job market, it’s clear President Obama has been working to ensure that we have every opportunity to succeed while Republicans continue to espouse policies that would widen a generational gap in prosperity.

President Obama has respected the power of young Americans in 2008, and they will proudly vote for him in 2012 because he followed through for the Millennial Generation and invested in the future of our country.