The

Bluebonnet
Newsletter for Texas College Democrats Affiliates
TEXAS COLLEGE DEMOCRATS FALL CONFERENCE By Christie Squires As some of you might know, TCD has made an exciting choice for the location of our annual Fall Conference! The University of Texas at San Antonio will be hosting conference for the first time this fall. TCD looks for several qualities in a host school: location, competence, and a promising College Democrats chapter. The choice was especially hard this year because we had the largest number of applicants to host fall conference in TCD history, coupled with the fact that all the schools would have made dynamic and exciting choices. We finally settled on San Antonio, and are very eager to help grow the UTSA College Dems chapter, located right in the heart of Texas. Location of the conference is not the only reason to attend, however! TCD fall conference always offers interesting and useful trainings that you can take back to your schools chapter, speakers from all areas of Democratic politics, and a network of like-minded friends from across the state. I hope to see many of you this year in San Antonio! PERRY WATCH After a much anticipated announcement, Governor Perry joins the radically conservative cast of Republicans vying for their partys Presidential Nomination. Texas College Democrats took on a new project, Perry Watch, making it convenient to keep track of the governors activities. This site brings you updates on Perry as he campaigns and brings the facts of his three terms as governor to the surface. As students in Texas, we live the failures of Perry and those failures must be shared with America as to prevent them on a national scale. With extensive research conducted, Perry Watch released statistics on the exponential increase of tuition since Perrys deregulation of college tuition and the drastic decrease of income of dropouts, a serious issue for Texas as ones of the states with the highest rates of high school dropouts. Check out the links below to see what weve been working on WHEN STUDENTS DONT VOTE By Amber Hastings As we all know by now, our Governor, Rick Perry, is seeking the presidency of the United States. One of the major reasons he's seeking this position is because he has managed to hold onto the governorship of our great state for so long. In 2010, Texas elected Mr. Perry to an unprecedented third term as governor. People aged 18-29 in the state of Texas voted at a rate of about 16.1%, according to CIRCLE . Texans overall voted at a rate of 27% of all voting-aged people, according to the office of the Texas Secretary of State. We are a growing group of individuals, and we have the ability to make a difference in the electorate, but it seems we're not willing to try. There is no doubt in my mind that if students across the state of Texas mobilized in an organized manner that Rick Perry would not be governor right now. If students knew the cuts to education that we are forced to bear under his watch, we would have voted against him in droves. We have the ability to make a difference, as students. Forty years ago, the 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution was signed into law, and 20 million new voters aged 18-20 were able to register and have their voices heard for the first time. This Amendment expanded the electorate by 15%, and this 15% brought in new ideas and ways of thought. They rose up and changed the face of the electorate, and so can we. Many will state that students don't care. I will argue that this isn't true until I'm blue in the face. We just aren't informed on how to vote. We haven't been taught what difference in policy we can make, just by choosing different legislators. We don't know the ramifications of not voting. There are enough students in Texas to make a difference if we all turned out to vote. If we continue to not vote, we end up hurting ourselves in the long run. Older generations continue to vote, so we will never get rid of programs that benefit them. There will never be cuts to Medicare and Social Security, because Baby Boomers will always vote. If young people would see this, then there would never be cuts to education. If you vote three times, you will vote for the rest of your life. If you are registered once, meaningfully, you will register to vote wherever you live, for the rest of your life. Voting patterns are established when we're young, so if we can catch students at the very beginning, when we can make changes, then we will have created a group that will vote for the rest of our lives. We're young, so we think we're invincible. We think that nothing will ever go wrong. But the truth is this: we must figure out how to plan for the future, while still remaining true to the people we are now. We are young, we are idealistic, and we are ready to do big things. One of my favorite shows is "The West Wing." In two of my favorite episodes, aired years apart, a statement is repeated by two different characters: "Decisions are made by those who show up." As a politicallyoriented person, this has become my personal mantra. Decisions are made by those who show up. We must show up. We must make a difference, but we've got to show up first. If we don't, other people are making decisions about our future. Decisions are made by those who show up. We didn't show up in 2010, and we re-elected Rick Perry as our governor. Now he's running for President. Will we show up? Will we make a difference? You had better believe we will.

COLLEGE DEMOCRATSOF AMERICA NATIONAL APPOINTMENTS By David de la Fuente Texas College Democrats would like to congratulate the following students for their appointments in College Democrats of America. After a record number of applicants from all across the country, three Texans were appointed to the national team and we wish them the best of luck representing Texas at a national level. They join Alejandra Salinas of UT-Austin, who serves as the elected National President of CDA. David de la Fuente - Southwest Regional Director Christina Squiers - Disability Caucus Chair Garry Jones - Finance Committee Member WISCONSIN RECALLS By Gary Jones Though it may be August, it is still election season-- at least in Wisconsin. Because of the radical budget repair bill passed by Governor Scott Walker, Democrats forced recall elections in six Republican senate districts. These historic elections brought in over $30 million dollars from outside groups, countless out of state volunteer efforts, and a nation wide phone call push lead by the College Democrats of America. The efforts by Democratic activists from every corner of America were enough to recall two Republican Senators who sided with Scott Walker instead of the people of Wisconsin. Because of the efforts by organizations such as College Democrats of America and Texas College Democrats, the Republican majority in the Wisconsin Senate now stands at one. Though the Republicans still hold a slim majority, the results on August 9th sent a message to Scott Walker, who is now willing listen to what Democratic leadership. As a native Wisconsinite I want to thank all who made calls into these districts, your time and support mean everything to me and my neighbors who were effected by the actions of Wisconsin Republicans. Your efforts put Wisconsin back on the right track and sent a loud message to all those who stand in the way of workers rights.

Every Year Watch Perrys deregulated tuition grow right before your eyes

WANT TO HIGHLIGHT YOUR CHAPTER? SHARE VIA THE BLUEBONNET Email TCD Communications Director Trenton Garza tgarza@txcollegedems.org