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CO Strategy Memo
The Voice of Young Conservatives

From: Zach Howell--National Chairman

Subject: Flushing Our Future

Over the past year, the focal point of messaging for the College Republican National
Committee has been our “Don’t Put It On Our Tab” debt awareness initiative. As our
primary issue advocacy platform, we have educated our membership and the general
population about the real world consequences that the national debt will have on my
generation. We are adding a new component to this initiative called “Flushing our
Future”

Over the next month, we will be driving home the frightening fact that our government
will be paying more than $5.5 trillion in interest on the national debt over the next
decade. Using the “Flushing our Future” theme, we will focus on contextualizing the
interest owed on the debt, and pointing out that this money will serve no creative
purpose. We are effectively flushing tax dollars down the toilet.

The left constantly attacks those who wish to take the necessary actions to pay down our
debt and restore fiscal sanity in our country. They accuse Republicans of lacking
compassion for students, the needy and families. We will be pointing out that the least
compassionate thing the government can do is to continue these irresponsible,
unsustainable fiscal policies.

So, exactly how much is $5.5 trillion? Just how much is our government flushing down
the drain?

To put it in perspective, with $5.5 trillion you could:

Pay the annual tuition cost for 157.2 million Harvard attendees
Pay the annual tuition cost for 783.5 million attendees at a 4 year public university
Award 1.5 billion Pell Grants to needy students
Pay the annual, average cost of textbooks for 6.1 billion students
Buy nearly 25 million homes at median price
Cover the median annual income for a family of four for 124 million families
Buy 194 million new Jeep Wrangler Unlimited automobiles
pay for Weddings for 229 million couples
Buy 5 billion Samsung 50' Plasma Televisions
Send 4.6 billion couples on a one week Hawaiian vacation

Even more distressing: every man, woman and child will have to pay over $17,742 in
interest on the governments debt in the coming decade.

Racking up debt to pay for a government we can't afford isn't compassionate. Every
dollar that we spend on servicing our national debt is a dollar that can't be spent on
education, business development, healthcare or leisure. It's time to live within our means
and put our money to more productive use.

Our message has resounded loud and clear on campuses and the media because of the
support that you have continued to give us. We could not have achieved this level of
success without your loyal support. Conservatives have a golden opportunity to win the
war of ideas on debt and deficits with today’s young people. We ask for your continued
support as we continue the fight.