Young Americans for Liberty is an organization that focuses on building new generations of like-minded libertarians on college campuses across America. Today we have special guest Cliff Maloney, President of Young Americans For Liberty, join us in the studio.
Young Americans for Liberty is an organization that focuses on building new generations of like-minded libertarians on college campuses across America. Today we have special guest Cliff Maloney, President of Young Americans For Liberty, join us in the studio.
Hello everybody and thank you for tuning in to the Liberty Report.
Today we have a special guest, the president of Young Americans for Liberty, Cliff Maloney.
Cliff, nice to have you on our program today.
Thanks for having me, Dr. Paul.
Pleasure to be here.
Well very good.
I think we got to know each other about six or years ago or so.
You came and you were a lowly intern in my congressional office and we checked you out and we knew you were interested in the cause of liberty.
But you hadn't been involved a whole lot before that.
It was within a year or two of coming to the office that you became very interested in what liberty was all about.
Right.
So I come from a politically apathetic family, if you will, and was probably more of a neocon, just moved towards the Republican Party.
I wanted a strong America.
And it was a 2010 YouTube video where you and well it was back in the 2008 election, where you and Rudy were, you know, you had your moment of teaching him, you know, and honestly teaching the American people about blowback and what a non-interventionist foreign policy looked like.
And that was a huge moment for me, just understanding the principles and really seeing that there was a different way.
There was a way that made sense.
And so I fell into that black hole of YouTube videos of yourself and really understanding and diving into the principles.
And from there, applied for an internship.
And in 2011, you guys were willing to bring me on board and it definitely changed my life.
Right.
And it was about that time that you met Amanda and also Jeff, I believe.
And Jeff, of course, started YAL.
And tell me the date that Jeff really kicked YL off.
Right.
So the founding date was in December of 2008.
But when I was at your office, you're right.
Jeff Frazey came in and introduced himself and said, we need to start a YAL chapter at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, where I was at.
And I said, you know, I had no idea that this network was out there of liberty lovers and students who were trying to bring the message to individuals across the country.
And so after I left the office, was able to start a chapter myself and went on to both, you know, do Young Americans for Liberty in Pennsylvania, but also help with the 2012 campaign at PA, where you came out to Pittsburgh.
We had a little under 3,000 people wrapped around the building.
So it's been an awesome journey so far.
Well, I think it's pretty important.
And, you know, Jeff really did a miraculous job on what's going on.
And what you're doing now, I think, is really important.
But Jeff worked for me in that first campaign.
Matter of fact, he was in charge of the youth.
And can you imagine the transition wasn't all that great?
He had a bunch of names and the people that were very energetic.
You weren't involved in that campaign, but you said that particular video got you enthusiastic.
Well, that was what was happening in 7 and 8.
And Jeff was in charge.
He might have had the largest list of people that he was communicating with.
So it worked in very well.
And right now, the growth has been fantastic for you.
You have, what is it, a couple hundred chapters now?
A couple hundred.
So we're up to 804 chapters.
Wow.
And I give Jeff tons of credit for his vision.
I mean, taking the energy that you were able to build from the 0708 campaign and to realize, well, there's a way to funnel this, right?
There's a way to capture this.
Why are young people getting excited about these ideas of liberty?
And I give him tons of credit.
So 804 chapters, a number I love to share is in 2016 alone, during the hectic campaign season, Young Americans for Liberty, we did over 1,700 activism events on campuses throughout the U.S.
And so these are different events where we're able to present the ideas in a way that is at the level of any individual.
We're trying to give them small bites, but bring in that pure message of liberty.
But these events are ways for people to get introduced.
There are ways for them to join the group, to at least be exposed to the ideas.
So every single event we do, I look at as a great opportunity for us to reach new individuals and to bring them into the message.
Some people are wondering right now about the libertarian revolution that was initiated in 07 and 08.
And I have two perceptions, and that's the way I think a lot of people have right now, because I go to the campuses and you get groups out, and I still go and we get large crowds out, a lot of enthusiasm, and they believe.
I mean, they believe in a principle and they're ideological.
They believe in the Constitution and non-intervention in our personal lives.
The whole works on liberty.
And a lot of times, you know, when I finish my speeches and optimists, I go to these campuses.
Believe me, you know, the kids are understanding this and they're enthusiastic.
But then again, they'll challenge me and say, what do you mean?
It looks like the socialists are outclassing you.
Look at what Sanders does, you know.
And how do you put that all together?
Because we do know that ideas don't have to, it's more than just numbers.
Numbers help, but I'm sure you've been confronted with this.
Are they all socialists on campus?
And how do you explain this?
So we definitely have to combat that.
What I'll say is it's a long game, okay?
And we have had consistent growth at YAL with reaching new people.
The other thing to look at, look at this past election cycle.
You had personality.
We're talking about people's hair.
We're talking about people's emails.
Where's your message?
Where's your message of non-intervention?
Nobody's talking about printing money, borrowing money, spending money.
Nobody's talking about the size and scope of government.
It was all personality.
So what that did is that allowed for an opening of us to talk about ideas and to dive in and reach students and say, look, you know, here's actually some of the solutions.
It doesn't involve, you know, mischaracterizing somebody or attacking somebody for their personal beliefs.
It's about policy.
To the Bernie question, what are the people who were involved with Bernie doing now?
That's where I give us tons of credit, is even with Rand being at where he was percentage-wise, we ended up with 507 students for Rand chapters with his youth efforts.
So you have yours in 08, 12, his in 16, and people could, you know, a lot of people could write that off as, well, you know, but there's no W there.
These people are funneling into our organization and we're continuing to be better at the tactics.
So it's not just the philosophy, it's understanding how to tactfully go about and strategize to reach more people.
I don't see that on the left with the socialists.
I don't see them forming groups or continuing a message.
Your message is what's continuing through Young Americans for Liberty.
See, and I think that there isn't a Sanders movement.
You know, it was in the campaign.
But I divide them into two groups.
You either believe in liberty and non-intervention in economics, personal liberty, and foreign policy, or you're an interventionist and you're a planner and you want to be telling people what to do.
But whether it's Sanders or most Republicans too, they're always someplace where they're interventionists.
And they vary a lot.
Some are super interventionists and they may be communists and socialists and all, but they're still, they're all over here, but liberty is over here.
But the founders understood this so clearly and they tried to make the point that it's not something that you put up for grabs and you have a vote and a democratic election is going to determine what happens.
They didn't even care about the popular vote alone.
They wanted a republic and self-government and they wanted local government and limited government.
And see, it's us against them and them are the ones who have been in charge for a long, long time in some ways throughout history.
But certainly in the last hundred years, they have been in charge.
So what you're doing at YAL, I think it's fantastic because it isn't like a little contest of an election.
How do we answer Sanders on the issue of free education, you know, something like that?
It is a philosophic thing.
Some of them say, oh, no, we don't like people who are philosophic because you guys are overly rigid and you're difficult to get along with.
But you want to be overly rigid.
Just look at what the left is doing now and the people who have been in charge of our government.
I think they're overly rigid in the use of government against the people.
Right.
And I would agree.
I mean, most of the findings we have are those that are open-minded enough to engage in conversation.
Young people are tired of government.
They've had government.
I mean, think about it.
I was born in 1991, right?
Since I've been born, we've practically been at war without a declaration the entire time.
Like I said, we're $20 trillion in debt.
There's, you know, Obamacare is unraveling before our hands.
There are all these things.
We've got Edward Snowden in a different country, you know, somebody who exposed this entire system.
It's just way too much.
Big brother, too much government.
And I think young people realize that.
They get it.
They're tired of what they've been getting.
And so we're trying to make sure that we fill that vacuum with the principles.
And we don't water them down.
We go straight after everybody.
Like you say, you know, people say sometimes we're too philosophical.
We have a real message.
We have a real set of principles that we think can create the greatest amount of opportunity for individuals.
They can create the greatest amount of peace.
And so we've built this pipeline at YAL.
We've got four main components.
We like to identify, educate, train, and mobilize youth activists committed to winning on those principles.
We identify and educate on the campuses through our chapters, through activism events.
We train them at events like our spring summits and our national convention, which we're gracious to have you speaking at in the past.
And then we mobilize them, right?
We want to put them into positions of influence.
And when I say that, I don't just mean, like you said, I don't just mean campaigns, right?
Nonprofits, think tanks, people writing policy papers, but also those in the private sector.
We need to have normal, everyday Americans that believe in these principles in every corner of the country.
That's the only way we actually see them setting in and being something that's a foundation.
And so we want our students to continue to expand out, to continue to reach more people.
We like to say we build a youth army for liberty and then we put them to action to make sure that as many people get exposed to these actions.
You know, and a lot of the young people will come and join, and it'll be for general reasons because it sounds very good and it's basically right and it's American and constitutional.
But when you get to the individual issues, sometimes there's more particular questions, which it should be.
What does this mean?
Does this mean that people can use drugs?
Does this mean that we shouldn't have troops overseas?
Does this mean that you have to get rid of the Federal Reserve?
What do you detect?
Anything special on the new people coming in and checking you out?
Is there any particular thing that they hang up on the most when they say, this sounds real good, but I can't accept this policy?
This is over the top.
Have you ever come across any of those challenges that you have to answer to?
Right, absolutely.
I mean, we right now are in a world of soundbites, right?
Soundbite on this, soundbite on that, different issues where, you know, we're getting a short snippet, we're not getting the full facts.
When we find somebody and we introduce them to the ideas of liberty and we really show them that, look, let's always move towards freedom and that there's a difference between tolerating and endorsing, right?
I don't use drugs, but I'm not out there trying to tell everybody, you know, that you've got to, you know, that you should be locking people up for a nonviolent crime.
So I think the difference is if we can get somebody exposed just a little bit to the ideas, if there's an issue they're hung up on, when we really sit down and walk them through, you know, well, look, do you want the government setting up a committee to oversee this thing that you might have a problem with?
Or should we just try freedom?
Should we let the marketplace figure it out?
Should we let people figure it out?
So are there issues that people get hung up on?
Absolutely.
It's politics.
You're never going to agree with somebody philosophically or politically on everything.
But if we can show them that individuals and not government can create the solutions, we think of that as a win in our category.
Well, Cliff, this is great.
And I congratulate you on what you're doing.
I think your organization is fantastic because I think that's where the action is.
It's on campus.
It's with young people.
You've heard me say this many times.
And I think our philosophy of liberty is the correct one.
But tell the viewers where they can go to follow up and get more information.
I imagine you have a website someplace.
Sure.
So check us out, yaliberty.org.
If you're a student who wants to get involved and spread the message or you're curious about getting involved, we'd love to have you sign up.
And if you're a supporter, check us out once again, yaliberty.org.
We're always looking for help with the projects we're doing.
And we're going to continue to build this youth army, Dr. Paul.
Thank you, Cliff.
Thank you for being with us today.
And I want to thank our audience for being with us today.
Please check out YAL.
It's a great organization.
The salvation of this country, politically speaking, is going to come from the young people changing their minds about the attitude because the system we have is not going to work economically and foreign policy.
It's doomed to fail, and we have to fill the vacuum.
That is one thing that is not occurring right now, even in this current transition.
What are we going to replace it with?
Well, I'll tell you what, this thing is going down, and what are you going to replace it with?
For instance, what are you going to replace the Federal Reserve with?
Well, maybe freedom and free market and money.
So, yes, there's lots of alternatives.
And I think knowing more about liberty and principles and the YAL would do a lot of good.
And thank you very much, everybody, for tuning in today.