Keep your head down on campus, and you’ll pass your required climate class. Stay silent during DEI training so you might qualify for the promotion. Seal your lips about the Pride flag outside the Copley Square church, and maybe you’ll get a shot at a second date.
New England is home to some of the nation’s top-tier universities. But these once-prestigious institutions seem to have let the point of higher education—the free exercise of ideas—slip.
Boston, Providence, Stamford—the list of fantastic metropolitan areas for young professionals is long. Yet company camaraderie can be stifled by corporate-instilled paranoia of saying the “wrong thing.” And remote work? Forget about finding community.
Plus, there are plenty of twenty- and thirty-somethings hoping to settle down. But between a social pressure to fit a “moderate” mold and fear of being “too fringe,” the search for a significant other or group of friends with similar values has never been tougher.
There is a community group for every niche interest, rare political faction, and recently discovered sexual persuasion under the sun. But in New England, conservatives are left doing detective work to figure out if the charismatic guy at church rejects modernity, too, or if the girl at the bar might have voted red in the midterms.
Finally, conservatives across the region have banded together to stand up and say, “Enough is enough.” After years of young patriots having to navigate New England on their own, a new organization is in town.
Tomorrow, Saturday, September 23, at the Hampton Inn in Natick, the New England Young Conservatives will host their inaugural conference.
The event will be a chance for those in the Millennial and Generation Z groups to get to hear from dynamic speakers and learn about the opportunities that await them, even in deep blue states like Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
Most importantly, it will be an opportunity for anyone who feels alone in his or her beliefs—the only one on campus or in the office still holding on to any ounce of tradition—to see that they are not the only one.
According to the Board of Directors, the NEYC conference is expected to be well attended after receiving over 100 sign-ups weeks prior to the event.
The board is led by Massachusetts state committee members and co-presidents, Tim Smyth and Jaclyn Corriveau. Joining them is youngest-ever nominee for U.S. Congress Karoline Leavitt, as well as political commentator Grace Curley, the host of The Grace Curley Show, and Taylor Cormier, executive producer of The Howie Carr Show.
According to the NEYC website, the group aims to be a platform for young conservatives to “express their views freely, particularly in the predominantly left‑wing atmosphere of our region.”
From school boards to both houses of Congress, New England is a desert for conservative voices. Eventually, the board aims to reshape painfully progressive New England, beginning in Boston and eventually expanding to every corner from Bar Harbor to Bridgeport, through a cultivation of top-tier candidates for political office.
“In one of the most liberal regions in the Union,” Smyth explained, “it is imperative that we have an outlet like NEYC for young conservatives to not only socialize but also set realistic goals for the future of government in New England.”
Tomorrow’s event will feature a cocktail hour, where attendees may socialize with faces both familiar and fresh. That portion will be followed by talks from members of the board of directors. Attendees will also hear from Aaron Chadbourne, a former senior adviser to Maine Governor Paul LePage, who’s seen first-hand the troubles facing what used to be called “Vacationland.”
I will also take the stage to share a hopeful message: New England is the home of the American Revolution, where a group of young men and women worked together to break away from rule by tyrants who ruled over the most powerful empire on earth.
I am positive that together, we can rekindle the same kind of spirit and gusto. We need to embrace respect for our Western forefathers, and their belief in mixing individualism with charity. I am confident that together, we can reject the left’s Marxist agenda and hatred of heritage.
It can begin with the establishment of a new, counter-cultural group like NEYC.
The conference will conclude with a question-and-answer session in which participants can interact with panelists about life in blue New England, their starts on the state committee, their careers in political commentary, or just sharing tips for navigating the cultural decline.
“For far too long, liberals have maintained an iron grip on our way of life here,” said Smyth, a fourth-generation resident of South Boston.
“If we can effectively organize and encourage our peers to become more engaged with our political process, then maybe the leftist Goliath can be challenged.”
It is not too late to score your spot at the first conference for New England Young Conservatives. Go to neyoungconservatives.com to sign up now.