No Labels Chapter Opens at CU

            2016 is shaping up to be one of the most influential election years in American history, and as American citizens, it is our civic duty to be well informed on the issues concerning our government, our economy, and the state of the world’s affairs. It is not our duty, however, to be concerned with the candidates’ emails, personal religious views and backgrounds regarding race-relations, however radical they may be. Yet in all the hype, the American public tends to get caught up on issues that might not necessarily contribute to how a president does their job, and more pressing and important matters will fall to the wayside when considering who will become the next leader of this nation. Fear not, for there is a solution: No Labels.

    Margaret Kimbell, Executive Director for the No Labels organization, gives an excellent synopsis of the objective of the No Labels group, saying “We can’t let party affiliation be the enemy of productivity and progress. At some point, the nation needs its leaders to place loyalty to the country ahead of loyalty to the party. True leaders don’t just point out problems. They solve them.”         No Labels is a political movement that is recent to America. Beginning in December of 2010, 1000 citizens from each of the 50 states gathered in New York in order to begin the No Labels movement, and in the few short years they have been organized, No Labels has already had a monumental impact on the government in America. Within three years, legislation that has been directly influenced by No Labels includes No Budget, No Pay, where if Congress cannot pass a budget and all annual spending bills on time, members should not get paid; the Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act, decreasing the number of presidential appointments subject to senate confirmation; and the Healthcare for Heroes Act becoming part of the National Defense Authorization Act. No Labels has been one of the most influential organizations to benefit American legislation since the NAACP.

    So what does this mean for Concord? As it turns out, Concord University will be the first college in West Virginia to have a chapter of No Labels. George Myers, a senior Political Science major and chapter president, founded this chapter in the hopes that it will increase public awareness about the importance of this organization to the nation. “We spread the word, we get people involved, and this is how students are able to voice their opinions,” Myers says, “Our mission is trying to get the president to be a problem solver. Instead of the politicians thinking about themselves or their party, they need to start thinking about the nation.” 

    Myers has high hopes for this chapter of No Labels, and says that he hopes to achieve some lofty goals for the future. Myers hopes that this chapter can help No Labels create 25 million jobs over the next 10 years, secure Social Security and Medicare for the next 75 years, balance the federal budget by 2030, and Make America energy secure by 2024. Myers states that the way this chapter can achieve these goals is by starting the Concord No Labels chapter and having more chapters established in other schools around West Virginia to get more support from not just students, but citizens as well.

    One of the greatest aspects of this nation’s democratic system of government is the fact that it puts the power for change in the hands of the people first, and not just the politicians. George Myers agrees by establishing the No Labels chapter at Concord that it’s time to take control of the power to bring the necessary change that the citizens want to see in the nation. The best way to start is by getting informed, not only by going to the weekly meetings of the No Labels chapter (the dates of which are still subject to change), but by getting informed about politicians’ stances on important issues. For more information about the stance that your party’s politicians have on issues, go to http://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm. For more information about the mission of No Labels, go to http://www.nolabels.org/.