Byron Longworth

YAL at USF recruits, rearranges, and kicks off the semester!

Feb 23, 2012 at 10:33 PM

By Byron Longworth

The Young Americans for Liberty at the University of South Florida rang in the spring semester with a successful recruitment drive where fellow USF Bulls were invited to join the chapter for the clubs “Liberty 101” informational. Fellow students were educated on all the basics of liberty from tax reform, to civil liberties, and everything in between.

With the recent resignation of the chapter’s President and Treasurer, the Young Americans for Liberty were faced with the task of electing new officers. Following the resignation of former President Anthony Davis, the chapter's Vice President Vince McCoige stepped up to the plate and took the initiative to lead the club for the rest of the spring semester. With Vince’s former office of Vice President now empty, the chapter's Secretary, Katerina Salamis, decided to run for the now empty position and was elected by an overwhelming majority.

The Young Americans for Liberty at USF sign up 122 new members!

Oct 3, 2011 at 3:58 PM

By Byron Longworth

The Young Americans for Liberty at the University of South Florida had a very interesting circumstance while beginning this semester. There were no elected officers, only seven returning members at the first meeting, no new members, and no plan for what to do other than begin tabling our faces off.

I was luckily able to get the rooms set up for the rest of the semester, and was there to lead the first meeting. I had already decided that I was not going to re-run for President of our chapter, since I had moved up to become a State Chairman. The only young woman whom I had my eye on to become the next Chapter President was unable to return this fall. I knew we had to get to work tabling fast before the next meeting, so I got everyone to agree to have three tabling events before the next week’s meeting. Little did I know that we would be electing five officers who had never had an officer position in Young Americans for Liberty before, it would be the most competitive election we had ever had, and that the next meeting would consist of about fifteen brand new members as well as the returning members!

Bryan, Kat, Anthony, and Vincent

The new officers: Bryan, Katerina, Anthony, and Vincent (missing: Jamie Lewis).

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The Young Americans for Liberty at USF catch the eye of a reporter at the TEA Party in Tampa Bay

Apr 18, 2011 at 9:55 PM

By Byron Longworth

It was a nice way to begin my State Chair position of the State of Florida by being spotted out by a reporter of the Tampa Bay Tribune while attending the TEA Party in Tampa Bay, on April 15th. The Young Americans for Liberty were approached, and a curious reporter was wondering how exactly we fit in with the TEA Party. There were signs of our philosophy in our clothing attire, and my girlfriend Samantha and I were lucky enough to be interviewed. Here is the link to the article:
Like the Tea Party movement itself, the crowd, although enthusiastically conservative and clearly Republican-oriented, included a diverse amalgam of viewpoints.
University of South Florida seniors Samantha Broderick and Byron Longworth, both of Tampa, were promoting Libertarian politics. Broderick advocated cutting spending "in all areas including the military," and Longworth, a Ron Paul backer, said the U.S. must abandon its "neocolonial foreign policy."
Additionally, one of USF YAL's newest members, Bryan Nemeth got an interview on our local Fox News station. He chose not to pick on Senator Marco Rubio for his interest in invading Libya, and said "He was proud of what he has done for Florida."

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The Young Americans for Liberty at USF show students the debt

Apr 15, 2011 at 11:22 AM

By Byron Longworth

We completed the project spending $102 -- just slightly more than YAL's activism grant. We assembled a team of three people to go to Home Depot in a truck. We got eight 2x4’s which we had split in half making sixteen 2x2’s, and thirty-five 19” sticks (We had three extra). We got sixteen packets of metal hinge pairs, two paint rollers, a bucket of white paint, one plastic tray, a bottle of red spray paint, a bottle of black spray paint, and a bottle of orange spray paint. We hauled it back to campus and shoved all of it into the back seat of my car.

We assembled a team of four who worked on building it. We met at an open field on campus. I brought a drill, drill bits, and some tools. Our highly valued member Jennifer Yuill brought a giant sheet to keep the field spill free. A recent USF graduate named Charlie handled all of the drilling. In the early stages of building a sorority and a fraternity began unloading massive amounts of junk food, and DJ gear onto the field. They were highly disgruntled that we would dare work on our sign at the same time that they had their important event. We smiled and ignored them.

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The Young Americans for Liberty at USF petition to audit the Fed.

Mar 29, 2011 at 11:26 AM

By Byron Longworth

Here at the University of South Florida, we did exactly what Senator Rand Paul asked us to do at CPAC: Ask our Senators to co-sponsor his bill to audit the Federal Reserve. To begin our campaign to audit the Federal Reserve we wrote a formal letter to our Senator Marco Rubio. It said:

Dear Senator Rubio,
We are the Young American’s For Liberty at the University of South Florida. We would like to congratulate you on your victory, and wish you great success while in Washington. There is one thing that we would like you to do immediately, and that is please co-sponsor Rand Paul’s bill to audit the Federal Reserve. Senators Jim Demint from South Carolina and David Vitter from Louisiana have both already agreed to co-sponsor the bill. We strongly believe it is both necessary and the right thing to do.
Every active member who comes to meetings signed it, which was about 15 people. We made up individual requests, and just changed it to say that: “I am a student at USF” and in those there was no congratulations. We ran a tabling event and gathered about 40 signatures that day. Some students were very skeptical, and appeared to be turned off by the names on the petition. The president of USF YAL, Byron Longworth, went to the college Republicans and got all 10 of them to sign. The Historian, Mike Hamlin, went to the 912 Group, and gathered another 10 signatures. All of the letters will arrive to his office in Washington D.C. Wish us luck!

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