Iara Peng, the executive director of Young People For, has written an article outlining the training programs available to conservative youth. She contrasted that with the opportunities offered for young progressives and argued that the left needs to put more money into youth outreach. I wrote about this issue almost two years ago. I agree with the general premise of her article, but I think Peng ignores a major failure of progressive movement's outreach programs for young people.

It's not enough to train youth to be activists and organizers. The left needs to invest in building a training infrastructure that nurtures young people to be strong public of progressive values. Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin didn't come from nowhere. They were created by the right-wing media machine. If the progressives want to win the battle of ideas, we need to build the next generation of pundits and intellectuals.

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