The young may not decide who to vote for, rather whether to vote at all

[Not a robought]

A young friend posted the following they keep receiving from the RNC despite not being a republican:

>From: "Ed Gillespie, Chairman, RNC"
>To: =======@hotmail.com
>Subject: The Weekly Team Leader: Democrats United On One Front: Stall America's Progress
>Date: Tue, 05 Aug 2003 07:00:00 -0400
>
>Dear Grant,
>
>What a great first week this has been.
>
>The President's commitment to growing our party is clear
>and towards that end my first meeting as RNC Chairman was
>with the CEO and COO of the National Urban League.
>It was a wonderful opportunity to compare ideas and discuss
>how we can work together towards our common goal of improving
>the lives of all Americans.
>
>In contrast, the Democrats running for President seem unwilling
>or unable to identify a positive agenda for America, spending
>most of their time attacking the President or in some cases
>even each other. They continue to filibuster qualified judges
>and seek to downplay positive signs that our economy is
>growing again. As I've said before, "The other party has come
>to the conclusion that what's worst for the American people
>is what's best for them." Until next week, thank you for being
>a Team Leader and working to make America a better place for everyone.
>Sincerely,
>
>
>Ed Gillespie
>Chairman, RNC
>www.gopteamleader.com

There was more hypocritical BS that followed but I'll spare you. What struck me were some of the responses that followed from people I know are in the 20's crowd on that board.

The exception was one opinion which came from a girl who was upset that she can't vote as she will turn 18 three days after the '04 election.

While some other opinions included a lot of apathy like (paraphrased):

-'the parties are the same, so why bother voting?'

-'The kind of solicitations above is exactly the reason why not to go vote.'

-'None of them speak to my concerns it's hopeless.'

-'I can't remember whether I voted or not the last time, maybe I'll vote again, I don't know.'

Will Pitt recently posted his concern on observation of his speaking tours that he never sees young people in the audiences. Today when Howard Dean was speaking with Judy Woodruff on Inside Politics, on his camera shot he was flanked only by seniors, god bless them.

I know that there are many actively involved young people. I'm here, I know a ton of you are here, even the young at heart. But after the criminal tragedy we have experienced with * and the cabal, it's appalling to me that someone would not even be moved to at least go and vote such as the sentiments indicated above. Many don't care.

Not voting isn't symptomatic of youth exclusively either, so I won't tolerate anyone castigating the young for being ignorant, that won't bring them to the polls. It's a progressive trend measured over time that American voters are staying away. How many of the voting population came out for the last federal election? 54%? This is an embarassment for a nation that likes to consider itself the beacon of democracy.

Beyond that there is an abundance of preoccupation with entertainment, educational, career pursuits, dating and lifestyle to keep the young sufficiently distracted from the pessimism and venom of politics.

Who in the democratic party is making an effort to reach the heart of the young vote? Otherwise what is the point of having voting age at 18? For shits and giggles?

In that case, why not raise the vote to a demographic age who's people would be more apt to make a political contribution and are being spoken to directly. It would make more sense rather than letting an election get spoiled by some arbitrary disenfranchised newbie vote wouldn't it?

[Not a robought]

1. Kick

Geez, no one cares about this?

[maggrwaggr]

2. Maybe we need the draft to come back

that'd wake these kids up.

:)

"Hello, you've won a year long vacation in Iraq!"