Young People and Voting

Every now and then I get a glimpse of how all of this new technology is changing politics and the innovative ways that young people are getting engaged in the process. Here’s an example of a powerful youtube message crafted by and for the next generation of leaders.

From the youtube description:

This video is a call to the American millennial generation, and the rest of the country, to speak now with our vote, so that our silence will not echo for generations to come. The “Citizen’s Cry” makers are targeting the millennial generation specifically because less than 50% of them have ever voted in a presidential election. The youth vote of America is of unprecedented importance today; this is a vital audience that needs to be reached. Our responsibility to vote is our greatest opportunity for change. It is crucial for all generations, creeds and colors to take action.

Apparently, John Stossel doesn’t agree. This is from his segment on 20/20 Friday night.

But then, John is not the only one. This video reminded me that we should probably be hearing soon from Jonah Goldberg about these idiot young voters. He’s written a screed about it at some point during the last two presidential elections. Here’s a bit from his 2000 installment.

This has nothing to do with liberal or conservative – even though the impact on conservatives is greater. This has to do with the simple fact that most young people – hell, in my opinion most old people too, but the young ones especially – are not qualified to vote and perhaps to even hold a serious opinion about politics. Oh, don’t get me wrong. Though I am an elitist, this is not an aristocratic argument. This is about excluding people who don’t care about politics. And that means, disproportionately, young people.

And here’s some of what he had to say in 2004.

The youth vote is bunk. It’s a mirage. Fools gold. A Nietzschean vital lie. A will-o’-the-wisp. A media confabulation. Nonsense. Hooey. Baloney, bilge, hogwash, and hooey…

Most young people do not take any great pride in being young. Why should they? Being young requires no work and no investment in mental or physical resources. It says almost nothing about a person’s real beliefs. Youth politics is as deep as the paint on a can of Diet Pepsi and has about as much substance on the inside.

I’m not sure what kind of alternatives John and Jonah have in mind. They seem to be more interested in insulting young people than they do in identifying/solving a real problem. But perhaps they’d like to go back to the days prior to passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, when there were literacy tests for voting. As we all know, those literacy tests were designed, not to ensure educated voters, but to disenfranchise whole groups of people… something I expect is at the root of what these two have in mind.

I must admit that when I saw what the angry hateful mobs at McCain/Palin rallies had to say this week, I had a moment of wondering if there shouldn’t be some standard of association with reality that is applied to voting. But then, at least I’m able to see the slippery slope that would be.