Youth voter apathy

You want to know why the youth don’t vote? Because they know it’s a sham.

1. The electoral college has prevented and, unless I move to a different state, will probably always prevent my vote for president from counting.

2. Young people people have always known politics and government is for the Business, not for the People. This is one reason why Nader appeals to many young voters yearning for change.

3. They have no faith in the voting process, particularly after Florida 2000. It does not build help matters if we go to a paperless trail using Diebold voting machines and the chairman and CEO of Diebold has a letter sent out to raise funds for Bush with the ominous phrase: “I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year.” (free New York Times, free subscription required, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/12/politics/campaign/12vote.html?th).

4. Too people have tried to tell them WHO to vote for — their church, their parents — and too few have encouraged them to just VOTE.

5. A lack of awareness of how national policy can influence their lives. Young people have issues too, although they may seem trivial compared to Iraq and the economy. But they do into larger issues — access to M-rated video games is a First Amendment argument; intellectual property rights violations stand to put an entire generation in jail if fully prosecuted — which many argue shows problems with the current law. Senator John McCain is arguing, I believe, for cable channels on an a-la-carte basis instead bundled channels: cash-strapped young people who are only interested in watching a few channels might like that option if it very comes to fruition — I’m sure the cable companies will be fighting that one though. Many are concerned about civil rights, cyber issues, environmental concerns, and of course, the same things other voters care about — jobs, education, and health care. These are the folks who would be drafted if a volunteer force was not deemed sufficient; wouldn’t it be a shame if they didn’t even bother to show up at the polls to tell their politicians how they felt about mandatory service?

It’s late, very late, and there’s so many more reasons. Basically, I’m just really irritated at the “we’ll deliver Ohio for you” from the head of Diebold. I’ve seen how easy it is to hack that machine on TechTV. How I love my cable.