I have a question for all the young voters

[blues90]

Judging from the numbers of voter turnouts so far raving about the number of the youth . I see far more in just Iowa and NH and Nevada and now SC than all the protestors out there marching to end this occupation and death .

My question is , where were you ? So many are jumping up and down offering their full support , more than willing to fight for your candidate yet where were you people when it came to stopping the madness .

Does this indicate how much support you have and how much you are willing to do and sacrifice to HOPEFULLY save this country or are you going to sit back and enjoy the big win and do absolutely nothing when it's over .

[AGirl]

1. maybe they just really hate Hillary

[Egnever]

2. I was out marching in front of the belagio before the war

Where the fuck where you?

[Bitwit1234]

3. I think they think American Idol is the name of the game.

[Ava]

4. most young people can't *afford* the costs to make it to major actions

and most of us aren't in big cities where the actions actually take place. there's also the fact that most are in school etc. i am a homeschooler who has been lucky enough to make it some some major actions along with some smaller ones. i completely understand why much of the youth isn't able to make it out to most protests.. at the same time, having been to a few, i know that quite a lot of the crowd is made up of college students and even high-schoolers.

but thanks for generalizing and acting like we don't give a damn about the country. :sarcasm:

your whole post could be targeted at ANY age group. the fact of the matter is that a majority of people in this country don't go to protests or actions, not just young people.

[blues90]

17. That's odd , I recall in the 60's many as broke as broke can be

were at protests as were most college students . I did not say all the youth , I refered to the numbers of the youth who now show all this interest in voting and backing almost to the death their candidate but not these numbers reflected in protests or even small protests , you know in their own home towns on weekends where it costs nothing .

Voting is easy , nothing to it .

[Ava]

19. i sense a holier than thou attitude

attitudes like that are part of the reason young people just don't even both to get involved with politics and activism.

i've done more for the antiwar movement than most of the politically active people i know(adults included). i also have been able to get a hell of a lot more of the young people that i know involved than any adult that i know and part of that is because i don't take the holier than thou attitude because that doesn't play well with anyone. part of the reason young people are so passionate about this election is because there are candidates that don't take that attitude with them. god knows that kerry didn't play well with young people.

i guess you would prefer that anyone who doesn't march the streets in protests to not vote.

still your point makes no sense when it is directed just at the youth. the same thing could be said for ALL voters. there have been larger voter turn outs in all age groups, not just in the youth.

[blues90]

24. Quite the contrary

No one can suppress anyone who is truely concerned about their country , not me or anyone else .

You are taking this as a personal attack and it is not .

I see alot of attitude in these candidates and alot of childish action .

Also how many years do you expect people in their late 50's or 60's to continue to protest , we did alot many years ago and many still do .

Did you miss all the talk questioning where are the youth and the idea being passed around that if there were a draft that perhaps the youth would be more involved .

I am not for a draft because I went through that and know what it's like .

You missed the point being on the defense . To say that no one should vote because they did not protest is not at all what I was refering to and you know that .

[Ava]

26. you obviously don't get my point

you targeted youth.. why makes no sense. the same thing could be said for people of all generations. the fact of the matter is that most people who oppose this war don't hit the streets.. i am even willing to bet that a majority of them(those who don't hit the streets but oppose the war) are not the "youth". my point is that your post should be directed towards ALL voters.. not just young voters. otherwise it comes off as holier than thou and hypocritical.

[blues90]

28. The future is your's not mine

This is exactly why I asked about the younger voters . You see you have all of this passion now and the future is where you will live not me , I don't have years left , I spent mine going through my own generations battles in life .

This is not to say all the people in my generation were involved or cared , in fact many of them did not , they played the system and brought you as well as me BUSH who happens to be from my generation .

You have alot more at stake than we did , we were not looking at global warming or mass poverty or no jobs or healthcare or over population , shrinking water supply and dwindling power resource . We were not in a war in two countries trying for three . We had good schools and a chance for college even free if we had the grades , community college at least .

What we did have was a murdered president and RFK and MLK and freaks like Nixon and Ford . We did face a nuclear war , came real close to one and you share this fate as well , even more so now .

So since the future belongs to the youth reguardless of what the past brought to you and it is mostly the youth dying in these so called wars then I would ask what I asked .

[babylonsister]

29. Ava, you walk the walk and are so necessary and appreciated. I

wish we could duplicate your activism and patriotism in others; you're a great reason why people shouldn't generalize.

[VolcanoJen]

5. Marched then, marched in September, and will march again.

I've always been blown away by the youth support the anti-war movement has received.

And I'm more and more convinced that as much as the media wants us to believe this is a race/gender election, the evidence shows that "It's the youth vote, stupid."

The Kids Are Alright.

[MadBadger]

6. What would you like me to do?

I can make it to as far as Madison. So I'm game for whatever happens here, but what else would you like me to do?

[yourout]

10. Hey a fellow cheesehead.......I live 20 minutes west of Madison.

[MadBadger]

12. Not exactly...I go to school here. THe Sconnies would call me a Coastie actually.

[yourout]

14. Well your an honorary cheesehead in my eyes.

[MadBadger]

16. Well thank YOu! I'll be a cheesehead in a non-packer cheesehead way

[polichick]

7. Hey, don't scare them off - we need them!!

I'm hoping college kids from sea to shining sea will plan election parties and get as many of their friends to vote as possible.

[yourout]

8. I'm not going to bitch......For me it's refreshing to see some interest from the youth no matter...

how or why.

I belive if you can get them involved they will stay involved.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

9. Hopefully you will continue to be aware that it will take many

candidates winning to change the sad state of this nation.

[blues90]

13. Don't worry , I am aware of everything , I am aware

It's going to take decades to see a change , that's why I asked the question . I won't be here decades from now , the youth will .

[ErnestoG]

11. You're talking to an activist here

I have been involved in protest organization, phone banking and canvasing, and campaign work. I cannot speak for all of my generation, but I don't think you could level a charge of not being active enough, at me.

[rufus dog]

15. I believe the same argument could be made against hillary

and her supporters. Regardless it does little good to rehash the past. The young should be welcomed with open arms. The turnout in all elections to date have been great and that is good for all Democrats! Obama won more votes in SC than the top two Republicans COMBINED, each of these states went repub last Presidential election if I am not mistaken so it all seems good.

[blues90]

20. I don't get the hillary connection

Do you really think that Iowa and SC , NH and Nevada make the big win ?

Beside I am talking about numbers of young voters compared to numbers of ALL protestors young and old combined . These are in small states where the protest turnout was nowhere near the numbers of primary voters .

Rehash the past ? The damn occupation is still going on , it did not stop for these elections in case you have not noticed and it's far from over yet . I guess you missed to point .

[rufus dog]

22. my point is that NO ONE did enough

having everyone active in the process is better (except for some of my Orange County neighbors) and as they get involved some will make important contributions. Do I think the states to date are big, hell yes I do. If it was a Clinton and Rudy cake walk we would have been screwed already IMO. So getting more people to vote is step one in a long process.

[blues90]

27. I agree that more people should vote , this was what

happened when Bill Clinton was running the first term , it was called rock the vote . we were not in a war then .

Let me ask you one question , in all these protests of late , where was Obama or Hillary or Edwards ? I do recall Edwards marching with union workers . I do recall Kucinich at the DC protests . There were others but I am just refering to the people who tossed their hats in the ring .

If the others are so very concerned about ending the occupation and the youth , other than their votes , then where the hell were they ?

This is a huge part of what people miss , the people willing to fight with the people are for the people and the TV crap is all smoke and mirrors and soon enough you will find this out .

[jackson_dem]

18. Fighting for Democratic victory in 2004 and 2006

Edwards, then Kerry-Edwards and all regional Democratic campaigns in 2006.

[Steely_Dan]

21. I think I understand...

It IS easy to vote and give lip service to ending the war....I wish that they would take all that passion and march in the streets.

-P

[Ava]

23. yet again, the same damn thing could be said for many that aren't the "youth"

most people that oppose this war don't hit the streets.. and i am even willing to bet that a majority of them are not the "youth"

[blues90]

25. Exactly

[THUNDER HANDS]

30. I was in NYC at the protest

I was there. protesting the war.

[blues90]

31. To go back just a bit here . I asked about ALL young voters

And this does include those that did protest and those who did not . Many from both positions are voting .

There are comments from both here . If this is a genenralization I do not agree . It is the numbers I refer to here . Everyone who lives in this country has a stake in it and the future . These are the same sort of questions asked in the 60's where many sat and did nothing and let others carry the load . If you happened to be against the Vietnam war there were those of the same generation who would beat the hell out of you .

You are the youth of today , this is your future not mine . I don't have children who have to face the future , I do have sisters who do have children . They are not interested much if at all .

You see the battles going on between the Dems , it's not cool and voting strictly because of gender or race or age is not cool either . You need the best person who has been chosen for you by the media who also happens to have the backing to be in this race . This is what you've got . You want another bush , then keep your focus on the TV and the things that don't matter . You want to make history or live without all these issues here today staring you squarely in the face .

[MontecitoDem]

32. Marches and protests don't change things in today's world

Times have changed. Thousands of marches about thousands of topics since the 60's - they don't work in today's world. I've done plenty of marches and it's all about feeling good and feeling like you are doing something important but nobody in power gives a rats ass.

Young people and even people like me in my 40s know that the way to make change is to register voters, educate people who care about the issues to vote, write letters and make calls, and raise money and work for change locally in our communities.

Also, I have seen this attitude so often in local politics and it just bums me out. People who participated in the social change movement in the 60's see themselves as better than the younger folks. They also like to be in charge and do not mentor young activists - just criticize them and reminisce. It's a shame really because many people of that generation have good things to teach, but are so stuck in the past and on themselves that none of us want to listen anymore.

Sorry if this sounds as negative as I think it might - I know this is all generalizing and lots of people are exceptions on all sides! We all want to stop the war. Marches are pretty useless in my opinion. Criticizing all young people for not doing what you think they should is also unhelpful.

[blues90]

35. The protests have not been successful , I agree >

Alot of this I would say is they are not covered by the media and since this is the case they go un-noticed . However there are other reasons they don't work but this is a major one .

I worked with people in the 60's for voting and other issues , we were not concerned about the older peoples position because it was our future we were fighting for . I also worked for a few grass roots groups in 2004 and what I found which was for me disheartening is that alot of the younger people as well as people in their 40's were doing it for required credit to futher their personal career goals , whether they were political or business or school related and they had no interest in anyones experience so it works both ways .

To add , we did not have blocked off , off limits areas where if you did not agree with whatever issue at hand you were pulled away to a closed off area .

we did not have black box voting machines either to deal with .

I do see your point , no , protests are not as effective as they were but to bring awareness to those who refuse to look past their own life they are very effective and do bring the grass roots causes into voters . At this point in time they are better than what you get from the media as far as in your face , here we are , what are you doing people sort of thing .

If the candidates used these protests to their advantage they may do alot better especially when it is right in front of the capital building even on a weekend . Instead they choose a setting which is planned with decor and props and a limited space .

[LordJFT]

33. This is funny

I'd love to see a comparison of the # of young people that marched against the war vs. the # of older people that did. I marched against the war and I also passed a fair trade policy when I was in high school after several adults told me I couldn't do it and it wouldn't make a difference anyway.

[Bright Eyes]

34. I was in 6th grade when bush was first elected.

Couldn't help ya...couldn't even do my math problems :)

[asdjrocky]

37. Classic!

:rofl: :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
I'm an old fart, and I thought that was funny.

[Zorra]

36. Don't worry, the kids are alright. They're on the right track, and when,

sometime soon, the majority of them figure out that global corporatists have stolen their future - heads are gonna roll.