I am never again going to listen to news commentators that tell me that we are an apathetic nation. That the young, the poor and the middle class can't be bothered to vote.
I stood in line this past Thursday for 2 hours with some young folks, poor folks and middle class folks to cast my vote early. The line moved slowly as some of the older voters struggled to master the touch screen ballot and because of the limited number of machines. Regardless the people in the long line that snaked through the Parks and Rec building stayed put and made small talk with their neighbors. They weren't talking politics or calling each other un-American either.
It turns out that in order to get this sort of response you need several things to happen. You need a remarkable candidate that bothers to talk to the young, the poor and the middle class the same way when the camera is turned on or off. Then you need a situation where the stakes are not manufactured (made up issues: flag burning, Willie Horton, swift boats, etc.) but instead real (involvement in 2 wars, tanking economy, damaged ecology, broken health care system, etc.).
It helps if you put the citizens through 8 years of broken promises, pointless fear and diminished opportunity.
Rock the Vote Indeed!
I stood in line this past Thursday for 2 hours with some young folks, poor folks and middle class folks to cast my vote early. The line moved slowly as some of the older voters struggled to master the touch screen ballot and because of the limited number of machines. Regardless the people in the long line that snaked through the Parks and Rec building stayed put and made small talk with their neighbors. They weren't talking politics or calling each other un-American either.
It turns out that in order to get this sort of response you need several things to happen. You need a remarkable candidate that bothers to talk to the young, the poor and the middle class the same way when the camera is turned on or off. Then you need a situation where the stakes are not manufactured (made up issues: flag burning, Willie Horton, swift boats, etc.) but instead real (involvement in 2 wars, tanking economy, damaged ecology, broken health care system, etc.).
It helps if you put the citizens through 8 years of broken promises, pointless fear and diminished opportunity.
Rock the Vote Indeed!
