aussiew Posted November 3, 2004 Posted November 3, 2004 believe me if your son is voting bush and wants to go to iraq, he's BEEN BUYING AND DRINKING lots of BEERS You're right. There must be a direct connection between beer drinking and testosterone.
rolly Posted November 3, 2004 Posted November 3, 2004 The 18-24 age bracket doesn't vote for several reasons. The canidates don't really bother to discuss the stuff that is important to them, they don't have kids so they aren't interested in the issues regarding children, they're not home owners, so they aren't really concerned about taxes, etc etc. There are a lot of reasons that age bracket doesn't vote. It doesn't help that neither Bush nor Kerry made any effort to discuss things that may be a little more important to the younger voters. 99688[/snapback] I agree and disagree. I agree that yes, the presidents do no really focus much attention towards the age bracket. However, I am 21 and I found it my duty to become educated on the candidates by watching the debates, researching the issues, their stances etc. Personally, I feel a lot of people my age didnt vote because they felt they couldnt make a difference especially since I live in NY and technically it really doesn't due to democratic NYC which dominates the state. A way to fix this: Popular vote instead of electoral college.
theNose76 Posted November 3, 2004 Posted November 3, 2004 Yeah, I have been on the reverse end of the crowd mentality growing up in a very liberal town and going the other way... I am 22, voted and I really don't care what the numbers were for the rest of my generation. If you don't want to vote, fine. I am not going to force you to do something that is good for you. Besides I don't have full faith in the judgement of people who don't care enough to vote. If P Diddy motivates them to vote, that is pretty lame. It's no one's duty to vote. That's like saying it's someone's duty to take advantage of their freedom of speech. Is spending a half hour to express your opinions the new definition of contributing to society? That's sad. Since I turned 18 I have voted as much as possible. Not just presidential elections, but school board, local, state, primaries, etc.. No one had to motivate me. I took pride in that expressed my opinion, not that fulfilled my civic duty.. geez. People complain about the candidates that the parties throw out there, well, fine, next time try to promote candidates in the primaries that you prefer.... Really, stop talking and start walking. Don't like the system? Do what you can to change it, don't just sit there and complain. 99723[/snapback] I'm 21, voted for the first time in a general election (via absentee). I was pissed that i missed the 02 elections, didn't file for an absentee in enough time - need an absentee because I'm too far from my home while in college to go home and vote. I agree completely with what you put here. Many of my friends last night watched the entire night, supporting their candidate - and many of them were people I really didn't think had any political knowledge. And it was a major topic of discussion this morning in my classes. So I would say that this 10% number does not accurately reflect what I have seen in the last few weeks. I have been inundated at my school and in classes with political discussions, and it's been pretty neat. So sure, not everyone in the young age group voted (many for the reasons BF noted). But many did. And I have faith that we'll continue to vote in the future.
Grand Poobah Posted November 3, 2004 Posted November 3, 2004 Hey, if they want to vote, then great. If they are too foolish to understand the importance, then they'll have to deal with the consequences. I agree that it is partly the responsibility of the parents to involve and familiarlize their kids with the process early on in life. Ultimately, however, these young adults are responsible for themselves and have a right not to vote no matter how ridiculous and stupid that may be.
Alaska Darin Posted November 3, 2004 Posted November 3, 2004 while some of you are bashing children... my eight year old daughter sat and watch about a half an hour of the coverage with me last night. She had a vote at school yesterday and 2 out of the 18 kids in her class voted for Kerry. She was one of them. She told me that people were making fun of her because she voted for Kerry and that she was a traitor and she didn't know what she was talking about. I asked her what she said in response and she replied "I didn't bother daddy because they were just following the crowd." My wife and I often have discussions about politics around the house and it obviously caught up with my daughter how important this election was in our eyes. She asked me twice yesterday what year she would be able to vote. So from my experience, if bring it around your children they will tend to see the importance of it. If you don't talk to them or around them they will only see the world through the eyes of the TV. 99041[/snapback] Good for you. Obviously there are few independant thinkers left. Tell your daughter how proud you are and give her a hug for me.
TheMadCap Posted November 3, 2004 Posted November 3, 2004 A way to fix this: Popular vote instead of electoral college. 100145[/snapback] The problem with this idea is that Californians would decide the president every election.
Alaska Darin Posted November 3, 2004 Posted November 3, 2004 testosterone or stupidity??? 100134[/snapback] It's spelled E-S-T-R-O-G-E-N. Get it right.
_BiB_ Posted November 3, 2004 Posted November 3, 2004 My 20 year old set out to vote for the 1st time with a friend. They stood in line for about an hour and then lost interest. He was supporting Bush and decided that since we live in Texas, his vote wouldn't count anyway. He wasn't at all interested in any of the other races. This is the same son that is joining the army because he wants to go to Iraq. The irony of it all. My puzzle is this: If a child is considered mature enough to vote and die for his country, why can he not buy a beer? 100048[/snapback] Back in the good old days in WNY he could.
Rubes Posted November 3, 2004 Posted November 3, 2004 testosterone or stupidity??? 100134[/snapback] There's a difference?
_BiB_ Posted November 3, 2004 Posted November 3, 2004 I agree and disagree. I agree that yes, the presidents do no really focus much attention towards the age bracket. However, I am 21 and I found it my duty to become educated on the candidates by watching the debates, researching the issues, their stances etc. Personally, I feel a lot of people my age didnt vote because they felt they couldnt make a difference especially since I live in NY and technically it really doesn't due to democratic NYC which dominates the state. A way to fix this: Popular vote instead of electoral college. 100145[/snapback] I appreciate you youngun's who got out there, from either camp. What if there were candidates who had tuition issues on their platforms? My concern is that 9 out of 10 young voters wouldn't even know. I have sort of a pen pal who's an 18 year old high school senior living in Ohio. Something I learned from corresponding with her, is that very little effort is being made to educate the youth as to the issues. BF is right (God forgive me for saying that) they don't perceive that very many issues are important to them. Even though most issues actually are. Might be a lesson learned for the next election process to both parties. I personally think that Kerry would have won had they turned out in force, as we were led to believe. I was troubled by Aussies post. They lost interest because it took too long. That goes way beyond voting. If it's not fast and easy, don't do it. I think a lot of young people, and older ones too, embrace that philosophy. This country needs a lot of fixing, and whether it be Bush, Kerry or Mickey Mouse I dream of a day where we all get at least mentally involved in keeping the ethics and the traditions of what allowed us to get this far forefront. Pass them on to our youth. There are things more important than the plotline of Lost.
buffalomike Posted November 3, 2004 Posted November 3, 2004 i think that the balance of the youth who did not vote do not feel that either candidate will actually have an effect on their everyday lives. Many of these kids dont own property, have a mortgage , pay school taxes or anything of that matter. I do feel that this generation will vote heavily in the next presidential election when they are 22-27 years old.
Fezmid Posted November 4, 2004 Posted November 4, 2004 (apologies to the third party folks who have no realistic shot) Tell that to Jesse Ventura. CW
FreeBird Posted November 4, 2004 Posted November 4, 2004 P Diddy said he was happy with the results he got from his campaign to get the youth to vote. 98856[/snapback] What the $%^&*( is a pdiidy? one of those gansta slime millionaires? They are dying in IrAq and hitting the bong at home, they don't give a $%^&*.. Let's start drafting them, then they will vote...
nonprophet Posted November 4, 2004 Posted November 4, 2004 Bear in mind that both party's candidates are rich, white, Ivy-league educated, corporate whores. No matter who wins an election, be they Democrat or Republican, they are NOT working for us. Look at how much is spent on election campaigns these days and ask yourself if it's possible for them not to owe their donors political favors. All politicians are puppets who tell us what we want to hear in order to get elected and then go on to do their wealthy masters' bidding once in office. This election, like any other pitting Democrat against Republican, was a sham; we had no real choice in either party because large corporations are going to get their way no matter who's in office. If you want to know who's really in charge of our government, look at whose stock prices were flat and then started climbing in the build-up to the Iraq war. I was in the USMC infantry, I know what enlisted personnel get paid and the degree of contractor involvement in military logistical support work over there cannot be cost-effective for us. The only way I can see to fix our government right now is to replace every elected official with a third party candidate. Let's staff the capitol with a bunch of lobbyist-neutral newbies who don't have any ready-to-wear voting blocs so that they'll be forced to form coalitions in order to get anything done. Legislation will be slow and ugly but there'll be too many compromises for the corporations to always get their way. If we never give them more than one term, the special interests won't know who to latch onto and will have to spread their money pretty thin.
aussiew Posted November 4, 2004 Posted November 4, 2004 There's a difference? Now from a woman's perspective....that's funny.
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