culture, politics, commentary, criticism

Tuesday, October 08, 2002
Apathy is not the answer. A number of the young antiwar protesters have been quoted as saying that they don't vote because the system is so corrupt, politicians are so slimy, etc. They are right about the corruption and the slime, but people under 30 don't seem to realize the leverage and political power they have.

If only a few thousand young voters had gone to the polls instead of staying home in Florida in 2000, we would have a different president now. Compare what could have been our current situation if young people had turned out the vote: it is highly doubtful that President Gore would yak incessantly about the Iraqi threat. In fact, you could argue that there's a good chance that 9/11/01 might never have happened the way it did if Gore were president, because he might not have tried to schizophrenically placate and then alienate the Taliban as the Bush administration appears to have done. And Gore's family and friends and advisors are not the oil-drenched millionaires the Bushies are.

The point is this: young voters could have helped avoid the possibility of sending young soldiers to war. Or helped young workers get better jobs or medical coverage at work. The economy flew like an eagle under Clinton; it's in the toilet under Bush Junior. Young people who didn't vote helped Bush get elected.

Young non-voters can sit back and complain, but young voters help determine the quality of their own future. Here are a
couple of places to get started.
.



Greatest Hits · Alternatives to First Command Financial Planning · First Command, last resort, Part 3 · Part 2 · Part 1 · Stealing $50K from a widow: Wells Real Estate · Leo Wells, REITs and divine wealth · Sex-crazed Red State teenagers · What I hate: a manifesto · Spawn of Darleen Druyun · All-American high school sex party · Why is Ken Lay smiling? · Poppy's Enron birthday party · The Saudi money laundry and the president's uncle · The sentence of Enron's John Forney · The holiness of Neil Bush's marriage · The Silence of Cheney: a poem · South Park Christians · Capitalist against Bush: Warren Buffett · Fastow childen vs. Enron children · Give your prescription money to your old boss · Neil Bush, hard-working matchmaker · Republicans against fetuses and pregnant women · Emboldened Ken Lay · Faith-based jails · Please die for me so I can skip your funeral · A brief illustrated history of the Republican Party · Nancy Victory · Soldiers become accountants · Beware the Merrill Lynch mob · Darleen Druyun's $5.7 billion surprise · First responder funding · Hoovering the country · First Command fifty percent load · Ken Lay and the Atkins diet · Halliburton WMD · Leave no CEO behind · August in Crawford · Elaine Pagels · Profitable slave labor at Halliburton · Tom Hanks + Mujahideen · Sharon & Neilsie Bush · One weekend a month, or eternity · Is the US pumping Iraqi oil to Kuwait? · Cheney's war · Seth Glickenhaus: Capitalist against Bush · Martha's blow job · Mark Belnick: Tyco Catholic nut · Cheney's deferred Halliburton compensation · Jeb sucks sugar cane · Poindexter & LifeLog · American Family Association panic · Riley Bechtel and the crony economy · The Book of Sharon (Bush) · The Art of Enron · Plunder convention · Waiting in Kuwait: Jay Garner · What's an Army private worth? · Barbara Bodine, Queen of Baghdad · Sneaky bastards at Halliburton · Golf course and barbecue military strategy · Enron at large · Recent astroturf · Cracker Chic 2 · No business like war business · Big Brother · Martha Stewart vs. Thomas White · Roger Kimball, disappointed Republican poetry fan · Cheney, Lay, Afghanistan · Terry Lynn Barton, crimes of burning · Feasting at the Cheney trough · Who would Jesus indict? · Return of the Carlyle Group · Duct tape is for little people · GOP and bad medicine · Sears Tower vs Mt Rushmore · Scared Christians · Crooked playing field · John O'Neill: The man who knew · Back to the top






. . .