OK, so this morning I am driving my daughter (13) to school and listening to her radio station, KISS 106.1FM. The Jackie and Bender show. Lots of stuff about pop music and celebrities and the general drive by chit chat of morning radio. There is always outrageous stuff to get kids' attention and the usual sexual innuendo sure to amuse the pre to currently pubescent crowd. But then, after one of those news shorts about "your money", this Bender character strikes a nerve. The story was about the Pentagon wasting $100MILLION on airline tickets that never got used nor refunded. Now this struck on two different levels. Of course there is the outrage that our troops are coming home from Iraq on leave and having to buy their own tickets home after they first arrive in the country, yet the Pentagon has let $100MILLION worth of airline tickets go to waste. But the real outrage was the comment that followed. When the discussion turned to what things could be done in the future, Bender suggested that NOBODY CARES because people just pay their taxes and have NO CONTROL OVER HOW THE MONEY IS SPENT. I am not sure of the total listening audience of this station or this program but, according to my daughter, all of her friends discuss this show at great length. They form opinions about people and issues based on the things they hear on this program and many others just like it. This is the next generation of non-voters being created.
Why do people drop out of the process or not even bother to enter the process? Because they are told that they have no influence over the system. Why do they believe that? Because the media tells them so, AND because so many adults have abandoned the system. I told my daughter that I felt Bender had just done his part in turning 100 or 200 young people away from government and politics because of what he had just said. She told me that he was only telling kids the truth. She said that she would vote when she turns 18 but just because she knows I would expect it from her. More of her friends will just ignore the whole process. I told her democracy is hard work and you have to stay actively involved. If you want to influence the way things are done, you need to seek out people who will represent your point of view and spend the money the way you think is appropriate and vote for them. If they don't continue to represent you (she believes they will say anything to get your vote and then will just do what they want when they are in office) you vote them out. A congressman's term is only 2 years. You continue this trend until they take the hint that you are not going away. And then DON'T GO AWAY! You have to assert your influence to have influence.
We have a special obligation this year. Young people are watching like we have not seen since 1968. Howard Dean began a conversation and a movement to bring "the People" back into "We the People". For too long, many of us have stood by and allowed our influence to be diminished due to apathy, frustration, or just plain lazyness. This year we are banded together to fight more than one enemy. George W Bush exists because too many of us have allowed him to exist. I challenge everyone who reads this to do two things; fight for the defeat of George W Bush and, more importantly, reach out to at least one person between 17 and 25 everyday and let them know how important their voice is and why they must become and stay involved. If you have kids, ask them what they listen to and how it is influencing the way they feel about government and politics. Ask them to join you at a Meetup and ask questions. Don't let the Benders of the world be proven right.
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3 comments:
Good post, Chad. You know what I tell people when I hear (all too often!) that they can't affect things? I tell them, if you get involved, you may still not be able to bring about the changes you want, but if you're not involved, you SURE AS HELL aren't going to change anything. Would you rather have zero chances in a thousand of changing things, or one chance in a thousand?
And some of us, even at the local level, ARE changing things. Keep talking to your friends and neighbors, keep sending letters to the editors, never accept silence. Because every time you speak out, you may get another person to act - and that increases your chances to two chances in a thousand.
Consider the fact that California graduated three quarters of its highschool students as functionally illiterate for over thirty years. Incarcerated populations are seventy eight percent illiterate, statistically, in that state. I put to you, our voting ranks are greatly diminished due to a federally funded educational system.
Few among us would voluntarily state the ballot is too difficult to read. Find another method to benefit those who have been left out of the process, due to lack of education. Let their voice be heard. Change the balance of power. Include the common people. There will be change.
Finance our education at the same level we finance our elections and our penal system. Quite a concept.
Politically, it is a whisper in the wind.
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